Author: Mike Rush

The CBC Virtual Orchestra—a newly formed ensemble of 36 musicians from 28 different Canadian orchestras—will perform the virtual world premiere of Vivian Fung’s Prayer, on July 1, 2020, Canada Day. Prayer was commissioned by CBC Music and led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal. CBC Music and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra organized the premiere, which will be broadcast and streamed on CBC radio stations and website. Fung wrote the new piece during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Under no other circumstance in the past (or probably in the future) have I worn my heart on my sleeve as transparently as I have with this piece,” says Fung. “In the end, I chose a chant from my composer heroine Hildegard von Bingen as inspiration for my prayer.” The premiere will be broadcast and streamed at various points on July 1: at 7 a.m. ET at CBC.ca/music; on CBC Radio One and via the CBC Listen app at 7:45 a.m. local time; and on CBC Music and via the CBC Listen app at 12:50 p.m. local time.

“As the coronavirus pandemic endures … if concerts are to go forward with social distancing restrictions in place, they will have to include not just fewer listeners, but also fewer players,” writes Zachary Woolfe in Tuesday’s (6/16) New York Times. “What will those fewer players play? Chamber standbys, surely: the original 13-person ‘Appalachian Spring’; string-ensemble works like Barber’s Adagio and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade; Bach’s ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos. But what about more varied fare? … In a live-streamed panel discussion on Thursday … several innovative chamber orchestras will share repertory ideas.” The online event was hosted by American Composers Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. The Times’s music critics propose works for an orchestra no bigger than 40 musicians “with six feet or so between string players—and rather more for winds and brasses.” Suggestions include Pierre Boulez’s Éclat, Ethel Smyth’s Serenade in D, Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc, Mozart’s Notturno for Four Orchestras, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Battalia, Alvin Singleton’s Again, Olga Neuwirth’s Lost Highway Suite, Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1, Kurt Weill’s Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Strauss’s Metamorphosen, Anthony Braxton’s Composition No. 147, Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, and Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 (“Farewell”).

“A wide variety of relief organizations have sprung up since March to provide financial and other types of COVID-19–related assistance to those in need in the music world,” writes Jane L. Levere on Wednesday (6/17) at NYC classical radio station WQXR. “Some funds—such as Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New Music Solidarity Fund, and The Actors Fund— are national. Artist Relief Tree is helping artists worldwide, while the Sony Corporation also has established a global relief fund.… New York and Los Angeles chapters of the American Federation of Musicians union are providing COVID-19 relief assistance to members, while arts groups in states across the country also are offering aid. Some symphony orchestras—such as Maine’s Portland Symphony Orchestra, Missouri’s Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and North Carolina’s Winston-Salem Symphony—have established their own COVID-19 relief funds…. The New Music Solidarity Fund was launched via the efforts of Marcos Balter, Julia Bullock, Claire Chase, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Du Yun, Reena Esmail, Judd Greenstein, Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman, Christian Reif, Christopher Rountree, Caroline Shaw, Conrad Tao, Seth Parker Woods, and New Music USA. It is extending help to less-secure individuals within the new-music community.” The article provides extensive links to pandemic relief funds for the performing arts.

“With concerts canceled since early March because of the coronavirus pandemic and income already reduced by $4 million, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is putting in place salary cuts and furloughs for the administrative staff,” write Scott Cantrell in Thursday’s (6/17) Dallas Morning News. “The cuts do not affect the musicians. Effective July 6, administrative salaries will be cut between 2.5% and 12.5%. Calling the moves ‘a very difficult decision,’ president and CEO Kim Noltemy will take a 25% pay cut. Sixteen staff positions will be furloughed. ‘Our goal is for the furloughs to extend for no longer than six months,’ Noltemy said…. ‘These employees will be able to keep their medical coverage.’ Noltemy added, ‘With no ticket income for concerts from May 9 through the end of June, these changes are necessary to maintain our financial equilibrium.’ … The orchestra has been adding audio and video recordings to its website, mydso.com, and groups of musicians have been playing informal concerts outside homes and apartment complexes. The Dallas Opera earlier announced staff salary reductions between 10% and 25%, and some staff furloughs…. The opera company and Cliburn Concerts … will not resume performances until 2021. The DSO has not yet announced schedule changes.”

“Pittsburgh arts patrons are nothing if not loyal,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Wednesday’s (6/17) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Music, theater and ballet lovers are purchasing subscriptions for performances that may be postponed depending on COVID-19 health guidelines. Ticket buyers are donating the cost of tickets to previously canceled performances to arts organizations and new donors have stepped up…. More than 100 new contributors have chosen to donate to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra…. Subscription sales for its classical and pops series are only behind by about 13% and 20%, respectively, compared to last year… ‘I’ve had conversations with several subscribers who said that they’ll continue subscribing even if they don’t feel safe coming back to the hall,’ said Melia Tourangeau, the PSO’s president and CEO…. No one is sure yet about how performances can begin to happen safely.… The PSO, Cultural Trust, opera and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre are all planning to launch as usual even while closely monitoring COVID-19 guidelines…. Under current CDC and state guidelines, only about 54 musicians out of close to 100 in the Pittsburgh Symphony could fit on stage in Heinz Hall to perform safely. ‘We have to make decisions relatively soon about this one way or another,’ Ms. Tourangeau said.”

“On Thursday, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center announced they would cancel their fall seasons,” writes Sarah Bahr in Thursday’s (6/18) New York Times. “Lincoln Center … anticipates over $1.3 million in lost ticket revenue from the cancellation of fall events, Isabel Sinistore, a spokeswoman, said…. She added that the center had seen about $13 million in lost revenue … since the pandemic began. The center has furloughed or laid off approximately half its staff, and its leadership team has taken salary cuts. Synneve Carlino, a spokeswoman for Carnegie Hall, said the hall is projecting a deficit of approximately $8 million for the fiscal year ending June 30.… Those losses will be partially offset by furloughs of approximately 50 of the hall’s 274 full-time employees who had still been working this spring…. There will be pay cuts for all employees making over $75,000 a year. The hall tentatively plans to reopen its three theaters on Jan. 7, 2021, and Lincoln Center aims to follow on Feb. 6. Carnegie’s opening night gala, originally scheduled for Oct. 7, will become a virtual celebration on a date to be announced…. On Thursday, New York City Ballet announced that it, too, would close for the fall.”

Nevada’s Reno Chamber Orchestra has been posting “(Stay) At Home with the RCO” online concerts by orchestra musicians and staff every week on its Facebook page. The series launched on May 2 with a performance by oboist Rong-Huey Liu. The most recent concert features Joseph Peterson, the RCO’s director of operations and artistic planning, who is also a second trombone for the Reno Philharmonic. Peterson performs a Leonard Bernstein composition written in memory of a beloved dog and also performs with RCO Executive Director Thom Mayes on double bass. Each new “(Stay) At Home with the RCO” concert remains posted on Facebook for a week.

“Interlochen Center for the Arts is sad to announce that longtime Arts Camp and Arts Academy Oboe Instructor Daniel Stolper passed away on June 8, 2020. He was 85,” reads an unsigned statement on Wednesday (6/9) at Interlochen’s website. “Stolper first arrived at Interlochen Arts Camp as an instructor of oboe in the summer of 1970 and joined the Arts Academy faculty in 1972. He retired in 2017 after more than 45 years of service to the institution…. The oboe teaching studio in Interlochen’s new Music Center is … named in his honor… During his time as a pedagogue at Interlochen, Stolper taught hundreds of students…. His former students include William Welter and Lora Schaefer of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Keisuke Wakao of the Boston Symphony; David Matthews of the Dallas Symphony; Nicholas Stovall and Kathryn Wilson of the National Symphony; and Scott Bell of the Pittsburgh Symphony, among others…. Stolper was professor emeritus of oboe at Michigan State University and maintained an active career as a performer. He held principal positions with the San Antonio Symphony, New Orleans Philharmonic, and Lansing Symphony. He studied under Robert Louis Sprenkle at Eastman School of Music with additional studies with John Mack and Marcel Tabuteau.”