January 2011
18 posts
2 tags
Jan 31st
45 notes
2 tags
“In its present state, classical music in the American cultural landscape seems...”
– What Christopher O’Riley said. That his entry in this series of artist proposals for enlivening the classical music industry is the only one worth reading just underscores the cultural tone deafness that prevails in every corner of our business. While he’s on the topic of listening,...
Jan 31st
4 tags
WatchWatch
An artful making-of for an even more artful film, Suzie Templeton’s Oscar-winning stop motion Peter and the Wolf. This video piece was created to introduce screenings of the film that feature a live performance of Prokofiev’s score, which is what I’ll be doing tomorrow with the Louisville Orchestra.
Jan 30th
4 notes
3 tags
Jan 28th
3 notes
1 tag
Post Mozart →
All of my Mozart posts, in celebration of his 255th birthday. [Image from the Berlin State Library via symphonyno2inem]
Jan 28th
2 tags
Jan 22nd
2 tags
Jan 20th
3 tags
“Artists across genres and media are excitedly experimenting with ways to break...”
– LA Times critic Ann Powers describes the tech- and artist-driven revolution that has upended the music business over the past decade. A good read for my colleagues from the orchestra side of the biz, particularly those who still don’t see why it is so critical that ‘we all seek to define...
Jan 20th
1 tag
Jan 18th
6 tags
WatchWatch
Duke Ellington – Three Black Kings, MLK WCFSO – February 2010 A visual-orchestral tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King on the eighty-second anniversary of his birth, from one of the most memorable performances I’ve ever been a part of. [Many thanks to the Duke Ellington estate for permitting the use of his music in this project and to artist Gary Kelley for his inspiration and partnership in...
Jan 17th
12 notes
6 tags
Jan 15th
4 tags
Jan 14th
73 notes
1 tag
“Uninterested in the old formalities, impatient with the conventional rigmarole...”
– From a recent NY Times piece on temporary restaurants and their enterprising purveyors. I replaced the words ‘food’ and ‘restaurant’ with more general terms and wound up with an uncannily accurate description of the approach more and more of us in the classical music biz are...
Jan 10th
2 tags
Jan 8th
1 tag
“There will be NO free downloads there will be NO bonus tracks there will be NO...”
– Geoff Barrow on Twitter, laying out Portishead’s approach to its new record. [via Nikola Tamindzic, who left out Barrow’s punchline: ‘Just music and us’]
Jan 7th
106 notes
3 tags
Classical Music & Google →
The always thought-provoking Grant Charles Chaput of our very own Killing Classical Music here on Tumblr explores the state of Google autocomplete as it pertains to classical music. His findings are a bit rosier than mine.
Jan 7th
6 notes
1 tag
WatchWatch
Captivating illustration by Sol Linero for Waiting for ‘Superman’, a compelling new film about the challenges facing our public education system here in the US.
Jan 5th
2 tags
Best of 2011?
Rather than reflecting on last year I thought it might be refreshing to look ahead to this one. Here is what’s on tap for me at the WCFSO over the next few months: Collaborating with Chris Thile on his new mandolin concerto, Ad astra per alas porci → Lighting up Debussy and Britten, literally [with theatrical light sets] → Playing and conducting the Dvořák wind serenade in the Iowa...
Jan 3rd