The new deadline for a settlement to be reached is Sunday night.
As reported earlier, a federal mediator was brought in to help resolve the situation at the MET, and on orders from the mediators, a financial review has been underway. The results of that audit are almost ready and talks will resume.
The new deadline for a settlement to be reached is Sunday night.
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That was the question I was faced with recently as my radio station had to divest itself of its vinyl holdings.
I talked to a number of folks in the record business, and eventually we put the collection up for auction through our University's surplus department. During the process I learned a lot about what's valuable to collectors and what isn't, what's marketable, and that sort of thing. And then today I read about a Brazilian gentleman who is probably the world's most avid collector of vinyl records--by his own account, probably owning several million records. The story about him is here. Due to financial problems, the Sacramento (CA) Philharmonic and Sacramento Opera will have no concerts this fall, and may not in the spring.
This will make Sacramento the only city of its size with no active orchestra. I suppose it was about a year ago that Hilary Hahn released her CD of "encores"--a collection of 27 short pieces that she commissioned. Or at least 26 of the 27 pieces were commissions. She had a contest for the 27th piece--composers were encouraged to submit a piece, and she chose one to be the 27th piece on the disk.
At any rate, the Baltimore Symphony--perhaps taking a cue from Hilary--is commissioning 10 composers to write pieces of 2 to 3 minutes for their 2016 season. The twist is that they're soliciting ideas from the public to help inspire the composers. Ideas must be described in 100 words or less, and ideally would be geared around local history as this will be the ce There's a new foundation created for the purpose of supporting American music. It's called the American Music Project--founded just this month by Lawrence A. Johnson. It it, of course, a non-profit and it's purpose is twofold: to support and underwrite performances of American music of the past, and to commission new works from American composers. The first round of performance grants will be awarded for the 2015-16 season. The foundation isn't looking to support performances of well-known works, but rather to introduce audiences to American composers and works they may not be familiar with. The application form will appear online after September 1. More information can be found here. The website showbiz411.com is reporting on a new project Elton John is working on with HBO and producer Alan Ball entitled "Virtuoso".
Here's a little of the description: "The show would be called “Virtuoso” and centers around young musicians in an elite academy in Vienna circa 1790. The academy is run by our old friend from “Amadeus,” Mozart’s nemesis Antonio Salieri. There’s lots of music, ruffled shirts and sex of all kinds. There are probably a lot of candelabras set on ornate pianos, too. Knowing Ball, a whole universe will be set up for the musicians, the teachers, and the wealthy music patrons of Vienna. Sounds like there might be a lot of private recitals and lessons, as well." Reportedly they're looking right now for good looking young males and females who can p In addition to being the national repository for all things published, the Library of Congress in Washington DC hosts a concert series each year.
Among the offerings this season will be a series of concerts and symposia celebrating the Irving Fine Centennial and an all-star field of chamber-music artists, including the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Chiara String Quartet, with both ensembles performing on the Library’s Stradivari instruments. Several special evenings bring together distinguished artists for one-of-a-kind concerts, including musicians well-known to chamber audiences – pianist Wu Han, cellist David Finckel, violist Paul Neubauer and violinist Daniel Hope – offering piano quartets by Mozart, Brahms and a very young Gustav Mahler. Two of Great Britain’s favorite chamber music partners – tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake – offer a new take on Schubert’s song cycle “Winterreise,” paired with the U.S. launch of Bostridge’s forthcoming book on the songs. The Library has a tradition of supporting contemporary music, and so five Library commissions will receive their premieres this season. These include new works by John Adams (St. Lawrence String Quartet), Jefferson Friedman (Chiara String Quartet and Simone Dinnerstein), Jennifer Higdon (Robert Spano, Roberto Díaz, Curtis Chamber Orchestra), George Lewis (Ensemble Dal Niente) and Kaija Saariaho (Jennifer Koh, Anssi Karttunen and Benjamin Hochman). “Concerts from the Library of Congress” has joined forces with two new collaborators for the 2014-2015 season. The Library Late series is now presented in association with BrightestYoungThings, a web magazine and event production-experiential marketing agency based in Washington, D.C. and New York City. In addition, BrightestYoungThings and DC blog DCist present a new film series, “Film Nights with Pat Padua.” Taking advantage of the unparalleled film collections at the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., Padua will introduce and screen films in two mini-series: “Directed by Ken Russell” and “The 80s: The Decade That Musicals Forgot.” Finally, there will be numerous special lectures, panels, interviews and conversations with performers, composers and scholars. Technofiles explores how technology affects the ways we create, perform and experience music. Tony Award-winning playwright and songwriter Stew (“Passing Strange”) talks with The Studio Theatre’s Adrien-Alice Hansel about his work. The popular #DECLASSIFIED series returns, offering up intimate encounters with artifacts and ideas: “mano a mano y mano a mano” (piano duet treasures from the Library’s archives); “Musical Lobbyists”; “IRENE”; and “Fly Space: Inside the Minds of Theatrical Directors and Designers.” The concert series this year will open on October 11 with Mavis Staples. More information on the series can be found here. Remember what I said a few days ago about directors recasting works into more contemporary settings?
I really couldn't believe that the Santa Fe Opera would set Beethoven's Fidelio in a WWII concentration camp. But I was wrong... Read the article about it in the New York Times here. Both sides in the Metropolitan Opera dispute have agreed to a 72-hour cooling off period while a federal mediator is attempting to break the impasse.
Negotiations began this morning. I'm sure all sides are hopeful a deal can be reached. |
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