Ho Ho Ho!!!! The kids are all excited because Santa is coming. If the Big Guy manages to find our snow-laden chimney this year I’m a gonna ask him for the following 12 things for Classical Music:
Rants&Raves
CONDUCTOR SMACKDOWN! – More Musical Mistletoe Please!
How is it even possible that I like Christmas music? I am Jewish and I grew up (well the jury is still out on that one!) in Sydney Australia where at this time of year it’s 100 degrees. There, none of the songs such as Let it Snow, White Christmas but especially Baby It’s Cold Outside make any sense whilst having a Christmas barbecue on the beach! By the time this weekend is over, I will have conducted 30 Holiday concerts since November 23 including 2 productions of the Nutcracker and 5 … Continue Reading
Silence is golden…..
This will probably be my shortest post ever. Stop reading this blog and go here for another fabulous exposé of the myth of the Concert Hall as a sacred Temple.
More Jacksonville thoughts -Your mediator is already in the house!
It is a path well traveled and it always seems to lead to a dead end. An orchestra hires a shiny new Music Director. He or she is hailed by the staff, the board and the orchestra as the great unifier who will bring all parts of the organization together for the common purpose of bringing great music to a city, developing a unified mission for the community’s cultural and economic goals, the face, the voice, the one….yeah right!
Has anyone seen or heard from Fabio Mechetti?
Let me set one thing straight right off the bat: I am not calling Fabio out, well not exactly. He is not the problem. However, if the now paper thin assertions I mentioned above about the position of Music Director were actually true, he might be the solution because of the fact that a music director is a unified and many times unanimous choice…..
All roads do not lead to Rome!
Book me on the 6am, you never know what will happen in December but it will give me all day to get there if I need to find alternative routes…..
Concert in Rome NY at 8pm, Dec 10, starting point: Springfield MO.
Awake at 4:30am, 4 Airports, a cross-state car dash, an ice storm , snow, rain and semi-naked in the back of the car on the final leg! Concert Impossible!
Where Angels fear to tread……..
Artists are always amongst the first ones that totalitarian regimes suppress. It is the individuality that makes dictators nervous, and the ability through art to expose fundamental truths. The question arises today about the value of cultural exchanges between (relative) democracies and dictatorships. Is it worth while? The New York Philharmonic is about to find out.
Oh give me a break………
Comes today the stunning news from the L.A. Times that this generation of classical musicians actually listens to other music!!!! Even more amazing, we actually enjoy it and (shudder!!!!!) PLAY IT! I’m SHOCKED!! SHOCKED!!
Music in Airports…..
Those of you who do not know the genius producer Brian Eno well………. where have you been? A short list of those he has worked with: Peter Gabriel, Devo, Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads, David Byrne, Roxy Music, Depeche Mode, U2……. you get the picture. He is also a regular answer in Will Shortz’s New York Times Crossword puzzles. But he came into my mind for another reason lately: strolling through an airport.