On this, the last day of baseball’s regular season (unless you’re the White Sox, the Tigers, or the Twins,) let us take a moment to consider the North American practice of singing or playing national anthems before sporting events, a … Continue reading →
This week, our concerts feature an unusual centerpiece, at least for American audiences: Ralph Vaughan Williams outsized, hourlong extravaganza known as “A Sea Symphony.” The piece brings together a full orchestra, a pipe organ, a soprano soloist, a baritone soloist, … Continue reading →
…to the season opener concerts here with the Minnesota Orchestra from last week. Fresh off of a fairly recent blog discussion of applause between movements (scroll down to the comments), what did we get during the Friday evening performance of … Continue reading →
Over the weekend, some sad news hit the arts pages – Argentinian-born composer Mauricio Kagel has died, aged 76. In all likelihood, you’ve never heard of Kagel, since he was the very model of the anti-establishment, avant-garde composer, and as … Continue reading →
An eye-popping story happened across my computer screen earlier today – longtime Cleveland music critic Don Rosenberg has apparently been told by his bosses at the Plain Dealer that he will no longer be assigned to review Cleveland Orchestra concerts, … Continue reading →
No, not some sort of esoteric reference, but a neew arts website. Ruminations from the Orchestra’s first rehearsal of the season can be seen at the September 17 post, “the start of the season”. I like the sports analogy, which … Continue reading →
As many readers of the ItC blog have no doubt heard by now, the Minnesota Orchestra’s concertmaster of 20 years, Jorja Fleezanis, announced at this morning’s rehearsal that she will be leaving the orchestra next June, and devoting the remainder … Continue reading →
Classical musicians as fashion feature, no problem. But Playboy? I wonder if these “Sexy Babes of Classical Music” agreed to appear in this article/online poll, and what the winner of the poll receives?
Composer/critic Greg Sandow had an interesting post over at his ArtsJournal blog this weekend, positing, with photographic evidence, that the formal dress sported by orchestras is an outdated remnant of a time when ordinary citizens of a certain class dressed … Continue reading →
Well, we’re back to work again, and I just had my first rehearsal of the season, a lot of music to get through for a Season Sampler Concert tomorrow. Coming offstage after quite a workout, I thought of an article … Continue reading →
