This year marks the 75th anniversary of the American Dance Festival, held in Durham, NC. Eiko and Koma, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Pilobolus, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company are just a few of this year's performers. The Festival runs from June 5--July 19 and tickets go on sale May 5.
From the NY Times
Examining the Economics of Off Off Broadway
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: April 12, 2008
This week the New York Innovative Theater Foundation released what is intended to be the first of several studies of Off Off Broadway economics.
Hoping for a career as a performer? Ever wonder what life is like on the road or on stage? There are myriad examples of performers' blogs that will give you that look behind the scenes. One of my favorites is written by violinist Hilary Hahn. She posts updates as frequently as her schedule allows and outlines the "glamor" of arranging recitals, travel snafus, cranky conductors, and all of the good things too.
(From Playbillarts.com)
Lincoln Center Festival 2008
By Marilyn Stasio
18 Apr 2008
"Bold productions anchor this year's Lincoln Center Festival, which is scheduled to take place July 2–27. This year's lineup includes such names as Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Alan Cumming and Laurie Anderson."
Want to keep up with what's happening in the arts? The site ArtsJournal can help you do just that. With categories for: issues, dance, ideas, media, music, people, publishing, theatre, visual, and classifieds, there is something for everyone. We've included the links for the dance, music, and theatre categories in the right-hand column of this blog.
From the NYTimes
No Fortissimo? Symphony Told to Keep It Down
By SARAH LYALL
Published: April 20, 2008
A law that requires employers in Europe to limit workers’ exposure to noise has affected the repertories of orchestras.
From Macleans.ca
A debate over how to place orchestras' string sections heats up the classical music world
JAIME J. WEINMAN | April 23, 2008
Who says musicians don't need to understand physics?
From Chronicle of Higher Education
New Survey Will Examine What Makes Arts-School Graduates Succeed or Fail
By CAROLYN MOONEY
May 1, 2008
From the NY Times
And the Brass Ring Goes to Chicago Symphony: Riccardo Muti Says Yes
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: May 6, 2008
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has lured Riccardo Muti, one of a dwindling band of podium eminences.
At the Philharmonic, Musings About Muti
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: May 7, 2008
The announced union of Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra left 100 jilted suitors at Avery Fisher Hall.
From Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
Muti Goes Windy
May 7, 2008
A thought-provoking blog focusing on theatre and the performing arts from the UK's Guardian. I think this source is useful for several reasons, not least for its international perspective. Here are a few recent entries to illustrate:
Is Ballet's Future in America?
San Francisco Ballet's New Works Festival has been warmly received by an eager public. It makes English ballet look secretive and cautious
May 2, 2008 8:15 AM Judith Mackerell
Where are our black ballerinas?
Britain's ballet companies must start to look further than the white middle classes for their talent
April 10, 2008 12:30 PM Judith Mackerell
You can't have community theatre without a community
The postponement of a £100,000 flagship project at the Brighton festival raises urgent questions about who the work was actually for
May 2, 2008 6:00 PM Lyn Gardner
Should theatres listen to consultants?
An American consulting firm is offering statistical advice to programmers. Should playwrights be worried?
May 1, 2008 4:00 PM George Hunka
PS The Guardian also has a separate music blog here.
AP Story from MSNBC news
May 14, 2008
"Twenty-five selections were added to the National Recording Registry on Wednesday, part of the library's attempt to save America's aural history by archiving recordings deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
List and narratives about each title from the Library of Congress
May 14, 2008
Lend Me a Pick Ax: The Slow Dismantling of the Compositional Gender Divide
By Lisa Hirsch
Published: May 14, 2008
From NewMusicBox
National Endowment Salutes Opera (NYTimes)
By DANIEL J. WAKIN; Compiled by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Published: May 14, 2008
'Amistad' opera, Italy ties highlight Spoleto
By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 22, 3:44 PM ET
(Chicago theater) Community vibrant despite some cuts (Chicago Tribune)
By Chris Jones | Tribune critic May 25, 2008
From the 5/29/08 New Yorker by Alex Ross: The idea of using music in psychological warfare
Wuorinen on his Brokeback Mountain opera
ArtsWatch from PhillyNews
Posted by Peter Dobrin on June 9, 2008
An interview with American composer Charles Wuorinen, who has been commissioned by New York City Opera to write a work based on Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain.
Want to hear some jazz around town this summer? Want to hear about local jazz artists? Check out the C-U Jazz Blog.
'Oldest' computer music unveiled
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
'Dancing Plague' and Other Odd Afflictions Explained
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Aug. 1, 2008
In July of 1518, a woman referred to as Frau Troffea stepped into a narrow street in Strasbourg, France and began a fervent dancing vigil that lasted between four and six days. By the end of the week, 34 others had joined her and, within a month, the crowd of dancing, hopping and leaping individuals had swelled to 400.
Authorities prescribed "more dancing" to cure the tormented movers but, by summer's end, dozens in the Alsatian city had died of heart attacks, strokes and sheer exhaustion due to nonstop dancing.
Under the Needle: Family business ready for its encore
Mike Lewis
Seattle P-I
"The accordion was, post-war, the most popular instrument in America by far," Petosa said, sitting in his desk at Petosa's Accordions and Accordion Museum in Wallingford.
Back then, the legendary Dick Contino, a squeezebox prodigy from Fresno, Calif., ranked among the nation's most popular musicians, and only flamenco accompanists, lonely cowboys and luckless bluesmen plucked the guitar's limited sonic range.
Mark the Music: Singing Shakespeare at Glimmerglass
by Alex Ross
The New Yorker 8/18/08
"When composers have tried to set Shakespeare, they have run up against the problem that his verse creates music in the mind, next to which even the most inspired efforts may be found wanting. Nonetheless, the number of Shakespeare operas runs well into the hundreds."
When Opera is New and Unproved
By Anne Midgette
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 7, 2008
"In the ongoing quest to broaden opera's appeal, contemporary opera is one arrow in a sparely filled quiver. New operas are based on world events, current movies, popular books. Their music is written by funky living composers. And yet, earnest, thoughtful and filled with worthy music though they be, they seldom find the same resonance as art films, or literary fiction. In fact, people who go to see an opera based on a book they liked often come away disappointed."
Prime Berths for Composers Still at Work
The New York Times
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Published: September 5, 2008
"...many of today’s repertory staples would not exist if the major musical institutions of past eras had not championed living composers. It’s not enough today for leading opera companies, orchestras and concert halls to present new works. Ideally they need to commission and showcase pieces in ways that provide them with context and galvanize public attention."
Merce Cunningham
Sanjoy Roy, guardian.co.uk
Tuesday September 16 2008
In the first of a new series demystifying major choreographers and companies, Sanjoy Roy celebrates the work of Merce Cunningham: the Zen master of modern dance. Includes video clips.
Lost Mozart score found in France
BBC News Sept 18, 2008
A previously unknown piece of music by Mozart has been discovered at a library in western France.
The Trey McIntyre Project begins inaugural tour
By Susan Reiter, Special to The Times (LA)
September 21, 2008
"TREY MCINTYRE'S initial experience with ballet did not augur well for a career in dance. 'I would skip class a lot. My mom would drop me off, and I would go get a Slurpee next door.' Ballet class, to this 11-year-old in Wichita, Kan., 'felt so square and confining.'"
American Players will renew construction on black box theater
Posted: Sept. 20, 2008
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Damien Jaques
"At this time next year, American Players Theatre [just up the road, near Madison, WI] audiences will be attending productions indoors as well as out. The company's board of directors has voted to continue with previously announced plans to erect a 200-seat black box (flexible) all-weather conventional theater that will increase the number and range of productions the Spring Green company will offer audiences."
13 Academics Are Among 2008 MacArthur Fellows
Chronicle of Higher Education
By CAITLIN MORAN
9/23/08
Leila Josefowicz, 30, violinist, in New York. She captivates audiences with her technically precise and emotionally resonant performances of both traditional and contemporary works.
Walter Kitundu, 35, multimedia artist, Exploratorium, in San Francisco. He is an inventor of original musical instruments that navigate the boundary between live and recorded performance.
Alex Ross, 40, music critic, The New Yorker, New York. His writing captures the often elusive aesthetic and technical aspects of classical and contemporary music with clarity, grace, and wit.
Jennifer Tipton, 71, stage-lighting designer, in New York. Her distinctive, internationally recognized designs have redefined the relationship between lighting and performance.
Miguel Zenon, 31, saxophonist, in New York. He is a jazz musician who expands the boundaries of Latin and jazz music through his elegant and innovative collages.
Many of us rely on internet radio, whether a feed from a specific station, or through a service such as Pandora, to get through the day. Lately there has been legal action stirring around the issue of royalties and how they are structured/assessed against internet radio providers. If you want to follow the legalese, it is H.R. 7084 Webcaster Settlement Act.
Here are some related links:
Pandora, Webcasting appear headed for Senate victory (CNet)
Net radio bill passes House (CNet)
Philip Glass: Complex Minimalist
NPR Morning Edition October 3, 2008
"The music of Phillip Glass elicits an array of opinions. Some love it; some don't. Some just don't get it. When he sat down to talk with Morning Edition host Renee Montagne about a new 10-CD retrospective of his work, he said that last reaction was true of some of his early music."
Sphinx looks to change makeup of U.S. orchestras
By John von Rhein | Chicago Tribune critic
October 3, 2008
For decades, professionals in classical music have furrowed their brows over the lack of minority representation in the player rosters of U.S. symphony orchestras. Although minorities have made tremendous strides in many other fields, African-Americans and Latinos make up only 1.7 to 1.8 percent of professional American orchestras, according to the most recent survey by the League of American Orchestras.
A Clothing Shop Moves Up, and a Dance Company Must Move Out
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: October 7, 2008
After 20 years, the Paul Taylor Dance Company is being evicted from its home in SoHo to make way for a new Banana Republic.
From Paris, an ad hoc, urban ballet
by Simon Marks
International Herald Tribune
October 14, 2008
"The idea was to travel across the urban landscape as gracefully, intelligently and dynamically as possible. The practitioners - "traceurs," from the French verb "tracer," meaning to trail - were supposed to adapt to their environment in order to manipulate it in creative ways. Sixteen years on, they can be seen pulling off anything from gutsy leaps from roof tops to sublime balancing acts on metal railings."
A thought-provoking article about the language of music from the perspective of different musical camps, from the blog of Minnesota Orchestra violist Sam Bergman.
"In yesterday's post, I talked a bit about conductors and arrangers who "speak the language" of orchestra musicians, and how important that can be to the success of a non-classical orchestra performance. And that got me thinking back to an uncomfortable experience I had several years ago, during one of the early years of our Composers' Institute."
A Ferment of World Jazz Yields a Trove of Tapes
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: October 21, 2008
NY Times
The Creative Music Studio here remains underdocumented and little understood. But a definitive history of jazz in the 1970s — a book yet to be written — ought to give it central importance.
During the dawning years of jazz education the studio, run out of various repurposed settings — a barn, a Lutheran youth camp, a motel — was the unmusic school, roughly analogous to Black Mountain College, the progressive school in North Carolina that brought together avant-garde writers, dancers and painters in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
'Chasing Light': Music Made For 50 States
By Jeff Lunden
NPR's All Things Considered, November 3, 2008
"It isn't every day that a small community orchestra gets to play a new work by a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer [Joseph Schwantner]. But that's what's happening now — and over the course of the next year and a half — in all 50 states. First up was the Reno Chamber Orchestra."
How dangerous is drum making?
BBC News Magazine
Monday, 3 November 2008
"A second drum maker in two years has died after apparently inhaling anthrax spores from animal skins. What are the risks of this seemingly safe job?"
Re-creating great performances
Speaker bio and more links
"Imagine hearing great, departed pianists play again today, just as they would in person. John Q. Walker demonstrates how recordings can be analyzed for precise keystrokes and pedal motions, then played back on computer-controlled grand pianos"
3 Academics and a Student Chorus Are Among Recipients of National Medals
Chronicle of Higher Education
By REEVES WIEDEMAN
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
"...the Fisk Jubilee Singers were among four organizations honored [with National Medals of Arts]. The group, a student chorus at Fisk University, received an arts medal for preserving African-American spirituals.
The Presser Foundation, which provides grants to undergraduate and graduate students of music, also received an arts medal. The other organizations honored were the José Limón Dance Foundation and Ford’s Theatre Society.
The individual winners of the arts medals were the actress Olivia de Havilland; the jazz pianist Hank Jones; Stan Lee, a comic-book writer and former president of Marvel Comics; Jesús Moroles, a sculptor known for monumental works in granite; and the brothers Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, a songwriting team."
2009 Grawemeyer Award Announced
"The Lost Art of Letter Writing, a four-movement concerto for violin and orchestra by Australian composer Brett Dean, has earned the 2009 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition."
Noises off: The rehearsal's the thing
Posted by Chris Wilkinson December 2 2008
The Guardian Theatre Blog
"The New York-based Ontological-Hysteric Theatre is in the process of rehearsing its new show, Astronome – A Night at the Opera, and will be streaming its rehearsals online every Wednesday evening until the show opens. This idea has excited bloggers stateside. George Hunka says, 'It's a unique offering from two unique theatre and music artists ... watch Foreman, his cast and his crew create a new work before your very eyes. You want the theatrical process available through the internet, you've got it.'"
Free and online: 62 solid days of classical music
COLIN EATOCK
Special to The Globe and Mail
December 13, 2008
"This week, the Canadian Music Centre launched Centrestreams, an audio-streaming service that makes the CMC's collection of 8,000 recordings, by about 700 Canadian composers, available online at http://www.musiccentre.ca."
By Clement Crisp (FT.com)
Published: January 2 2009 22:31
There will be a great deal written and, especially, shown in exhibition this year about Sergey Pavlovich Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes – not that there has not been a Diaghilev industry beavering away at exploring and discussing his achievements during the past half-century in rather exhausting fashion. But there will be more, much more, since May 18 marks the centenary of that first evening of ballets presented by Diaghilev in Paris, and with it the first shoots of balletic rebirth in western Europe.
Step-by-step guide to dance: Candoco
Sanjoy Roy
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 January 2009
They have performed with wheelchairs and crutches, but Candoco's groundbreaking performers refuse to be dismissed as 'disabled dancers'.
'It's like wearing a big plate'
Judith Mackrell
The Guardian, Thursday 8 January 2009
They cost a fortune, take ages to make, irritate male dancers and catch on the scenery. Tutus are everywhere right now. But could they be on the way out?
Major operas to be shown online
By Ian Youngs
Music reporter, BBC News
Jan 21, 2009
Opera and ballet lovers are to be offered major productions from some of the world's leading companies as pay-per-view internet broadcasts.
Eleven shows from the new season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York will be among those streamed by Classical TV.
The U of I's resident quartet, the Pacifica, has won a 2009 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for its recording of Elliott Carter’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5
More of the story on the School of Music web site and from the U of I News Bureau.
(Note--when you follow these links the video starts right away with a brief introduction.)
Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra
TED Ideas Worth Spreading*
The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela's life-changing music program, El Sistema. Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, they play Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo Márquez' Danzón No. 2.
Jose Antonio Abreu: Help me bring music to kids worldwide
TED Ideas Worth Spreading
Jose Antonio Abreu is the charismatic founder of a youth orchestra system that has transformed thousands of kids' lives in Venezuela. Here he shares his amazing story and unveils a TED Prize wish that could have a big impact in the US and beyond.
On another matter...
Eric Lewis: Striking chords to rock the jazz world
TED Ideas Worth Spreading
Eric Lewis, an astonishingly talented crossover jazz pianist -- seen by many for the first time at TED2009 -- sets fire to the keys with his shattering rendition of Evanescence's chart-topper, "Going Under."
*Take some time to explore the other TED talks--they are on any and every topic and very worth the time to watch.
Some Page-Turning Tales
Wall Street Journal 4/7/09
Joanne Kaufman
Steve Reich wins Pulitzer for Double Sextet
Tom Huizenga NPR 4/20/09
and
Steve Reich: Minimalism In The Mainstream
NPR 4/20/09
Theaters' worst acts take place in the seats
"Bad behavior has become so pervasive, it's ordinary"
By John Moore
Denver Post Theater Critic
4/26/09
Dance world 'failing to celebrate women'
Charlotte Higgins
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 May 2009
Backstory: 33 Variations and Its 190-Year Trip to Broadway
by Smith Galtney
Broadway.com
May 15, 2009
One Singular (Choreographed) Sensation
By ALASTAIR MACAULAY
Published: May 27, 2009
NY Times
(from Krannert Center web site)
Summer Studio Theatre Returns to Krannert Center
The Summer Studio Theatre returns to Krannert Center for its 19th season as a professional repertory company. Under the direction of UI Department of Theatre Head Brant Pope, the Summer Studio Theatre provides warm-weather entertainment for East-Central Illinois with a rolling repertory season of dramatic intrigue, touching humor, and madcap melodrama. Pope says that the quality of the characters found in each of the plays is the strength of this summer’s season. This year’s featured performances are The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlum, a comedic satire; the heartwarming Tuesdays with Morrie by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, based on Albom’s book of the same title; and Doug Wright’s one-man tour de force, I Am My Own Wife. All three plays will be presented in rotation from June 5 through July 1.
Overall coverage in the NYTimes
Billy Elliot wins Best Musical (NYTimes)
Complete list of winners (NYTimes)
33 Variations won best scenic design of a play
Philharmonic Puts Its History by the Numbers Online
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: June 23, 2009
NY Times
"New York Philharmonic has put online an ocean of data about its concerts, dating back to the first one on Dec. 7, 1842.
NB: "The Metropolitan Opera did the same four years ago, adding an archive to its Web site, metopera.org, that it says chronicles each performance in its history, starting in 1883."
A letter from
Jonathan Hiam
Curator, American Music Collection and
The Rodgers and Hammerstein
Archives of Recorded Sound
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The John Cage Centennial is upon us. To celebrate Cage's legacy, The New York Public Library will soon launch John Cage Unbound - A Living Archive, an online multimedia resource devoted to the life and work of America's most influential composer. In partnership with the John Cage Trust and C.F. Peters, John Cage Unbound will feature select digital images of Cage's music manuscripts, correspondence, programs, photographs, and ephemera drawn from the vast holdings of NYPL's Music Division. The centerpiece of the project, however, will be a rich video archive of John Cage interpretation with a special emphasis on the preparation and performance of Cage's work.
This is where you come in. NYPL hopes that you, your colleagues, students, and peers will contribute to the archive by uploading your own videos (which can be quite informal and short) of Cage performances to the site. The videos will be integrated into the archive for public access with the intent to document the variety of interpretive practices Cage's work inspires and indeed demands.
For those of you who are leading or participating in coursework this Spring that may include John Cage, contributing to John Cage Unbound would be an ideal project. Any works by Cage are welcome and the staff of the NYPL Music Division are ready to offer you guidance if you need it, be it technical, logistical, or simply suggestions as to what works might be appropriate for you.
We do hope, however, that your videos will favor the process of creating the work over the performance. We believe such documentation will offer the public the greatest insight into the challenges and rewards that come with performing Cage's music.
As you can see in the So Percussion sample video attached, the musicians'
narration provides this insight into their interpretation. The second video--a performance of 4'33" at the US-Mexico border--demonstrates how "simple" a video recording might be.
If you are interested in participating, please contact me at jonathanhiam@nypl.org
Jonathan Hiam
Curator, American Music Collection and
The Rodgers and Hammerstein
Archives of Recorded Sound
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-7498
p (212) 870-1677
f (212) 870-1794
