More positive reviews of Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra

Both of the Chicago papers have published new reviews of Kalmar's work at the Grant Park Festival. He continues to make a fine impression there:

In today's Chicago Tribune.

In yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times.

Today's Birthdays

Lena Horne (1917)
James Loughran (1931)
Giles Swayne (1946)
Stephen Barlow (1954)
Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958)

and

Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004)

Today's Birthdays

Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958)
Nelson Eddy (1901-1967)
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Frank Loesser (1910-1969)
Bernard Hermann (1911-1975)
Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996)
James Dick (1940)
"Little Eva" Boyd 1945-2003)
Anne-Sophie Mutter (1963)

and

Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900-1944)
Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006)

Henry Fogel rails against the sacking of newspaper music critics

Henry Fogel, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, vents his frustration with the current situation in the newspaper trade. In Fogel's blog, On the Record, he asks that newspapers reassert themselves as leaders in the arts. Just this past week, the Miami Herald laid off its classical music critic, Lawrence Johnson.

In the words of Fogel:

"It continues to amaze me that those who are in positions to shape the national agenda do not, in fact, give a damn about shaping anything. Instead of feeling a shred of responsibility to lead the country, to move national discussion beyond the realm of reality shows, sitcoms, and sound-bites, they exercise a stunning degree of follow-ship-putting their collective fingers in the air, sensing the current trends, and running to follow them. That the arts and culture do, in fact, represent among the most significant achievements of any society or civilization--and that for that reason alone they merit discussion in our national media--is irrelevant to those who shape those media. It is a sad commentary, and perhaps more than anything else it is indicative of why newspapers are being eaten up by the internet."

I wholeheartedly agree with Fogel's assessment, and I just don't understand why newspapers are running away from a golden opportunity to use the web as a place where they could build arts journalism hotspots. Instead, they are letting bloggers get the inside track. It's just amazing.

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Joachim (1831-1907)
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)
Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996)
George Lloyd (1913-1998)
Giselher Klebe (1925)
Philip Fowke (1950)
Thomas Hampson (1955)

and

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
John Wesley (1703-1791)
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936)

Kalmar/Grant Park Music Festival concert review

Kalmar has been busy in Chicago conducting concerts for the Grant Park Music Festival. Here are two reviews - both very enthusiastic - of the opening concert:

from Chicago Tribune
and
from the Chicago Sun-Times

From my Chicago friends, I've heard very good reports of Kalmar and the Grant Park Festival Orchestra.

Today's Birthdays

Toti Dal Monte (1893-1975)
Karel Reiner (1910-1979)
Anno Moffo (1932-2006)
Hugh Wood (1932)
Nancy Gustafson (1956)
Magnus Lindberg (1958)
Robert King (1960)

Cascade Festival of Music crashes financially

Apparently the Cascade Festival of Music has filed for bankruptcy. David Stabler's blog has the goods on this disaster. The Portland Symphonic Choir was scheduled to sing at the festival at the end of August. With the new influx of money in the Bend area over the past decade or more, it's hard to believe that this festival would have any financial problems at all.

The Bend Bulletin newspaper just published an article about this on Friday morning. At this point the festival is $93,000 in debt.

Talking with David Hattner, new conductor of the Portland Youth Philharmonic

David Hattner is the new music director and conductor of the Portland Youth Philharmonic, making him only the 5th person to hold this position with the nation’s oldest youth orchestra (established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony Association). Hattner beat 111 other applicants for the job in an evaluation process that took eight months to complete.

Hattner has conducted many ensembles, including Oklahoma Chamber Ensemble, the Garden State Philharmonic Orchestra, and Camerata Atlantica, plus multi-media work with ensembles involved in silent films. He is also a professional clarinetist and has held the principal clarinet position with Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Cascade Music Festival Orchestra, New Jersey Opera Theater and Key West Symphony Orchestra.

I spoke to Hattner recently about his new gig with the PYP.

You were in attendance at the final PYP concert of the season and saw that you will be losing most of your woodwind section, which had a lot of seniors who were graduating. I understand that you are auditioning students like crazy.

Hattner: That’s right, only the principal flutist, principal clarinetist, two oboes, and one bassoonist will be returning to the woodwinds. Fortunately, we’ve heard some impressive candidates and are very confident – all the way down to the young string ensemble – about the upcoming season. Some of those who are auditioning are new to us, and some have returned for their second try with the orchestra and they are really committed. It’s exciting.

How many auditions have you heard this week?

Hattner: I think that we heard around 100 so far.

That got to be guelling!

Hattner: We have another four hours tonight, and we’ll be back in August to hear people for another several days, and then we have the seating auditions for the PYP orchestra itself. It’s a great! I’m listening to a lot of young, nervous players. It’s an exciting time.

Do you intend to keep playing the clarinet as well as conducting?

Hattner: I’ve been working too hard at playing clarinet to quit now. I’ve been playing almost 20 years professionally. But my playing will be limited to solo recitals and chamber music. But I am looking forward to meeting new people to collaborate with. I’ll probably teach a little bit – in the master class style. We have a lot of clarinets in the PYP. So, it’ll be fun.

What made you decide to become a conductor?

Hattner: I didn’t make the decision to try conducting until fairly recently. But the genesis started years ago when I first started auditioning as a clarinetist – this was for a job with a town orchestra – and was listening to someone in the room next to me warm up. And what I was hearing sounded like it came from another planet. It was so good. It turned out to be a young man, Ricardo Morales, who is now the principal clarinetist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was using a new clarinet technique, and I could practice for 100 years and barely get close to what he could do. That’s when I thought there might be things in music beyond playing the clarinet.

Was there a time that you stood on the podium and felt that conducting was just right for you?

Hattner: No, conducting never felt natural. I thought that I was a natural musician or instead of conductor. When I tried conducting as a student, it didn’t feel quite right. But a few years ago I tried conducting some small groups and the feedback was very positive, so I thought that I’d push it more.

Later I went to Aspen to study conducting with David Zinman. And that program was terrific. Those of us in the conducting program got a dedicated, professional-level orchestra to work with.

When you initially start to learn how to conduct, it’s sort of like learning to drive a car. You have to gauge things. Check all the mirrors. Become familiar with all the controls. It’s sort the same thing with the orchestra. Conductors have to figure out what makes things go faster. How to slow them up. Mr. Zinmann would say, “Do you realize what you doing? Go watch yourself in the video tape.” He was a consummate musician and instructor. He can spot all sorts of things. You might be doing something that is getting the wrong result.

Zinman’s philosophy, in my words, was to know the score, conduct the players, and be the music. If you conduct the music but not the players, then they might follow you or not. If you conduct the players and use the right orchestra gestures, every reasonable orchestral musician will be able to follow you. Authoritative conducting and the musical wherewithal to back it up works real well. You don’t have a lot of time in rehearsal, so every second counts. If you start talking, the clock goes very fast.

I was able to attend Aspen’s conducting program three times and it really helped. I worked on the things I learned, and here I am now. And I’m as excited as anyone to lead the PYP orchestra.

Did you plan the upcoming season for the PYP?

Hattner: TI did plan the season myself. I had just done it before my trips to portland for the auditions had started.

I chose the repertoire to give the students and audience a sampling of my taste in repertoire, as well as to challenge the musicians more at each concert.

The programs have an extremely high level of difficulty. I know that I have the freedom to program almost anything for future seasons. But I keep in mind the need to program different styles and eras and appropriate levels of challenge based on the different parts of the season.

Like other orchestras, youth orchestras have an incredible learning curve from the first concert of the season to the last concert in May. They are much better in May than November. The goal is to have each succeeding season is to start a little stronger than the year before.

Since most students in PYP play in the orchestra for about three years, I’ll try to program a wide spectrum for them. They are a disciplined, motivated group, and they are very open to be challenged.

I like the student blog on the PYP web site. Will you be adding your comments there, too?

Hattner: For the web site I’ve written some thoughts for the students – about practicing their scales. Based on my playing experience, I thought that I would talk about playing scales. What’s important is the way you practice them, and the way to make it better.

And I made a Youtube video that talks about all this. It’s in three parts, but the first part contains an explanation and an example of my playing. People can check it out and see if I make any mistakes or not.

Have you been to Portland before?

Hattner: Last October I was in Portland, conducting music for the silent film “Brand upon the Brain.” It was shown at Cinema 21. It’s a recently made film by Canadian.director Guy Maddin. It’s a quirky production with live sound effects and live music. We had a narrator, Karen Black of “Five Easy Pieces” and “Easy Rider” fame.

Previous to that I had been the principal clarinetist for Murry Sidlin at the Cascade Music Festival. I came to Portland in February for a week during my audition. Many of my New York friends would love to come here. Portland is great!

What kind of orchestral music do you like?

Hattner: I love all types, but I have a real fondness for American music, especially some of the pieces that have been ignored. In the first concert of the season, we’ll perform Samuel Barber’s “Music for a Scene from Shelley” and Henry Cowell’s “Ancient Desert Drone,” Cowell wrote 900 pieces but no one seems to play him much anymore. Then there’s a favorite like Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid.” I’d love to do Grant Still’s Second Symphony sometime.

What are you doing this summer?

Hattner: I’ll be playing principal clarinet for the New Jersey Opera during the month of July.

Good luck with your future with the PYP.

Hattner: Thanks! It’s going to be great. The orchestra is impressive. It’s a strong organization that is very well run. The alumni are very attached. Some of my former colleagues are from the PYP, and they think that it’s terrific that I’m here. I’m looking forward to making music!

Today's Birthdays

Hugues Cuénod (1902)
Wolfgang Windgassen (1914-1974)
Giuseppe Taddei (1916)
Syd Lawrence (1923-1998)
Jacob Druckman (1928-1996)
Claudio Abbado (1933)

Today's Birthdays

Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956)
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997)
Bill Russo (1928-2003)
Kurt Schwertsik (1935)

and

Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926)
George Orwell (1903-1950)

Today's Birthdays

Harry Partch (1901-1974)
Pierre Fournier (1906-1986)
Milton Katims (1909-2006)
Denis Dowling (1910-1984)
Terry Riley (1935)

and

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

Jason Ogan and Ralph Wells remembered

Two deaths in the Portland music community.

Tenor and opera company founder Jason Ogan recently committed suicide. I sang with Jason in the Portland Symphonic Choir for a year or so, and I wrote about him and his fledgling Oregon Lyric Opera Association for PSU magazine in 2004. Ogan had a beautiful tenor voice. I heard him in PSU operas and in a special PSU orchestra concert of Beethoven's 9th in which he was featured in the solo parts with other professional PSU alumns: Kelly Nassief, Angela Niederloh, and Clayton Brainerd. I also saw Ogan perform very well as an actor a couple of years ago in a production of "Our Town" in Gresham.

Stephen Marc Beaudoin in his blog writes a fine tribute to Ogan here. Memorial service information is at the end of the posting.

David Stabler writes about Ogan in his blog here. In that posting, Stabler also tells of the death of Ralph Wells, professional baritone and founder of Willamette Concert Opera. Wells died because of a brain tumor and stroke.

Choir singing is all the rage in England

Believe it or not, singing in a chorus has become a popular pastime in England. You can read about it here.

But despite their boasting, they might have to work hard to catch up to the enthusiasm of the Estonians for choral singing.

Today's Birthdays

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892-1993)
George Russell (1923)
Adam Faith (1940-2003)
James Levine (1943)
Nigel Osborne (1948)
Nicholas Cleobury (1950)
Sylvia McNair (1956)

Chamber Music Northwest's Summer Festival begins tomorrow

Every summer for the past 35 years, Chamber Music Northwest has offered one of the nation's very best music festivals. This year's selection of concerts looks terrific - with a lot of outstanding musicians and a lot of variety. Tomorrow night and Tuesday as well, you can catch the opening concert, which offers some wonderful favorites in terms of music and instrumentalists.

Here's the stellar lineup of musicians for that concert:

Elmar Oliveira, violin
Theodore Arm, violin
Scott Lee, viola
Paul Neubauer, viola
Ronald Thomas, cello
Peter Wiley, cello
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
David Shifrin, clarinet

And here's their program:

Franz Joseph Haydn
Trio in G Major for Piano and Strings ("Gypsy Rondo")

Carl Maria von Weber
Quintet in B-Flat Major for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 34

Johannes Brahms
String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111

But that's just a tidbit of what Chamber Music Northwest has in store. Peter Schickele (aka PDQ Bach) is in town and will talk about humor in music during his lecture on Wednesday evening. Then on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday you can laugh your head off in watching Schickele and members of Chamber Music Northwest present some of his funniest chamber works. On Sunday afternoon Schickele will lead the musicians in a children's concert, the beloved "Carnival of the Animals."

Then more concerts follow as the music progress through four more weeks of music-making.

You can read all about it on Chamber Music Northwest's website.

Today's Birthdays

Frank Heino Damrosch (1859-1937)
Jennie Tourel (1900-1973)
Walter Leigh (1905-1942)
Sir Peter Pears (1910-1986)
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler (1925-1997)
Libor Pešek (1933)
Pierre Amoyal (1949)
Christopher Norton (1953)

and

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
Joseph Papp (1921-1991)

Today's Birthdays

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795)
Harry Newstone (1921-2006)
Lalo Schifrin (1932)
Diego Masson (1935)
Judith Bingham (1952)
Jennifer Larmore (1958)

and

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1972)
Mary McCarthy (1912-1989)

More innovative marketing at the Met

I just bumped into this interesting piece at Sequenza21, an excellent online arts journal. It delves into how the Metropolitan Opera marketed Philip Glass’s opera “Satyagraha.” Subscribers were bailing from the opera like crazy, switching their seats to other operas that they were familiar with. So the marketing arm of the Met went into overdrive and came up with some creative solutions in appealing to a new audience for this opera and arriving at a lot of success.

The Sequenza21 posting also points to a longer and more involved posting by Ben Rosen, former Board Member of the Met. Rosen's posting is fascinating and shows graphs about subscription information and provides details on how the marketing department came up with creative solutions besides the simulcasts to movie theaters. It seems to me that marketing departments at many arts organizations can learn a lot from this.

Quoting from Rosen, here's what the marketing department at the Met did to help sell "Satyagraha" in face of declining sales and a potential disaster:

"So a marketing task force was put together. For a modest budget, aided by contributions from a board member, the team was able to create dozens of different marketing initiatives designed to attract specialized audiences. New-age magazines yoga groups, anti-apartheid organizations, India groups, South African organizations, et al.

It worked. By the end of its run, Satyagraha had sold out its run. (By the way, it was a terrific production. I like to quip that Satyagraha is now my favorite Sanskrit opera.) Next year, the same team will have an opportunity to apply its narrow-focus marketing techniques to selling the John Adams opera, Doctor Atomic -- a contemporary work about the creation of the atomic bomb."

Today's Birthdays

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Wilfred) Pelletier (1896-1982)
Ingrid Haebler (1926)
Eric Dolphy (1928-1964)
Arne Nordheim (1931)
Mickie Most (1938-2003)
Anne Murray (1945)
André Watts (1946)
Lionel Richie (1949)

and

Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)

Astoria Music Festival is about to open

Tomorrow night the Astoria Music Festival opens with some wonderful concerts. Conductor Keith Clark leads the orchestra in a performance of the Overture to "Candide" by Bernstein. Pianist Alexandre Dossin, who teaches at the U of O, plays Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 and there's also Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and his Fantasia for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra.

Then on Saturday evening is a concert version performance of Verdi's "Rigoletto" with Richard Zeller in the title role, Amy Hanson as Gilda, Jon Garrison as the Duke, and Konstantin Kvach as Sparafucile.

On Sunday afternoon at 4pm, you can hear chamber music with pianist Cary Lewis, violinist Inés Voglar, violist Joël Belgíque, cellist Dorothy Lewis, and flutist Molly Barth.

Then on Tuesday afternoon is the unusual performance. It's Beta Collide and painter Roger Hayes who interact on some kind of music and visual art extravaganza. Beta Collide is a new music ensemble based in Oregon. Directed by Grammy-Award winning flutist Molly Alicia Barth (formerly of eighth blackbird) and trumpeter Brian McWhorter (of Meridian Arts Ensemble), this ensemble will take the arts to a new level.

These are just a few of the initial events of the festival, which runs through June 29th.

See the Astoria Music Festival website for more information.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Wenzel Stamitz (1717-1757)
Carl Zeller (1842-1898)
Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
Guy Lombardo (1902-1977)
Anneliese Rothenberger (1926)
Elmar Oliveira (1950)

and

Tobias Wolff (1945)
Sir Salman Rushdie (1947)

Review: Opera Colorado's Nixon in China

(Photo by Matthew Staver)

Richard Nixon’s trip to China in 1972 was an event of historic proportions, especially for a politician who was thoroughly opposed to communism right down to the blood cells of his bone marrow. The opera “Nixon in China,” written by John Adams, retells the story of Nixon’s trip to China, mixing the public aspects of the trip with introspective musings by some of the main players in the event.

Opera Colorado gave an inspired performance of "Nixon in China," which I saw (June 13) as part of the classical music critics conference in Denver. This was a co-production with Opera Theater of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Portland Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and Houston Grand Opera. I saw this production in Portland during its 2005-2006 season, and it continues to hold up very well.

Of course, any production that features Robert Orth as Richard Nixon is in for a treat. With his hands in his pockets and hunched shoulders, Orth has developed an uncanny ability of mimic Nixon in every which way. The arrival scene and the dinner celebration with the cordial and thoughtful Chou En-lia, sung wonderfully by Chen-Ye Yuan is fascinating.

Marc Heller's old yet energetic Mao Tse-tung would forcefully spout off at anything that Nixon said (for example, "We no longer need Confucius. Let him rot."). Maria Kanyova created a compassionate Pat Nixon. Tracy Dahl as Madame Mao (Chiang Ch'ing) could scare the bejesus out of you. Thomas Hammons was outstanding as the somewhat bumbling Henry Kissinger and as the bad guy in the communist ballet. (Hammons sangs the Kissinger part in the Nonesuch recording.)

Conduct Marin Alsop made sure that the pace went well. The three secretaries and the chorus went off-track briefly in the second act, so I'm not sure if they were waiting for a cue from Alsop or if they counted incorrectly. The meter in this opera changes constantly, so confusion can arise at almost any given point.

The love-duet portion of the ballet always surprises me because of the melodic detour into the land of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." I also enjoyed the ballroom dance inspired music in the third act, but, unfortunately, the characters have few interesting things to say.

The use of television sets and documentary footage of the actual trip in 1972 added context. Directions by James Robinson and choreographer Sean Curran were excellent.

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House is a beautiful venue. I sat in the mezzanine level and was just under the balcony above me, and that seemed to have cut back some of the sound. The biggest problem of the evening was getting the audience seated. Lots and lots of people were seated well after the first act began, and the same thing happened again after the second act began. I hope that this was just an aberration.

Today's Birthdays

Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831)
Sir George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
Manuel Rosenthal (1904-2003)
Sir Paul McCartney (1942)
Hans Vonk (1942-2004)
Anthony Halstead (1945)
Diana Ambache (1948)
Eva Marton (1948)
Peter Donohoe (1953)

Music and dance critic Paul Horsley let go from Kansas City Star

Horsley has just informed his fellow MCANA (Music Critics Association of North America) members that his position at the Kansas City Star has been eliminated. The Kansas City Star is part of the McClatchy newspaper chain. To read about the layoffs, click here. Horsley is on the board of the MCANA.

Today's Birthdays

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Einar Englund (1916-1999)
Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006)
Sir Edward Downes (1924)
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
Derek Lee Ragin (1958)

More fun with critics… or not

At the classical music critics conference in Denver last week, I heard an interesting panel discussion of “what happens when a critic is perceived to have an agenda, negative or positive; how that critic is perceived by performers, presenters, press representatives; and questions of tone, responsibility and fairness.” The panelists were Mary Lou Falcone of M.L. Falcone, Jessica Lustig of 21C Media, Susan Elliott of musicalamerica.com, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra president Fred Bronstein, St. Louis Post-Dispatch music Critic Sara Bryan Miller, and New York Times classical music and dance editor Jim Oestreich.

I didn’t take many notes at this meeting but I recall moderator Susan Elliott created a scenario with a hypothetical city with a major orchestra and opera company and one major newspaper with one music critic, and that critic was perceived by the arts organization as giving a series of unfair reviews. Fred Bronstein suggested calling the arts editor of the newspaper and invite him/her to a performance to see if he agreed with the critic. Jim Oestreich said that he would certainly attend a performance to see what he would perceive, if he had received such a phone call. Oestreich said that, over the years at the Times, he has talked with reviewers on such occasions, but his main concern was if a reviewer had a “mean streak.”

Mary Lou Falcone and Jessica Lustig talked of ways to work behind the scenes, but their perspectives come from working a big city and didn’t apply all that much to most cities in which a major touring artist only stops by every two or five years.

Sara Bryan Miller told about her negative criticism of a prominent instrumentalist in St. Louis and how the arts organization involved – over time – agreed with her and moved that person off its roster. She also described how careful she has to be in a city like St. Louis, where she sings in a church choir and knows a lot of people who are involved in the arts.

The discussion covered situations in which a critic was perceived as unnecessarily positive in his/her reviews, but the entire conversation gradually shifted to blogging. It turns out that Falcone does not recognize bloggers at all as legitimate arts critics (unless it is Alex Ross or a blog associated with a newspaper). She feels that blogging is still in its infancy and will take time to figure out who is responsible/accountable/etc. In fact, Falcone described arts blogging as the Wild West.

Lustig does send PR information to some classical music bloggers. She said that she reads the blogs in order to determine which blogs are worth the effort.

Note:
This is a continuaton of the postings regarding the classical music critics conference that I attended last week. The first posting was on June 10th.

Today's Birthdays

Helen Traubel (1899-1972)
Willi Boskovsky (1909-1990)
Sergiu Comissiona (1928-2005)
Jerry Hadley (1952-2007)
David Owen Norris (1953)

and

Joyce Carol Oates (1938)

Review: The Rape of Lucretia at Central City Opera

The thought ‘I am right and you are wrong’ is a motivating factor in human deeds and misdeeds from the earliest of times, and in “The Rape of Lucretia,” a powerful opera by Benjamin Britten, the misdeed prevails and wreaks terrible havoc. The opera retells a piece of history dating back to ancient Rome in which the virtuous wife of a Roman general was violated by an Etruscan prince, who wanted to win a bet at all costs. Presented by Central City Opera (Colorado), “The Rape of Lucretia” speaks well to modern audiences even though some may not be familiar with the Christian message that Britten wrapped around the story.

I heard the Central City Opera production on Thursday evening (June 12th) as part of the music critics conference in Denver. The opera company used busses to transport the critics and other participants in the National Performing Arts Convention to Central City, which is located at 8,000 feet above sea level. The Victorian era mining town has a beautifully restored theater, the Central City Opera House, which seats 500 people for its productions that run during the summer.

A strong performance by Phyllis Pancella as Lucretia made the tragedy come alive with poignancy and depth. Pancella excelled at displaying a wide range of emotions that included pure love and trust, defiance, anger, anguish, confusion, and derangement. As Tarquinius, Brian Mulligan sang well but was limited in his emotional reach as a man who insanely resolves to force himself on his friend’s wife. His face seemed to be strangely wooden most of the time.

In the role of the male chorus, Vale Rideout’s ringing tenor was superb but often too loud. Melina Pyron performed very well as the female chorus. When they first appeared, carrying books, I thought that they were reading from scores, but it gradually became apparent that they were relating the story as if it were in printed in the books.

Maria Zifchak as the servant Bianca and Sarah Jane McMahon as the servant Lucia were outstanding. McMahon’s sparkly aria that greeted the dawn of a new day contrasted powerfully with the atmosphere created by the rape the evening before.

Joshua Hopkins gave Roman general Junius a brash character and Arthur Woodley made a compassionate Collatinus.

The orchestra was aptly conducted by British conductor Damian Iorio, who made his United States debut with this production.

Stage direction by Paul Curran had many good points mixed in with the less effective. For example, I didn’t understand why the male and female chorus had to be present in every scene, especially when they had large sections in which they didn’t sing. Their presence in those parts of the opera seemed distracting.

This production was set in the years following WWII with a rough-hewn room serving as the setting initially as barracks of the military men and later as the bedroom in the home of Lucretia and Collatinus. The pool of water near the front of the stage was a brilliant touch, especially as a symbol of making oneself pure.

The undercurrent of rebellion (for example, when the Roman people sang “Down with the Etruscans” and other messages of protest) took place offstage, which unfortunately reduced the impact of why the rape became a major point in Roman history. That is, general outrage broke out after the rape became known, and the Roman people successfully threw off the yoke of the Etruscans.

The Roman generals wore the plainest of uniforms and Tarquinius looked more like a private than a prince. His military clothing needed some distinguishing ornamentation, such as medals.

Overall, Central City Opera’s production of this thought-provoking opera was successful, making us ponder what our reaction would be to a terrible thing like rape, and what it all means in the greater scope of things.

For more information about Central City Opera's "The Rape of Lucretia," click here.

For more information about the classical music critics conference, see the posting on June 10th.

Article up at Primer Magazine

Primer Magazine, a brand-new online magazine that covers a wide variety of topics, ran my first (of hopefully many) articles, entitled "How to Talk about Classical Music." It's structured as an introduction for those who might be new to the genre, and was a lot of fun to write.

Today's Birthdays

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994)
Geoffrey Parsons (1929-1995)
Waylon Jennings(1937-2002)
Harry Nilsson (1941-1994)
Paul Patterson (1947)
Rafael Wallfisch (1953)
Robert Cohen (1959)

Today's Birthdays

John McCormack (1884-1945)
Heddle Nash (1894-1961)
Rudolf Kempe (1910-1976)
Stanley Black (1913-2002)
Natalia Gutman (1942)
Lang Lang (1982)

and

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)
John Bartlett (1820-1905)

Today's Birthdays

Elisabeth Schumann (1888-1952)
Carlos Chavez (1899-1978)
Alan Civil (1929-1989)
Gwynne Howell (1938)
Sarah Connolly (1963)
Alain Trudel (1966)

and

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Marin Alsop talks to the critics

For lunch yesterday, the critics got a "Munch with Marin" session. Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony and conductor of Opera Colorado's production of "Nixon in China," graciously answered all sorts of questions from the critics for an hour or so. She came across as a thoughtful person with a bit of dry wit and a good sense of irony. The format was question and answer, but I'll just relate some of the information in a straight narrative.

Alsop mentioned that during her time as the music director of the Colorado Symphony the budget grew from $2 million to $11 million, and she has fond memories of conducting in Denver.

Her time with the BSO didn't start out so smoothly. Some in the orchestra didn't want her there. Before signing the contract with the BSO, she decided to go to the orchestra members and talk to them and make her case. She wanted to bring honesty, genuineness, and success to the orchestra. They changed their minds, and decided to give her a chance. She still has conversations with the orchestra and some of its subcommittees to make sure that everyone is on the same page. She felt that the musicians, in the past, had been left out of the process and were very frustrated. She feels that things are going very well.

Alsop said that the BSO had a $16 million deficit when she arrived and that in the past year the orchestra operated in the black.

A large corporation, PNC, underwrote the $25 ticket offer last year with a $1 million donation and received such good press from their generosity that other corporations stepped up this year to do the underwriting. The renewal rate this year at the BSO is very high (she thought that it's 87%, but she wasn't sure).

Alsop mentioned that studies have been done about why orchestras have had problems with their audiences. The problems don't have to do with the music. The problems center on parking, getting a drink during intermission (including the double skinny, soy lattes), box office, and other things not related to music at all.

She is excited about a new education program that will appeal to youth. The BSO is drawing from the success that Venezuela has had and using that as a model.

Alsop reflected a bit on her time with Leonard Bernstein at Tangelwood. She was very impressed with Bernstein and has come to think that Bernstein so heavily identified himself with Mahler that he may have actually thought he was Mahler. Apparently, Bernstein held a lot of the same superstitions as Mahler, and their lives have some parallels.

For more information about the classical music critics conference, see the posting on June 10th.

Newspaper critics talk fearfully about blogging

Yesterday morning's panel at the MCANA critics conference had the topic of "Bogging: Blah blah or Brilliance? The panel consisted of Peter W. Goodman (Hofstra University -- and formerly at Newsday), Andrew Druckenbrod (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Frank J. Oteri (NewMusicBox), and Doug McLennan (ArtsJournal).

Since the MCANA is still dominated by print journalist - most of whom have started blogs within the confines of their newspapers' websites - the discussion quickly revealed that these critics are fearing the end of their jobs, and they don't see blogging as an answer to earning a livelihood for their families. Editors at newspapers don't understand and/or are not interested in classical music, so everyone is waiting for the axe to fall.

Nobody knows about the future, but it seems to be pointing to blogging in some form or another. Therefore, as McLennan pointed out, you've got to give it your best shot as a critic and develop an audience that will want to follow you. He also said that with so much being written in the blogsphere, the critic will become even more important because people will need to find those critics who have something meaningful to say.

Regina Hackett, an art critic for the Seattle P-I, was held up as a critic who has successfully become an arts blogger. To read her go here.

After the panel ended, I spoke briefly with McLennan. He gets up at 5 am and begins to read through blogs in order to figure out what he will post on ArtsJournal.com. He said that he goes through 1,000 blogs a day. Wow!

I think that the newspapers are really missing an opportunity with their online presence. Instead of just giving one critic a blog, they should give their freelancers blogs as well. They could even open to other freelancers that they feel are qualified to extend their coverage into concerts, shows, and all sorts of cultural things that are currently ignored. They would then dominate the cultural news and readers would go to their website to get the latest culture news.

I tried this idea on several people, including McLennan, and all acknowledged that that is a great way to go for newspapers to stay viable - at least online. However, they said that newspapers won't do this because of inherent problems in the way that newspapers are structured.

For more information about the classical music critics conference, see the posting on June 10th.

Today's Birthdays

Vanni Marcoux (1877-1962)
Leon Goossens (1897-1988)
Maurice Ohana (1913-1992)
Ian Partridge (1938)
Chick Corea (1941)
Oliver Knussen (1952)

and

Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Mile High Music

Last night (Wednesday the 11th) - as part of the music critics package - I got to hear the Colorado Symphony Orchestra play at their homebase, Boettcher Concert Hall, in downtown Denver. The hall is part of a performing arts complex that spans several blocks, and you can walk under a magnificent glass roof that spans these buildings. Boettcher was built in 1978 as a concert in the round - sort of like the concert hall where the Berlin Philharmonic plays. The only big problem with the Boettcher is that the acoustics are poor, and there has been talk (I understand from a local critic) of gutting the entire structure and starting all over again.

The program I heard consisted of Bernstein's Overture to "Candide" and his "Chichester Psalms" for chorus and orchestra, plus John Corigliano's Piano Concerto, and Giya Kancheli's "Styx" for viola, chorus, and orchestra. "Candide," the Piano Concerto, and "Styx" were conducted by the CSO's music director Jeffrey Kahne. Duain Wolfe, director of the CSO Chorus conducted the "Chichester Psalms."

The concert began with the Overture to "Candide," which the orchestra played with plenty of splash. I would've liked more contrast in volume, but that judgment perhaps was influenced by where I was sitting (just above the violin section).

In the next work, the "Chichester Psalms," a chorus of 200 sang with fervor. But I know this piece well (having sung it several times) and could tell right away that diction in Boettcher Concert Hall is a problem. I could see the chorus enunciating the Hebrew text, but I could barely distinguish any consonants. Also, the tenor section (which was across from me) was lacked presence. I found out later that people who sat on the side of the hall that the tenors faced heard plenty of tenor. In any case, the boy soprano, Benjamin Tooke, sang very, very well. The pacing by Wolfe was very good also.

Guest artists Natasha Paremski joined the orchestra for Corigliano's Piano Concerto. This challenging work has lots of meter changes that seemed to demand a lot of Kahane's concentration. I could see his face, and it never seemed to relax. Paremski played the piano very cleanly, but perhaps more expression would've made the music come more alive. The piece has a wide array of arresting moods that were wonderful. Paremski, by the way is only 20 years old, so you'll be hearing more from her, I hope.

After intermision, the orchestra, chorus, and Basil Vendryes, principal violist of the CSO, performed Kancheli's "Styx." This was only the third time that this piece has been done in North America and Kahane is one of its champions. The piece was enjoyable, but I'm not sure that it really conveyed the idea (from ancient Greece mythology) of Charon ferrying the dead to the underworld. Maybe if I hear it again someday.

Also, after intermission, Henry Fogel, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, presented the League's Emerging Music Director Award to Alondra de la Parra and to James Gaffigan. De la Parra is the music director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (only three years old and wildly successful). Gaffigan is the music director of CityMusic Cleveland. It was commentd that both de la Parra dn Gaffigan are getting married this summer - but not to each other.

And Dana Gioia, Chairman of the national Endowment for the Arts awarded the Gold Baton to America's youth orchestras (in general), and it was accepted on their behalf by Louis Scaglione, chair f the League's Youth Orchestra Division.

Extra note: Elaine Calder of the Oregon Symphony wrote a comment (posted in the Today's Birthdays) that "...one of the Emerging Conductors - James Gaffigan - will appear with the Oregon Symphony and guitarist Eduardo Fernandez next February."

For more information about the classical music critics conference, see the posting on June 10th.

Today's Birthdays

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Carlisle Floyd (1926)
Antony Rooley (1944)
Douglas Bostock (1955)

and

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
William Styron (1925-2006)
Athol Fugard (1932)

Classical music critics meeting in Denver

Tomorrow I'll be on my way to a meeting for classical music critics. I'm a card-carrying member of the Music Critics Association of North America (see mcana.org) and the annual conference usually has some interesting panels and a chance to hobnob with other critics. Denver is hosting the National Performing Arts Convention at the same time, so I hope to take in a bunch of interesting panels on a variety of topics (see www.performingartsconvention.org). I'll post to this blog on some of the events/topics/discussions -- especially if the critics start criticizing one another.