Category: News Briefs

In Tuesday’s (5/26) Wall Street Journal, Barbara Jepson writes, “Eighty-year-old Stanley Drucker, who retires next month as principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic after a record-setting 60-year tenure, is part of an international orchestral elite of ‘star’ section leaders—players who flawlessly execute solo passages in symphonic scores and shine in the concerto spotlight as well. His name may not be familiar, but his fluid, aptly cheeky rendering of the famous glissando clarinet opening of Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ has been enjoyed by millions who saw the Woody Allen film ‘Manhattan.’ His recordings of concertos by Aaron Copland and John Corigliano with the Philharmonic won him Grammy nominations.” Drucker gives his final concerto appearances (playing the Copland) with the Philharmonic beginning next week under retiring music director Lorin Maazel. “His own playing is notable for its seamless legato, heartfelt expressivity, tonguing precision and clarity of sound. He has performed nearly 200 times as soloist, and given the premieres of concertos by Mr. Corigliano and William Bolcom, commissioned for him by the Philharmonic. An archival exhibit of memorabilia about the clarinetist is on display at Fisher Hall through Aug. 15.”

Posted May 26, 2009

Photo credit: Michael DiVito

In Monday’s (5/25) Salt Lake Tribune (Utah), David Burger writes, “The Utah Symphony was born in 1940 during the Great Depression as a Works Project Administration group, so its musicians and administrators are determined not to let another economic downturn derail the state’s premiere performing-arts organization. ‘In times of economic crisis, people come together,’ said Melia Tourangeau, president and chief executive of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. Like all arts groups, US |UO has been pummeled by the recession, but the economics challenges have forged a closer relationship between the … administration and musicians as they partner to slash costs while trying to maintain the programming integrity—in the smallest-sized market in the country with a 52-week professional orchestra. The obstacles, however, are unlike anything the organization ever has faced. … Orchestra leaders held three days of strategic planning meetings earlier this week, coinciding with the completion of an annual audit that reveals the dire nature of US | UO’s epochal predicament. … In April, Tourangeau and Lockhart took a 10 percent salary cut (Tourangeau’s 2008 salary was $200,000; Lockhart’s in 2006 was $285,000), while symphony musicians voted to give back 11.5 percent of their salaries and benefits.” The board has also been stepping up its fund-raising efforts.

Posted May 26, 2009

Photo: Music Director Kieth Lockhart conducts the Utah Symphony
Credi: Utah Symphony

In Friday’s (5/22) Guardian (London), Joanna McGregor, artistic director of the Bath International Music Festival, writes, “This year—15 July, to be precise—is Harrison Birtwistle’s 75th birthday. It seemed a good idea—well, absolutely vital—for us at the Bath International Music Festival to mark the occasion with some kind of celebration. But what started out as one concert quickly became several performances of different shapes and sizes, not all of them conventional. We have a theatre group retelling classic myths for children, an installation of electronic music in the ghostly workshops of the Museum of Bath at Work, an open-air marching band, big percussion pieces and intimate chamber works. All this climaxes in a big, ritualistic extravaganza of choral and brass music at Bath Abbey, with 70 performers. … It’s easy to label Birtwistle a ‘hard’ composer. Some readers might remember switching on the Last Night of the Proms a few years ago for a comforting singalong only to be confronted by Panic, a sensational piece for sax, percussion and orchestra, which apparently traumatised the shires for several weeks afterwards. … But you don’t need to control the music, or fight it. If you let it happen, you’ll be surprised at how beautiful, deep and lyrical even the most challenging contemporary scores can be.”

Posted May 22, 2009

In Wednesday’s (5/20) Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Peter Harriman writes, “The Dakota Chamber Orchestra plays its part of ‘Black Hills Olowan’—horns, winds and strings playing short, sharp sounds, making dense music. How is this going to work, one wonders? Then, introduced by a flourish of jingling bells from the percussionist, Melvin D. Young Bear answers with a melodic wail, joined by the Porcupine Singers. … The Lakota Music Project, a collaboration four years in the making, will come to fruition this week when the Chamber Orchestra and Porcupine Singers tour South Dakota. The impetus for this occurred shortly after South Dakota Symphony Orchestra Maestro Delta David Gier came to Sioux Falls in 2004 and began inquiring about how the symphony could do outreach unique to South Dakota. … While Brent Michael David’s ‘Black Hills Olowan’ composition initially highlights distinctions between the two musical styles, there comes a point where they merge and follow the Lakota lead.”

Posted May 22, 2009

In Thursday’s (5/21) Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina), Jessica Goodman writes, “The Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra christened its new home with sweet notes Tuesday. The orchestra can now rehearse where they perform, in the Blue Ridge Conference Hall in the new Technology Education and Development Building on the Blue Ridge Community College campus. On Tuesday, musicians were rehearsing for the Youth Makes Music IV concert, to be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. ‘We’re very excited about this space,’ said Don Hupe, president of the HSO board of directors. The symphony has been ‘moving from venue to venue. This year we lost a lot of ticket sales because we didn’t perform in Hendersonville.’ … The room, though not designed with an orchestra in mind, allows the sound of Calvin Custer’s ‘An American Portrait,’ an arrangement of old American songs, to envelop every listener from every corner of the space. The new home provides the orchestra with storage areas and there’s ample parking outside, an asset lacking at Hendersonville High School, where the orchestra also has performed. The Blue Ridge building is also handicapped accessible.”

Posted May 22, 2009

In Friday’s (5/22) St. Petersburg Times (Florida), John Fleming reports, “The Florida Orchestra has laid off three staff members and instituted pay cuts for next season. ‘We didn’t really get hit by the recession until January,’ said president Michael Pastreich, adding that the orchestra has had a drop-off in single-ticket sales and donations in the troubled economy.” The cuts, which amount to $250,000 in savings, leave a staff of about 20. “The pay cuts start with the president, whose $175,000 salary will be reduced by 10 percent on July 1. Staffers making $75,000 or more will have their salaries cut 7.5 percent; those making $50,000 and more, 5 percent; and those making under $50,000 will have their pay frozen. … Fundraising has been tough, although the orchestra announced last week a gift of up to $100,000 from Raymond James Financial. … The orchestra’s ‘sustainability’ campaign for long-term stability is not likely to make this fiscal year’s goal of $20 million. So far, more than $14 million has been raised. … On the plus side, Pastreich said masterworks subscription sales for 2009-10 are ahead of where they were at this point last year.”

Posted May 22, 2009

In Friday’s (5/22) Washington Post, Mark J. Estren reports, “Christopher Zimmerman, whose well-thought-out program of Haydn, Sylvie Bodorová and Shostakovich earned him a standing ovation at his Fairfax Symphony Orchestra audition concert earlier this month, was named the FSO’s music director for the next three years by the orchestra’s Board of Directors last night. … Doing well all around will be a key to Zimmerman’s success. The FSO has an annual budget of $1.2 million, but gets less than $300,000 from ticket sales. The rest comes from Fairfax County, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Arts Council of Fairfax County—and from individuals, corporations and private foundations. Effective fundraising is a must, and Zimmerman knows it. … Of course, effective music making is also a must. Marian Egge, who chaired the 11-member search committee, said the group wanted someone ‘who would make the Fairfax Symphony into a treasure that people would really want to go to—the crown jewel of the community in terms of the arts.’ ”

Posted May 22, 2009

Photo: Christopher Zimmerman conducts the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Credit: Barry Wheeler

The San Francisco-based New Century Chamber Orchestra has announced details of its 2009-10 season, the second for the orchestra under Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Highlights for the string ensemble include the world premiere of Romanza, a violin concerto by William Bolcom, with Salerno-Sonnenberg as soloist. The orchestra has named Bolcom its Featured Composer for the season and will also perform his Serenata Notturna for Oboe and Strings, featuring soloist Laura Griffiths, and three of Bolcom’s piano rags arranged for strings. Other works scheduled for the four-program season include Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings; a new arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition by Clarice Assad; Bartók’s Roumanian Dances; and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, with tenor Brian Thorsett and horn player Kevin Rivard. The NCCO’s Featured Composer program, which commissions new works, was established in 2008-09 with Clarice Assad as the first selected composer. The NCCO performs four concerts per season at each of four venues: the First Congregational Church in Berkeley; First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto; the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco; and the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael.

Posted May 22, 2009

Photo of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg by Jim Block

Photo of William Bolcom by Katryn Conlin 

The Tenth Annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards took place at the Times Center in New York City on May 21, honoring achievements by composers, performers, conductors, and other concert-music figures. Radio host and performer Peter Schickele hosted the ceremonies, and presenters included Derek Bermel, John Corigliano, Stephen Paulus, Suzanne Vega, ASCAP’s John A. LoFrumento, and Cia Toscanini. Award recipients included composer/educator Jack Beeson; the So Percussion ensemble; Francisco J. Núñez, artistic director and founder of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City; and Kristin Lancino, vice president of G. Schirmer, Inc. The 2009 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards were given to 39 composers, who share prizes of approximately $45,000; an additional eight composers received honorable mentions. The 2009 ASCAP composer/judges were Samuel Adler, Eve Beglarian, Steven Burke, Daniel Felsenfeld, Charles Fussell, Michael Gordon, and Melinda Wagner. 
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is a non-profit performance rights organization that protects its members’ musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music. A complete list of honorees can be found here.

Posted May 22, 2009 

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival season will offer several new ticket-pricing options this season. Lawn/General Admission tickets now allow concertgoers to sit on the lawn or in newly designated General Admission areas in the rear corner sections of the Pavilion, an arrangement that adds 1,500 lower-priced seats in the Pavilion. Also new this season, children 12 and under will be admitted free to the lawn for all concerts (two per adult). The festival season runs during ten weekends from July 3 through September 6, with the Cleveland Orchestra performing concerts led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, as well as by Robert Porco, Tito Muñoz, Lionel Bringuier, David Zinman, Jahja Ling, Jayce Ogren, Jack Everly, James Gaffigan, Giancarlo Guerrero, George Daugherty, and Loras John Schissel. The summer season includes performances of symphonies by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, as well as evenings featuring the Joffrey Ballet, dancing to music by Khachaturian, Corelli, Cowell, Mahler, and Richard Rodgers; Sci-Fi music, with narrator George Takei, with music from Star Trek, Star Wars, E.T., and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; Rodgers & Hammerstein, with Broadway performers Christiane Noll, Aaron Lazar, and William Michals; and “Bugs Bunny on Broadway.”

Posted May 22, 2009