Author: bfc-admin

“Conductor Lan Shui, who has taken the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to new heights during his 20 years as music director, announced yesterday that he would step down in January 2019 after the orchestra’s 40th anniversary,” writes Akshita Nanda in Thursday’s (1/12) Straits Times (Singapore). “The China-born Singapore permanent resident, who turns 60 this year, said he wants to spend more time with his wife and two sons, aged 11 and eight months. Shui broke the news to the orchestra during rehearsals for Friday’s near-sold-out Beethoven Gala concert. Packed halls are among the positive changes attributed to him…. Under Shui’s baton, the SSO has gone from a promising national ensemble to winning international acclaim…. At home, SSO concerts are 85 per cent sold out. Its free open-air performances at the Botanic Gardens attract up to 8,000 concertgoers at a time…. He has been divesting himself of orchestral titles…. He was chief conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic from 2007 to 2015, and recently concluded a five-year period as artistic adviser to the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra…. It will take up to three years to find a replacement and the orchestra [musicians] will be involved in the discussions.”

Posted January 12, 2017

“Feeling a little post-holiday blue? C’est la vie,” writes Grace Dickinson in Tuesday’s (1/10) Philadelphia Inquirer. “Get ready for a Parisian adventure—pricey plane fare not required. Starting Thursday to Jan. 27, the Philadelphia Orchestra will host the Paris Festival, a special series of performances devoted to the City of Light’s rich mix of artistic influences and sounds.…. Book a ticket to one of the concerts at the Kimmel Center, then … treat yourself to a luxurious dinner at [one of the city’s French-themed restaurants]. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s music director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, strives to fill the biting month of January with the bright images and sounds of Paris. Drawing on works by Chabrier, Chopin, Stravinsky, and other esteemed composers, Nezet-Seguin offers up a musical narrative that celebrates aspects of artistic life found throughout present-day Paris and its history…. Take a post-meal walk around Rittenhouse Square … where you’ll find ‘Lion Crushing a Serpent,’ an 1832 bronze cast sculpture from Parisian-born artist Antoine-Louis Barye.” The article explores the city’s French-themed dining, events, and opportunities in the context of the orchestra’s Paris Festival.

Posted January 12, 2017

League President and CEO Jesse Rosen was interviewed on Wednesday’s (1/11) Creative Confidential, a weekly podcast about the intersection of arts and commerce hosted by Bryan Tuk, a jazz musician, attorney, and board member of Pennsylvania’s Allentown Symphony Orchestra. The wide-ranging conversation includes such topics as the position smaller-budget orchestras occupy in their communities, the role of orchestras during a time of cultural change, reaching younger audiences, and new developments in composing and repertoire. Tuk and Rosen also talk about Rosen’s own professional and artistic journey.

Posted January 12, 2017

“Robert Moody said Tuesday that he will step down as music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony in May 2018,” writes Lynn Felder in Tuesday’s (1/10) Winston-Salem Journal (N.C.). “Moody is leaving to focus on his work with the Memphis Symphony, where he became principal conductor in September.” He has led the Winston-Salem Symphony since 2005. A nineteen-member search committee “will hold its first meeting this month. Board members Malcolm Brown, who chaired the search committee that hired Moody, and James Dossinger, who also served on that committee, will lead the search for Moody’s replacement.” The music director position “will be posted in the spring with applications due in early summer. The applicant pool will most likely be reduced…to five finalists and one alternate by the end of the year. During the 2018-19 season, each finalist will conduct at least one Classics concert weekend, between September 2018 and the spring of 2019.” Moody “said that he plans to maintain his home in Cornelius [N.C] on Lake Norman, commuting to Memphis.” He will step down as music director of Maine’s Portland Symphony Orchestra at the end of 2017-18 season but continue as artistic director of Arizona Musicfest, which takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Posted January 12, 2017

“Overseas touring has been integral to the operation of the Chicago Symphony since 1971, when Georg Solti took the orchestra on a six-week, nine-country swing through the cultural citadels of Europe,” writes John von Rhein in Wednesday’s (1/11) Chicago Tribune. “The CSO’s latest Continental invasion [is] a tight 11-concert, seven-city, two-week swing through France, Germany, Denmark and Italy that’s set to launch Friday in Paris…. ‘International touring enables us to represent Chicago and its vibrant arts and culture community … and to maintain our ranking among the world’s greatest symphonic ensembles,’ said Jeff Alexander, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association…. This weekend … the Chicago Symphony will become the first foreign orchestra to perform in the three-week opening festival of Hamburg’s … Elbphilharmonie…. Various educational and outreach activities supported by the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute will occupy CSO players in several tour cities. In Paris, two members will perform for hospital patients, and six orchestra principals will give master classes at the National Conservatory for Music and Dance.” Says Music Director Riccardo Muti, “You don’t build on your reputation as one of the world’s greatest orchestras by playing only to local admirers. The orchestra must physically be there.” 

Posted January 12, 2017

Pictured: Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Vienna, 2014. Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Symphony Orchestra Augusta has selected three finalists for its music director position, with each candidate scheduled to conduct the orchestra in spring 2017. The three are Peter Rubardt, music director of the Pensacola Symphony, Meridian Symphony, and Gulf Coast Symphony; Steven Jarvi, who recently finished his tenure as resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and music director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra; and Dirk Meyer, music director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of the North, in Duluth. The finalists were chosen by a committee comprising community members, musicians, staff, and board members. They will conduct concerts on February 25 (Rubardt), March 18 (Jarvi), and April 22 (Meyer). The search process began in September 2016, after Shizuo Z. Kuwahara stepped down as music director.

Posted January 11, 2017

At non-traditional venues in New York City, classical music “is thriving,” writes Rebecca Dalzell in Tuesday’s (1/10) Washington Post. “The current wave dates to 2008, when Le Poisson Rouge opened in Greenwich Village. It took the then-radical stance that Bach and beer could coexist, hosting string quartets in a cabaret setting… National Sawdust, an artist-run nonprofit venue … opened in fall 2015 in Williamsburg….  The level of musicianship is also high at Tertulia, a group that brings chamber musicians to restaurants. Julia Villagra, 33, started organizing the occasional concerts in 2011 [which have attracted] members of the International Contemporary Ensemble [and the chamber ensemble] Decoda…. Last year, the New York Philharmonic launched an itinerant series called ‘Off the Grid,’ hosting free concerts in unconventional locations. Its ensembles have played at a used bookstore, a rooftop bar and an Indian restaurant…. Funded by an audience-building grant from the Wallace Foundation in 2015, the series began as an experiment, but [Philharmonic President Matthew] VanBesien says that it is likely to continue.” Also covered are Groupmuse, which hosts chamber-music house parties nationally, and Loft Opera, which performs in Brooklyn warehouses. 

Posted January 11, 2017

“You may never hear Bach the same way again. Not if you attend the event announced Tuesday by the Cleveland Orchestra and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage,” writes Zachary Lewis in Tuesday’s (1/10) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “On Sunday, March 5, Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst will preface his spring performances of Bach’s St. John Passion with a panel discussion titled ‘Is Bach’s St. John Passion Anti-Semitic?’ The event … at Temple-Tifereth Israel … is free and open to the public…. The panel will seek to answer a question long asked about the St. John Passion, one of Bach’s greatest and most dramatic but also most controversial works…. Welser-Möst will headline the discussion along with Rabbi Roger Klein, associate rabbi at Temple-Tifereth Israel, and Michael Marissen, professor emeritus of music at Swarthmore College and author of ‘Bach and God.’ David Rothenberg, chair of the music department at Case Western Reserve University, will moderate…. Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra are slated to perform the St. John Passion [in March] at Severance Hall [with] the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus; tenors Maximilian Schmitt and Nicholas Phan; bass-baritones Andrew Foster-Williams and Michael Sumuel; soprano Lauren Snouffer; and counter-tenor Iestyn Davies.”

Posted January 11, 2017

“On Wednesday, Segerstrom Center for the Arts officially will start in on plans for a redesigned central plaza and new entrance to the Judy Morr Theater,” writes Antoine Boessenkool in Tuesday’s (1/10) Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA). Segerstrom is the main performance venue for the Pacific Symphony, and regularly hosts other U.S. and international orchestras. “The project aims to expand the center’s reach, attract new audiences and create a ‘town square’ where people can gather for free events and relax in green spaces with food from a new outdoor cafe. The idea is to make the center welcoming to a wider swath of the community.… The goal is to finish construction by October or November, said Segerstrom Center President Terrence W. Dwyer,” and $46 million has been raised toward a $70 million fundraising goal. Also planned is Segerstrom’s Center Without Boundaries, “an effort to expand community outreach [including] dance and movement classes for children with disabilities.… Free performances are planned on at least 25 or 30 weekends a year…. Someone might spend time in the plaza before going to a Pacific Symphony performance or come just for the free event, Dwyer said.”

Posted January 11, 2017

“A visit to the striking new Elbphilharmonie concert hall, built on top of a massive brick warehouse overlooking the harbor in Hamburg, begins with a four-minute ride through a white tube sequined with thousands of reflective discs,” writes Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in Wednesday’s (1/11) New York Times. “Initial plans by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron were priced at 186 million euros (about $197 million), with the opening scheduled for 2010. After a succession of delays, revisions and legal disputes, the final bill for the city came to 798 million euros (about $843 million).… With the inaugural concert coming on Wednesday and featuring the NDR Symphony Orchestra, newly renamed the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the city hopes to prove both the cost and the wait were worth it.… Seats have been snapped up within hours of going on sale.” Resident ensembles include the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hamburger Symphoniker, and visitors include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during opening week and the New York Philharmonic in April. “The complex, part of the $12 billion, 400-acre HafenCity waterfront development zone, includes not only concert and recital halls, but also a hotel and luxury apartments.”

Posted January 11, 2017