This has already been a year of far too many final goodbyes, and this week, news came of another awful loss for the music world. One of my first violin teachers, and one of the very small circle of people … Continue reading →
More bad, but not unexpected, news; the Honolulu Symphony is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has canceled concerts through the end of the calendar year. I am heartsore. Honolulu is my home town, and the Symphony holds many memories for … Continue reading →
Last week, the Minnesota Orchestra played what will probably stand as the most difficult and exhausting program we’ll perform in this entire season. There were four major works to be gotten through, each one hugely challenging in its own way, … Continue reading →
Hip-hop might just beat out classical music as the most misunderstood and unfairly maligned musical genre in existence today. When I tell other classical musicians that I’m a hip-hop fan, the reaction tends to range from blank stares to outright … Continue reading →
We’ve successfully navigated through our first Inside the Classics concerts, which is a huge relief. We had the added pressure of creating a show that was radio-friendly (which meant, among other things, no sight gags and minimizing dead air, which … Continue reading →
I don’t know why it surprised me to discover that composer John Adams, whose music we half-seriously tied to Beethoven last week at Orchestra Hall, is, in addition to being a terrific composer, a hilarious and entertaining writer, but it … Continue reading →
Because the Inside the Classics series is meant to be something of an incubator for new ideas, we tend to do an awful lot of audience research, and we spend a lot of time discussing things like how to attract … Continue reading →
