Conductor Andris Nelsons has walked out on the Bayreuth Festival just a month before he was set to conduct the premiere of a new production of Parsifal.

According to Agence France-Presse, "Owing to a differing approach in various matters, the atmosphere at this year's Bayreuth Festival did not develop in a mutually comfortable way for all parties" said festival spokesperson Peter Emmerich.

The whole story can be found here.

A 17-foot high bust of Beethoven in sunglasses was installed yesterday near the unofficial entrance to Brevard Music Center (corner of Probart and Caldwell Streets in Brevard, NC) in celebration of the Music Center's 80th Anniversary. The statue is one of many Beethoven images and #BeethovenLives hashtags that adorn the town of Brevard each summer…and often year-round.
 
The Beethoven statue was constructed out of over 38 individual pieces of foam, wood and steel. It took over 200 man-hours to complete, including planning, building, painting and installation. Approximately 1000 pounds of weight went into the structure for support.

Can listening to Mozart reduce your blood pressure?

Yes, according to a recently published study.  The study compared the effects of listening to Mozart, Strauss and ABBA (the pop group) for 25 minutes, and listening to either Mozart or Strauss had a beneficial effect on blood pressure. 

There's a more detailed article about the study here.

Up until a day or two ago, I'd never heard of Sima Wolf.  But I received a disk of her music in the mail, and as I usually try to give a listen to whatever comes across my desk, I popped it in the CD player.

Often the material that comes in unsolicited is--shall we say, not terribly good, and nothing that I would play on air.  But once in a while I get a pleasant surprise, as I did today listening to Sima's music.

The album of her compositions that I received is entited "En Prevision and other chamber works by Sima Wolf".  The music is lyrical and enjoyable, and for anyone looking for something new, might well be worth the investment in time and money to explore.

She has studied, by the way, with such notable composers as Terry Riley and John Corligiano, and teaches piano and composition in New York.

According to the information sent with the CD, the disk is available at CD Baby, as well as Amazon and iTunes.

I didn't even know there was a Lute Society of America--much less that they make lutes available to those who want to try out the instrument.  They offer a lute rental program for those who might like to get their hands on one, but don't have access.

You can go to the Society home page by clicking here, and find out about the lute rental program and all the other things they offer.

I recently received in the mail a book entitled Ghost in the Key of A, a novel for young people about the power of music.

The story revolves around Priscilla Villanueva, a young girl who find herself practicing the piano while all the other kids are outside playing--and she can hear them.  Frustrated with practicing, she bangs the piano with both hands just to make noise.  When her mother comes in to get her back on track, she accuses her mother of torturing her by making her practice.

This scenario is not totally unfamiliar to a lot of young people who struggle to maintain their interest in learning to play an instrument.  Many succumb to the appeal of being out playing with their friends instead of recognizing the long-term value of practice.

Patricia's mother tries to help her understand.  When the door is closed, she begins to practice again--somewhat against her will--and finds that a low A on the keyboard is stuck.  But then something strange happens, as the sound from the key grows louder and louder, and suddenly "the translucent image of a man in a tuxedo with pompadoured hair" appears.  His name is Pythagoras, and he is there to teach Priscilla all about music.

Priscilla's father had never been terribly interested in seeing her pursue music, but thanks to the help of Pythagoras, in the end a secret about him comes out, Priscilla learns to love music, and she and her father develop a much closer relationship as a result.

As one who is always interested in finding ways to encourage young people to explore music, I applaud the author's efforts.  I found the book a charming little tale, and suspect a lot of youngsters might relate to Priscilla, even if they don't have their own Pythagoras to help.

You can learn more about the author and the book by clicking here.

Robert Nagel was a founding member of the New York Brass Quintet and an influential teacher, composer, and arranger.

He passed away June 5 at the age of 91.

You can read more about him here.

Flutist and conductor Ransom Wilson has a new conducting gig--he'll be the new Music Director and Conductor of the Redlands Symphony in Redlands, CA.  His first concert with the orchestra will be October 8, 2016.  The program will focus on the music of Czech composers.

The orchestra has much more on their web site, which can be found here.



Yannick Nezet-Seguin will become the new conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  He will phase in his duties there over the next few years.

In the meantime, he'll maintain his position as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra until at least the 2025-26 season.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has details here.