March 2011
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“Musicians are usually not willing to withdraw their copyrights and their control...”
– Truth, from the Kickstarter mission statement for the fabulous Open Goldberg Variations, a project worthy of your support if you care about digital accessibility in the arts or even just the timeless music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
[My colleagues in the orchestra business will have to come around...
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Hear my performances at a SoundCloud-powered audio showcase I put together over the weekend [using code by Lee Martin].
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“The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.”
– Seth Godin, via James Nord
Orchestras: When it comes to programming and presentation we need to stop worrying so much about being wrong.
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Out of tune →
This excellent piece from LEO Weekly offers the most balanced and informative reporting I’ve seen so far on the difficult financial situation at the Louisville Orchestra. [Disclosure: I have been the orchestra’s resident conductor since 2008.]
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Local culture
I’ve said it before and will say it again: despite all the hype surrounding LA Phil music director Gustavo Dudamel the orchestra’s tremendous success has much more to do with his predecessor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Here’s why:
‘Coming out of Europe, from very Boulezian circles—with all due respect, of course—and coming to LA with this somewhat arrogant Eurocentric idea that,...
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#askacomposer
The second Twitter Q+A hosted by @askthemusicians took place yesterday and appears to have been as successful and enlightening as December’s #askaconductor. I used Storify to collect composer responses to my open question about orchestras and new music.
I’m a bit surprised noone suggested that institutions and conductors might serve as effective advocates for composers via their...
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WatchCasting around the webs for Britten-related material I came across this slick mini-documentary on a 2010 touring program presented by the Britten Sinfonia. Not only did the ensemble and guest artists Mark Padmore and Pekka Kuusisto travel with killer repertoire – including the two pieces highlighted here, Britten’s sublime Les Illuminations and Nico Mulhy’s new Impossible Thing...
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“When Jason comes out into the audience after the performance and mingles with...”
– Since education and engagement with young people are among my top priorities as an artistic director and performer I try to periodically share responses to my work from students and teachers. The observation above came to the WCFSO office from a community advocate in a small northeast Iowa town who...
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Grimes! Grimes! →
An excerpt from one of the best chapters of Alex Ross’ fantastic history of 20th-century music, The Rest Is Noise, on Benjamin Britten and his intensely powerful opera Peter Grimes. Even without the full text of the essay its audio excerpts are worth a listen, especially if you are planning to attend this weekend’s WCFSO performance of the Four Sea Interludes. Visit the Britten-Pears...