Akron Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

A year ago, the Akron Symphony Orchestra announced that executive director Margo Snider, on the job since 2006, would step down this spring. The Greater Akron Musical Association (GAMA), the orchestra’s parent organization, immediately set about finding a replacement. This week, they named Phil Walz as their new executive director.

Walz has years of experience in arts management. He’s served as director of development for the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine; executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts; director of development for Plymouth State University; executive director of the New Hampshire Music Festival; and assistant and acting manager of the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra.

Walz also has a solid musical background. The Akron Symphony’s music director Christopher Wilkins says, "Having trained first as a concert pianist, he knows music well. He will be a terrific advocate for our artists and programs."

According to GAMA executive vice-president Ted Good, "Mr. Walz rose to the top of our list due to his extensive experience in fundraising and development, his demonstrated business acumen in running successful arts organizations, and his status as an award-winning orchestra manager."

Walz will assume his new duties in July of 2009.

Further reading:

Phil Walz at Linked In

Just One More Season for Margo Snider at WKSU Classical

Krystian Zimerman (Middlebury College)

Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman stunned his Los Angeles audience Sunday evening (26 April 2009) when he announced that he would no longer perform in the US.

According to this piece in the UK newspaper The Guardian, this is the second time Zimerman has renounced performing in our nation. In 2006 he vowed not to play another US recital until then-president George W Bush had left office. This time he expressed his opposition to the current administration’s plan to construct a missile defense station in his native land.

Audience members reacted predictably. Some walked out, some booed, some applauded. That’s interesting but academic: Zimerman is welcome to express his opinion in this way — or any other he chooses. That freedom is one of the great strengths of our nation.

What I find unsettling is some of the history behind Zimerman’s earlier performances in the US, as revealed in this article.

In 2001, security officials at JFK Airport confiscated and destroyed Zimerman’s Steinway piano. The officers reportedly thought the piano’s glue "smelled funny" and might be explosive.

In 2006, airport security again held up his instrument. This time they returned it to him, but five days later — too late for him to adjust it to his satisfaction in time for his concert.

I realize that airport security officials have a job to do. I don’t know whether they may have later issued an apology and financial compensation for the destroyed piano (a new customized Steinway grand can easily run into six figures). Regardless, I can hardly comprehend such an action. Did they not know who Zimerman was? Did they not know the value of his instrument, not just in dollars but in musical terms? What on earth were they thinking?

That Zimerman even returned to our country at all after such a heartbreaking experience is almost unimaginable. Would you? And with such a background it’s not at all difficult to imagine that a point of political disagreement could easily become a reason to never set foot in the US again.

Let’s hope the situation changes. Zimerman is a powerful and compelling musical presence, and his absence from these shores will be both our loss and Zimerman’s.

Further reading:

Polish pianist stops show in The Guardian

Krystian Zimerman’s controversial appearance in the LA Times

Steven Witser (photo: Cleveland Orchestra)

Steven Witser, principal trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, died unexpectedly Monday night (27 April 2009), of an apparent coronary accident.

If Witser’s name and face seem familiar to you, it’s because until joining the Philharmonic in 2007 he was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra. There he served as assistant principal, acting principal, and assistant personnel manager.

Witser also played in the Center City Brass Quintet.

Steven Witser was born in Oakland and studied at the Eastman School of Music. Christoph von Dohnanyi tapped him for the Cleveland Orchestra in 1989.

Cleveland Orchestra media relations manager Jennifer Schlosser says, "Steve was a pillar of strength and support over his years here in Cleveland and helped people in countless ways. After joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007 he continued to touch people with his selfless sacrifice of personal time and energy and genuine good humor that we all loved."

The Los Angeles Philharmonic concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall on 30 May 2009 will be dedicated to Steven’s memory. The orchestra will perform the opening work in his honor.

Youtube Symphony’s Audition Player

In the days when most classical music was written, you heard it when someone played it. Unless you were a class A VIP with an orchestra on call, that meant you left home, went to the concert hall, and paid for your ticket.

If you wanted music at home, you had a few choices. You could hire musicians. This was obviously an option mainly for the Person of Means. More often, you played it yourself, or someone else in your family did. Or you might have spent an evening with friends, reading through chamber music.

From at least the 18th century, inventors have been looking for ways to bring the concert home. They’ve given us such efforts as flute-clocks, barrel organs, reproducing (player) pianos, phonographs, radios, and compact discs. Every development was another effort at making virtual virtuosi, musicians that anybody can afford to "hire."

Only the wealthiest tycoon could finance a private concert by George Gershwin, but thousands of more modest means came pretty close when they furnished their living rooms and parlors with Aeolian and Welte reproducing pianos, and bought the piano rolls that Gershwin made for those firms. The music was affordable because they were sharing the cost of Gershwin’s performance with all the others who bought his recordings. A few fine musicians could serve more listeners than ever before. You could call this a "few-to-many" system.

Comes now the internet. (That’s a bit of a leap. Sorry!) One of its fundamental principles — built into it quite deliberately — is that nobody is the master. Every node on the net is equal (please support net neutrality to keep it that way). If you think of the net as a community, it’s probably as close as any society has come to being truly egalitarian. It’s just about as easy to be a content provider as it is to be a content consumer. Anybody can have a website or a blog (and sometimes it seems as if everybody does). The internet is a "many-to-many" system.

If the player piano was music’s mass medium for the late 19th century and the compact disc the one for the late 20th, what’s the musical mass medium of the early 21st century?

Could it be the internet — and Youtube?

Well, now, let’s think about this. Big media companies try to use Youtube for their "viral marketing," but what really predominates? Homemade video clips, with the emphasis on homemade. There’s no audition for this talent show. The viewers are the gatekeepers, such as they are, and about the only post that will earn you the hook is something lewd or deeply offensive. All you need is a cheap digital video camera and something to say or demonstrate. You too can show the world how to electrocute a Furby or unlock a mobile phone.

Or how to make music. The corporate media often rail against Youtube because some users post copyrighted material, and you can’t blame them. But try a search for, say, Stairway to Heaven. Sure, a few are performances by the original artists, but you’ll find page after page of fuzzy videos shot in living rooms and bedrooms round the world. Here are people you’ve never heard of, playing (or attempting to play) the tune on electric guitar, classical guitar, harp, even ocarina. Here are anonymous musicians who say they can teach you how to play it, and fiery orators who claim to expose the secret symbolism of its lyrics or its fiendish back-masking.

Better yet, it’s not just pop. Youtube is brim-full of classical music. If people play it or sing it, you can probably find it, from Chopin’s Military Polonaise (93 performances) to a Swedish folksong arrangement by Bengt Hallberg (sung by the Moriarty High School Messenger Chamber Chorus).

But is it good? Are these performances that a music lover would enjoy, or that a music student could learn from? That depends on how persistent you are. Not long ago I was trading email with a friend who’d never heard Aaron Copland’s "I Bought Me A Cat" (from Old American Songs). I found about two dozen performances of it on Youtube, from one by an unaccompanied six year old girl (pretty cute, but what she sang didn’t quite match up to Copland) to a spirited reading by the men’s chorus of James Madison University.

You can’t be too fussy, though. Even when the performance is top-shelf, often the clip’s been recorded from the audience by somebody documenting his kid’s or friend’s performance. The visual excitement is usually limited to zooming in and then out again, and panning across the stage just in time to miss the solo. The sound is often tinny mono from the camcorder’s rudimentary sound system, accompanied by the rustling and whispering of nearby listeners. Youtube’s digital bandwidth compression makes matters worse, often adding a swishing, watery effect.

But who says that has to be the only way Youtube makes music? Seventy years ago, radio was the medium, and NBC was the channel that gave us the NBC Symphony and Arturo Toscanini’s timeless interpretations. Now the internet is the medium and Youtube is the channel. Why can’t we have a Youtube Symphony?

Indeed, why not? With all the performances available — including some historic ones — Youtube has become a go-to resource for music students and young musicians all over the world. What better way to reach them? And in early December (2008), conductor Michael Tilson Thomas decided to try extending Youtube’s reach. The Youtube Symphony Orchestra became the first collaborative online orchestra, and the first ensemble to audition its members by Youtube video.

This evening (15 April 2009), all the IM, email, and practice bears fruit, as the Youtube Symphony Orchestra gives its first public performance at Carnegie Hall.

Now, with worldwide auditions, what state do you suppose has contributed more members to the Youtube Orchestra than any other? WKSU reporter Vivian Goodman has the answer.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Further reading:

Youtube Symphony Orchestra

Youtube Seeks Harmony Out of Diversity at Yahoo News

To look at the 2009-2010 concert schedule The Cleveland Orchestra has just released, you’d never guess that they were staring down the maw of a potential $7.5 million budget shortfall.

Fully staged opera? Check. Renowned guest conductors? Yep. Beloved soloists? Got ‘em.

If you tried to get tickets for this season’s The Marriage of Figaro, you know how enthusiastically Northeast Ohio concertgoers responded to hearing their orchestra in the pit. In 2010 Cleveland will take on another Mozart opera — this time, Cosi fan tutte.

Guest conductors will include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Iván Fischer, Semyon Bychkov, and Pierre Boulez, whose involvement with The Cleveland Orchestra dates back to 1965.

Mitsuko Uchida (BBC)

Mitsuko Uchida is always welcome in Northeast Ohio, and next season she’ll be featured in two concerts — Beethoven’s 4th in October, and two Mozart concertos in April. She’ll conduct the Mozart works from the keyboard.

Yefim Bronfman and Richard Goode are also among the visiting pianists we’ll hear. Violinist Leila Josefowicz and cellist Truls Mørk will appear. We can also expect a return visit from soprano Measha Brueggergosman, among others. Over a dozen more returning and new-to-Severance singers will join the orchestra.

The orchestra won’t reduce the number of programs they offer, although some programs won’t be played as many times as in past seasons.

The orchestra will also introduce three new concert series. Severance Fridays will combine an early-evening concert with a reception featuring drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and live music. Musically Speaking Sundays will begin with a detailed analysis of a work, including live musical examples, and conclude with a complete performance of the work. The Baroque and Classical Series will comprise three concerts — the Uchida Mozart performances; Handel’s Messiah; and an all-Baroque program, including Handel’s Water Music. This last will be led by Bernard Labadie, music director of Les Violons du Roy.

The new series are part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s renewed effort to connect more closely with Northeast Ohio. The centerpiece of this strategy is the week-long Community Music Initiative. It includes music director Franz Welser-Moest conducting a benefit Beethoven Ninth, concerts in Cleveland schools, and a family concert.

How are they doing all this in a down economy? Every element of the season is designed to maximize revenue and/or reduce costs. In addition to the slight trimming in total number of performances in Cleveland, when the orchestra tours, they’ll concentrate on the stops that generate the best return. And as I mentioned a few days ago, they’ve taken some large whacks at administrative costs.

The season’s repertoire delivers a mix of new experiences and familiar friends. Joerg Widmann’s Chor, the violin concerto of Thomas Ades, The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind by Osvaldo Golijov, and John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony and Son of Chamber Symphony will be among the works receiving their first Cleveland performances.

Complimenting them are many well-known standards of the repertoire, including the Shostakovich Fifth (and Beethoven’s and Tchaikovsky’s); Brahms’s German Requiem, second symphony, and second piano concerto; the Schubert Ninth; Rachmaninoff’s Second (and Schumann’s); Strauss’s Don Juan and Also Sprach Zarathustra; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition; and the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique.

WKSU’s Vivian Goodman spoke with executive director Gary Hanson and music director Franz Welser Moest about their plans, and has more information on the upcoming Cleveland Orchestra season.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Further reading:

Cleveland Orchestra announces 2009-10 Severance season at the Plain Dealer

Andras Schiff

For at least 5 years, Beethoven has been pianist Andras Schiff’s near-obsession. He had to be, as Schiff joined the ranks of pianists who’ve taken on a monumental task: performing all of Beethoven’s sonatas. If you’re a regular listener to WKSU’s classical music, you’ve probably heard many of his ECM recordings of these works as they’ve been released.

Now he has nearly arrived at his destination — the final three sonatas, the ones Beethoven composed as his hearing failed and he turned ever more inward, the ones that deeply puzzled his listeners and many more for at least another century.

This Wednesday evening (1 April 2009) at 8pm PT, Andras Schiff will take to the stage of Disney Hall in Los Angeles for the final installment in his US series of Beethoven sonata concerts. He’ll perform sonata #30 in E, Op109; sonata #31 in A flat, Op110; and sonata #32 in C minor, Op111.

Public radio station KUSC and NPR are joining forces to stream the concert over the web. If you live in Northeast Ohio you’ll have to stay up a bit late Wednesday night (8pm PT is 11pm ET), but you can hear it live at NPR Concerts.

Further reading:

Andras Schiff Plays Beethoven at NPR.org

The belt-tightening continues at orchestras across America and round the world. This month (March 2009) the Philadelphia Orchestra pink-slipped a dozen staffers and the Pittsburgh Symphony released nine. The New Jersey Symphony dismissed three. The Atlanta Symphony announced pay cuts of 5-7 percent and furloughed staff members. Since last fall the Cincinnati Symphony have given 8 staffers their walking papers, and gotten their musicians to take an 11% pay cut. The list goes on, I’m sorry to say.

Many orchestras are planning shorter, simpler, cheaper concert seasons. Increasingly, they’re turning to their own principals for solo work in concertos, and asking guest soloists to moderate their fees. (Pianist Emanuel Ax graciously waived his fee entirely for last weekend’s concerts with the Columbus Symphony.)

Severance Hall Pediment (Wikimedia Commons)

Even the mighty Cleveland Orchestra isn’t immune. The same budget beasts battering orchestras in other cities are now clawing at Severance Hall’s doors. Private and corporate donations are down, ticket sales are down, and the orchestra’s endowment fund is down — this last by over a quarter. They’re looking at a possible shortfall of over $7 million — a tough situation for an orchestra that was already in recovery mode after years of deficits.

In response, the orchestra will trim their season and their touring (though perhaps not their performances in Miami, which so far have proven to be revenue champs). They’ll choose repertore to minimize the need for overtime and substitute musicians.

Unlike many of the others, Cleveland has chosen to cut salaries instead of staff. Music director Franz Welser-Moest is setting an example with a 20% giveback, executive director Gary Hanson is letting go of 15% of his pay, and other top brass are swallowing a 10% reduction. Nonunion lower level staffers will see 5% less in their pay envelopes. The orchestra’s managment also plan to ask the players for more “operational flexibility” when their contract comes up for renewal in August.

All this cost-cutting may balance the books for the upcoming season. I certainly hope it does. But if endowment revenue and business support continue to slide, what will Cleveland and the rest of the world’s music makers do? For most US orchestras, ticket sales now cover less than 40 percent of their costs. Where do you suppose the rest comes from?

I’m far from an expert on these matters — I’m the classical music geek at a public radio station, for goodness sake, not an arts administrator — but I wonder if orchestras might harvest some idea from us — that is, public radio — and maybe even from Hollywood.

In the offices of NPR and at stations large and small all across the country, public radio faces a decline in contributions from businesses and foundations. Just as with the orchestras, those who have endowments have watched them evaporate. And as with orchestras, many stations have had to trim operations and/or release staff.

The good news — and it’s deeply gratifying — is that listeners have stepped forward to help make up part of the revenue losses. As has happened in many (though not all) cases round the nation, WKSU’s Spring pledge drive met its goal, and even exceeded it by a small amount.

Meanwhile, the box office take is up for major motion pictures these days, reversing a long standing downward trend. Of course this has generated an inevitable comparison, with the film industry’s much-noted growth during the years of the Great Depression.

In the early 1930s, Hollywood reflected the grim times on the street — and they watched their box office returns dwindle. Their change of course as the tough times dragged on may have been partly driven by a sense of the public’s desire for more escapist fare, but in part it was forced on them by the rise of the Legion of Decency and the Breen Office. Regardless of the impetus, though, it’s hard to debate the fact that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers brought in more Americans worried about next week’s paycheck than did stories of gangster wars and political sleaze.

Now, consider Chicago Lyric Opera. They’re heading into next season in remarkly good fiscal shape. Why? It’s partly because they’ve been holding costs down for years, and they’ve gotten pretty good at it. But a good part of the reason is their repertoire. Their audiences have come to expect frankly conservative programming. The Lyric’s focus on favorites has earned them some catcalls from critics, but their director thinks the company’s current stability while others are teetering has vindicated his approach.

Other opera companies — and orchestras — are paying attention.

I, for one, am not about to criticize them for it. Hollywood’s experience suggests to me that, in tough times, audiences need and crave the comfortable and familiar. It takes courageous administrators to recognize this, and put their ambitious plans for new music and splashy productions on hold. Those uneasy listeners they thus put in their seats will forget their problems, at least for a couple of hours. Those listeners, and their friends, will help pull the orchestras through these dark times. The orchestras will survive, so they can again take risks and forge ahead in the (we hope!) more affluent future.

It wasn’t just lighter subject matter that filled the cinemas of the last 1930s. It helped a lot that producers and theatre owners slashed their costs and brought the price of a ticket down to between a quarter and a half dollar (depending on how deluxe an experience you wanted). As it turns out, that’s about $3.75 to $7.50 in 2009 dollars. Hmmm.

A music lover who’ll drop $130 for a pair of orchestra-level seats in good times might be a little more hesitant when he’s not sure he’ll have a paycheck in 6 months. For someone in that position, even the top row balcony seats may look unaffordable at half that price.

Although not every orchestra is losing listeners — England’s Philharmonia Orchestra, for example, says their ticket sales are holding up well, thank you — many of them are indeed seeing their attendance fall for this very reason.

In public radio, we’ve found that listeners who’ve been with us for years will often pledge upwards of $20 a month, a dollar a day, or even $1000 a year. They know us, and they know the value of our programs. But others who are just discovering us are, quite understandably, usually interested in making smaller donations. So we try to accomodate them. We offer a range of membership levels for listeners of different means and interest.

It seems to me that orchestras have to go beyond just balancing the books on business as usual. Maybe they can learn a little from our experience, and that of the Depression-era movie theatres. In addition to offering appealing concerts, they may have to further widen their range of ticket prices, fighting box office losses by offering some concerts at the regular price, a few at a premium with premium extras and — here it comes — at least some concerts at prices that folks with very limited means can afford.

Kudos to The Cleveland Orchestra for their plans to offer reduced ticket prices for first-time concertgoers and younger people next season. That’s the kind of flexibility that will help keep people in the habit of hearing music live, even if their finances have tightened.

Can we go still further?

Again, remember that I’m not an expert here, so perhaps I’m being naive. If you’re familiar with the issues, feel free to put me in my place with the comments section below. But I think that, in these difficult times, orchestras need to find ways to lower the barriers as much as possible. I have a couple of suggestions.

First, why not fill space that’s currently unused? In Europe many musical organizations offer standing room in the back of the hall for around $5 to $15 per head (or pair of feet), usually on a first come first served basis, no printed program provided.

I’ve stood in Severance Hall, and no doubt will again, but standing room seems less often offered here in the States than in Europe. Is this an area for growth? I suppose it’s not very practical for a family with kids, but couldn’t cheap standing room tickets — say, five bucks — keep a financially stressed music lover coming to concerts until his or her situation improves, or introduce a penurious student to the pleasures of real live music?

Secondly, what about the scale of the concerts themselves? Not every great work requires a full orchestra. We needn’t go as far as Ernest Fleischmann suggested over 20 years ago in his proposal to convert the orchestra into a "community of musicians," but a little more flexibility in orchestra structure and programming could open the doors for a wider audience.

I’m suggesting that some orchestras might consider converting one or more season concerts into chamber orchestra concerts, perhaps even playing them at less traditional locations.

I don’t mean to tread on any musicians’ toes with this notion. From what I understand — please correct me if I’m wrong — union rules make this sort of compromise tough, and for good reasons, so it may take some stretching all round. But there’s a sizable repertoire of substantial, rewarding chamber orchestra works from the 18th to the 21st centuries. By its very nature, the form is less resource-hungry: a smaller corps of players, a smaller space, and smaller crews all add up to more affordable ticket prices. This could bring in music lovers who otherwise might seldom or never see a live concert because of the cost.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that I have some kind of prescription for struggling orchestras. As I said above, I’m no insider. But whether these ideas are usable ones or not, I think orchestras should be looking at ways to make concerts more affordable for music lovers whose resources are strained.

One way or another, our musical organizations will work through these difficulties. They have to. We need them, to keep live music available for the next generation and the one after that.

Further listening:

Cleveland Orchestra announces 2009-2010 season (with reporter Vivian Goodman) in WKSU News

Further reading:

Cleveland Orchestra plans deep cuts at the Plain Dealer

Orchestras plan fewer concerts at The Telegraph

BSO lays off staffers at the Baltimore Sun

Facing the music … Philadelphia Orchestra at Metromix Orlando

Big-league pianist steps up to plate at Columbus Dispatch

State’s top orchestra faces changes at the New York Times (registration may be required)

Hollywood and the Great Depression at Digital History

Hard Times: just what the box office ordered at The Wrap

Cincinnat Music Hall (Wikimedia Commons)

Keeping an orchestra or opera company running in the black — sometimes, just keeping it running — is no mean feat in the best of times. In the current economic climate, the folks who put on concerts for us, in the US and around the world, mostly have little choice but to hunker down and wait for the clouds to part.

It’s been a rough week in the music world.

• The Cincinnati Symphony, faced with a massive 3.8 million dollar deficit and a 25 percent drop in their endowment fund’s value, announced drastic measures. Since September they’ve released eight administrative staff members. Nearly everyone left has swallowed pay cuts — staff, music director Paavo Järvi, and now the musicians. Yesterday (Monday 2 February 2009) the orchestra’s players agreed to an eleven percent reduction in salary.

Cincinnati’s recording program has been relegated to limbo. Cleveland’s Telarc Records was scheduled to record The Pops Goes British next week in Music Hall. It’s cancelled, as are all future recordings, though three already in the can are still slated for release.

• The Philadelphia Orchestra asked next season’s guest conductors and soloists to accept lower fees. Large-scale works such as Richard Strauss’s Elektra were axed from the programs. They’d already cancelled their 2009 tour of European festivals, and decided not to renew their innovative relationship with Finland’s Ondine Records. Internet concert simulcasts are out, too.

• The Rochester Philharmonic joined the red-ink crowd, announcing a deficit of $161,000 on an annual operating budget of $10 million. They blamed staff turnover, an increase in programming and administrative costs, and a $280,000 revenue hit.

• The Met expects a double-digit deficit. Their endowment, like many, has declined precipitously, as have donations and ticket sales. San Francisco Opera, faced with the end of their city subsidy, is looking at a $71 million shortfall.

• The Opera Orchestra of New York was to perform Wagner’s Rienzi on 19 March (2009) and Cherubini’s Medea on 21 April, but this week they cancelled both. They’d already axed a concert with bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, originally set for the 27th of February.

• LA Opera pink-slipped 17 staffers and announced pay cuts of 6-8% for the rest. They hope to slice their budget by 25% for next season, mainly by renegotiating union contracts and reducing the season from 64 to 48 performances.

• The Bolshoi Theatre cancelled a Mexican tour and a new performance of Verdi’s Otello.

But wait! Amid all this darkness, we find a couple of glimmers:

• The LA Philharmonic, riding a giddy wave of elation over its new, much-discussed young music director, Gustavo Dudamel, has no plans for any cutbacks at all.

• Chicago Lyric Opera is forging ahead with their long-range plans and won’t need to change a thing in next season’s programming. General director William Mason gets much of the credit; he’s carried forward the lean, fiscally cautious policies of his predecessor, Ardis Krainik. Although Mason’s been criticized for musically conservative programming, he thinks his approach has now been “vindicated.”

Further reading:

Cincinnati Symphony falls $3.8M short

CSO musicians agree to pay cut

Economy is forcing Philadelphia Orchestra to scale back

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra posts deficit

LA Opera announces cutbacks

San Francisco Opera tightens belt

Opera Orchestra of New York cancels remaining performances this season

Crisis forces Russia’s Bolshoi to scrap opera

Fiscal prudence enables Lyric Opera to enter 2009-10 without fear and trembling

The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall (Photo: Richard Scheinin)

Unsettling news hit classical CD fans last week. For years the entire music industry has seen CD sales gradually trail off as music lovers finished replacing their LPs and interest shifted to instant-gratification music downloads. Through all this, classical CD sales have always held up better than most other genres’. But last year, it was classical’s turn at the biggest sales hit — 26 percent.

This has renewed the clamor from the doom-and-gloom pundits who’ve been predicting classical recording’s imminent demise for years.

They’re still wrong. With download sales growing, classical recording is far from dead.

What has happened, though, is that many of the major labels, saddled with debt from buying each other, no longer are willing to allow their classical divisions to run at a loss. Recording projects are fewer. Increasingly, producers are shying away from risky repertoire and high-cost artists.

Many major orchestras, particularly in the US, have found themselves without recording contracts. A few have foregone recording entirely. Others have forged relationships with small, independent record labels. Still others have taken matters into their own hands, recording their own concerts. They offer the recordings as (usually paid) downloads on their websites, and as CDs in their gift shops and by mail.

With so many large media companies leaving orchestras in the lurch, it was especially gratifying when one of the biggest, Deutsche Grammophon, released The Cleveland Orchestra’s Beethoven Ninth in 2007. Now, DG’s microphones are back in Severance Hall. They recorded this weekend’s concerts (on 8 and 10 January 2009), with soprano Measha Brueggergosman singing Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, for a Wagner disc (yes, I said disc) to be released in the autumn of 2010. Robert Woods, the sharp ears behind Telarc Records, is part of the production team.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s agreement with DG will give us four recordings in all. For the second release, Pierre Boulez, who has made several fine discs of French repertoire with The Cleveland Orchestra over the years, will conduct Ravel’s G major concerto and left-hand concerto. The pianist will be Pierre-Laurent Aimard. These recordings, also live, will be made at next season’s concerts.

Repertoire for the remaining two recordings hasn’t yet been announced.

All four recordings are expected to be released both as CDs and as Internet downloads.

Gil Shaham (Photo: J Henry Fair / DG)

American-born violinist Gil Shaham had just finished playing Sarasate at Lincoln Center Thursday night (20 November 2008), performing live on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center.   He was about to exit the stage when a voice rang out from the audience: "Stop!"

It was the young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, with whom Shaham played the Dvorak concerto in a much discussed New York Philharmonic concert last year.  "My friend, nice to see you," Dudamel continued.  "I have the honor to tell you that you have won the Avery Fisher Prize for 2008."

The Avery Fisher Prize, one of music’s most prestigious, is awarded from secret nominations.  The recipients are always surprised with the announcements.

Shaham’s musical life story reads almost like a classical music fairy tale.  Born of scientist parents, he began studying violin at the age of seven.  He played with the Israel Philharmonic when he was eleven.  The same year, he was admitted to the Juilliard School in New York.  He studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang.

Gil Shaham got his big break in 1989 when Itzhak Perlman took ill and couldn’t play a solo gig with the London Symphony Orchestra.  Shaham flew to London on a day’s notice and played two concertos — the Bruch and the Sibelius.  The critics took note and so did concert-goers.  Shaham was only eighteen.

The following year, 1990, Shaham received the Avery Fisher Career Grant.  (His younger sister, pianist Orli Shaham, received the Fisher Career Grant in 1997.)

Both the grant and the prize are named for audio researcher and philanthropist Avery Fisher.  Fisher, an amateur violinist and lifelong music lover, served on the boards of the New York Philharmonic and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Forty to fifty years ago, a range of consumer audio equipment bore his name ("The Fisher").  Fisher sold his audio business to Emerson Electric in 1969 and, five years later, founded the Avery Fisher Prize.  He died in 1994.

"My father loved surprises," says Fisher’s daughter Nancy.

Listen:

Violinist Shaham Surprised With Music Prize at NPR

A 1703 Stradivarius (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Nearly every accomplished violinist lusts after a Stradivarius instrument, but few will ever own one. The number of surviving violins from Antonio Stradivari’s workshop has been estimated at fewer than 700. Instruments are seldom offered for sale, and the few that are command stratospheric prices. In 2006, a Strad sold at auction for over US$3.5 million.

Not surprisingly, many modern instrument makers and researchers have tried to duplicate the sound of a Strad, or at least to determine its secret. No one has yet conclusively done either.

The latest to claim he’s built a modern Stradivarius is Francis Schwarze of the Zurich-based Federal Materials, Science and Technology Institute. His secret: mushrooms.

Schwarze asserts that treating the maple wood used for the violin with Xylaria Longipes mushrooms, which grow on the bark of trees, reduces the wood’s density and at least comes closer to mimicing the unique Stradivarius sound.

However, many other researchers have suggested that the wood used in Stradivari’s violins was actually denser than usual. Between 1645 and 1750, extraordinarily cool temperatures in Europe caused trees to grow more slowly.

Still other scholars attribute the instruments’ distinctive sound to Stradivari’s subtle changes in the shape of the instrument.

Perhaps Schwarze has indeed discovered a way to make a better-sounding (or at least different-sounding) violin. But has he really duplicated the sound of a Stradivarius? The jury’s still out.

Riccardo Muti (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

Riccardo Muti, former music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and future leader of the Chicago Symphony, is famous for his fiery temper and his rather old-fashioned autocratic approach to music making. Compromise is not often part of his repertoire; just ask the musicians at La Scala, where his directorship disintegrated in discord 3 years ago (2005).

A few days ago (7 November) Muti walked away from an engagement over a dispute with none other than the Queen of England.

Muti was to have conducted a concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra today (Thursday 13 November 2008) in honor of the Prince of Wales’s 60th birthday, a performance explicitly requested by Queen Elizabeth II. Charles is an ardent supporter of the Philharmonia, and the Queen was apparently an admirer of the conductor. She’d attended performances Muti conducted in La Scala and had nominated him for a knighthood. Furthermore, Muti has a history with the Philharmonia; he was their principal conductor from 1973 to 1982.

However, both Queen and Prince expressed concern about the length and "appropriateness" of Muti’s program. After some discussion, he bailed. The Philharmonia has been tight-lipped about Muti’s original plans; but according to Muti, "For ceremonial reasons that I don’t know, the program was shortened and it was decided that the orchestra would only play God Save the Queen and another piece by a British musician."

British conductor Christopher Warren-Green stepped in to replace Muti.

This coming Saturday Charles will throw his own celebration at his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire. The musical entertainment will be provided by Rod Stewart. Even the 63 year old rock singer couldn’t avoid royal editing, though. Stewart was reportedly asked to omit Do Ya Think I’m Sexy from his set as "too raucous."

Lang Lang (Photo: La Scena Musicale)

Young star pianist Lang Lang is unquestionably a distinctive artist. In another way, though, he represents the evolving musical culture of his homeland. China is now the home of the world’s most active piano manufacturer — and as many as 80 million piano students (see A Nation of Pianos and Pianists).

Fundamental tenets of Confucian philosophy emphasize the importance of education and success, acceptance and recognition of authority, and service to one’s neighborhood and country. These principles remain influential in many Asian nations, including China. Families often make enormous personal and financial sacrifices to ensure that their children achieve these goals.

Lang Lang’s book Journey of a Thousand Miles tells the story of his family’s efforts to help him develop his artistry and career. He’ll visit Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cleveland Wednesday (8 October 2008) at 7pm to discuss Journey and autograph copies. For more information, ring up Joseph-Beth at 216 691-7000.

Further reading:

A Nation of Pianos and Pianists in WKSU Classical

Classical Music in China: A Closer Look in WKSU Classical

Journey of a Thousand Miles at Powell’s Books

Playing With Flying Keys at Barnes and Noble

Lang Lang’s website

Columbus Symphony musicians rehearse (symphonymusicians.com)

Last week (Monday 22 September) the musicians of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra accepted a contract which calls for substantial cuts in their salary and benefits. Principal clarinetist David Thomas, for example, will see his paycheck sag below what he was earning when he first joined the orchestra in 1989.

The $1.3 million reduction is an echo of 2005, when the musicians gave up exactly the same amount in salaries and benefits.

The symphony board had first suggested trimming the roster from 53 to 31, effectively turning the symphony into a chamber orchestra. Later they amended that proposal to maintain the orchestra’s strength but with a 40% cut in base salaries, partly through a reduction in the number of concerts per season.

In the end, the giveback was 27%. The final agreement curtails the musicians’ season, from 46 to 38 weeks. It cuts the base salary from $1,200 per week to $1,100 per week, with further reductions in pension contributions and health care plan expenditure. Some concerts will move from the Ohio Theatre to Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, where the rent is cheaper and the acoustics less suitable.

Officially, the Columbus Symphony is back in business. But at what cost? The relationship between management and orchestra members could hardly be described as amicable. At least a half-dozen musicians have already moved on. Given the tense atmosphere and the financial stress, how many more experienced players will defect to other orchestras? With salaries declining, what caliber of musicians will audition to replace them?

Perhaps the greatest and most immediate uncertainty for both musicians and listeners is — who will lead? During the contract dispute, the orchestra’s well-regarded music director, Junichi Hirokami, came down solidly on the side of the musicians. At least one of the board’s budget proposals included sacking Hirokami. The musicians turned thumbs down on that pact, but Hirokami’s future with the Columbus Symphony is still in doubt.

Meanwhile, the Symphony must begin the process of raising funds to cover its $9.5 million budget ($3 million less than last year’s). Not only will they be hampered by a tight economy, they’ll have to overcome lingering concerns among potential supporters over the organization’s internal acrimony, artistic leadership status, and long-term viability.

The orchestra is expected to perform in the pit for Opera Columbus’s staging of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers in October. Opera Columbus’s artistic director, William Boggs, will conduct. The Holiday pops concerts are on for December, with an abbreviated regular season to begin in January. The conductor of those concerts? No one knows.

Further reading:

Orchestra is revived, but future still murky (Columbus Dispatch)

Joint Statement (Columbus Symphony and AFM Local 103)

All Columbus Symphony entries in WKSU Classical

Don Rosenberg (cleveland.com)

The Baltimore Sun reports today that Donald Rosenberg, longtime music critic of the Plain Dealer, and before that of the Beacon Journal, has been pulled off the Cleveland Orchestra beat. Another critic at the paper, Zachary Lewis, will be covering the orchestra’s concerts in the future.

Read more:

Cleveland critic who dared criticize is reassigned in the Baltimore Sun