PODCAST · arts
Conducting Business
by WQXR Radio
The latest articles from Conducting Business
Episodes
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Arias in the Arena: Are Sporting Events Good for Opera?
We're halfway into 2014 and opera has already worked its way into three of the year's biggest athletic events. For those keeping score, there was Renée Fleming's pop-tinged version of the national anthem at the Super Bowl; Anna Netrebko's take on the Olympic Anthem during the opening the Sochi...
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Met's <em>Klinghoffer</em> Cancellation Reignites Old Debates
The Metropolitan Opera's decision last week to drop its HD and radio broadcasts of the John Adams opera The Death of Klinghoffer continues to draw strong responses – from newspaper editorial boards, anti-censorship groups, and music critics around the world. But this is only the latest chapter in...
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When Art and Sensitivity Clash: The 'Klinghoffer' Broadcast Cancellation
The Metropolitan Opera's decision to cancel its global HD and radio broadcasts of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer has stirred up heated responses from around the classical music world. Some have called the decision sensitive and sensible given the real-life subject matter. Others have said…
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Behind Richard Strauss's Murky Relationship with the Nazis
June 11 is the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth—an occasion to celebrate and also to raise questions about the composer and his actions during the Nazi era.
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Can Cleveland Really Attract the Country's Youngest Orchestra Audience?
The graying of audiences is a perennial, if growing concern for symphony orchestras. Recent data from the National Endowment for the Arts shows that senior citizens are the fastest-growing segment of the classical music audience, while 35- to 54-year-olds are turning way. One presumed reason for...
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Orchestras Move at Adagio Pace in Hiring Black and Latino Musicians
When news broke that Anthony McGill would be the New York Philharmonic’s next principal clarinetist, much of the attention centered on the political intrigue – that he was filling a longstanding vacancy and the perception that he'd been "poached" from the Met Orchestra. But there's also this…
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What's Gone Wrong with Encores?
Every concert-goer has experienced this at one time or another: a performance that is so exhilarating or so transcendent that after the final notes, the audience cheers, leaps to its feet and demands to hear more.
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Orchestras Issue Their Own Recordings: Vanity or Good P.R.?
The Berlin Philharmonic announced last week that it is launching an in-house record label, starting on May 23 with concert recordings of the complete Schumann symphonies conducted by Simon Rattle.
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Colorado Symphony Sparks Up a Concert Series for Marijuana Users
When Colorado legalized pot this year, millions of music fans fantasized about the far-out musical experiences that will take place in the "Mile High" city of Denver. Now, the Colorado Symphony may have answered their wishes. In a bid to attract a new and younger audience, the Denver-based...
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Ivory Ban Good for Elephants, a Headache for Musicians
New Federal rules aimed at protecting Africa's endangered elephants are sending shock waves through parts of the music world.
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As Record Store Day Returns, Where Can Classical Buyers Shop?
Last week, J&R unceremoniously closed its store in Lower Manhattan after 43 years in business. The iconic electronics and music retailer is vowing to reopen “totally reimagined and redeveloped.” But for now at least, it has gone the way of Tower Records, HMV, Virgin Megastore, Sam Goody and other...
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Are American Orchestras ‘Blatantly Ignoring’ American Music?
Barber’s Violin Concerto, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Copland’s Appalachian Spring are among a small handful of American works that have become staples of the orchestra repertoire.
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San Diego Opera Crisis Underscores Need for Fresh Business Models
When San Diego Opera recently announced its plans to fold after 49 years in business, a wide swath of the California arts community was stunned, including the musicians of the San Diego Symphony, which doubles as the opera company’s pit orchestra.
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Soprano Sharleen Joynt on Resuming an Opera Career After Reality TV's 'The Bachelor'
When Sharleen Joynt, a coloratura soprano from Canada, was selected to be a contestant on ABC's reality dating show “The Bachelor," she knew it had the potential to be more bizarre than many opera plots. One of the show’s pivotal scenes, after all, has her stepping out of a limousine, dressed to...
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In a Rough Job Market, More Conservatories Stress Business Skills
In the current violinist-eat-violinist atmosphere for graduates of conservatories and university music schools, some institutions of higher musical learning are trying to bring academic training closer to the realities of the job market.
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Can Gustavo Dudamel and El Sistema Navigate Venezuela's Upheaval?
As the Los Angeles Philharmonic arrives in New York to give a pair of concerts on March 16 and 17 at Lincoln Center, its music director, Gustavo Dudamel, faces an increasingly difficult political situation back in his native Venezuela.
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With NYC School Reforms, a Plan for Arts Programs?
Graphic: How Four Arts Disciplines are Taught in NYC High Schools New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has put education reform at the top of his agenda, with a particular focus on universal pre-kindergarten, charter schools and after-school programs. But last week there was other news about the...
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Vienna Philharmonic: Facing its Nazi Past But Struggling with Diversity
Possibly no orchestra has prompted more hand-wringing and ambivalence than the Vienna Philharmonic. The 172-year-old orchestra is recognized the world over for a very specific sound that’s changed little over the decades, and a playing style that has been passed down from generation to generation.
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'Japan's Beethoven': Understanding the Ghost Composer Scandal
Leonard Bernstein, Paul McCartney and Osvaldo Golijov all wrote high-profile music that wasn't entirely theirs. They used orchestrators (Bernstein in West Side Story), musical collaborators (McCartney's concert works) and assistant melodists (Golijov’s Sidereus) to help get their thoughts on paper.
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Russia's Classical Stars Expected at Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony
Despite efforts to keep the content of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics under tight wraps, a few details have emerged about the musical lineup planned for Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia on Friday.
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Classical Commercials: Can Gounod Sell Shampoo? Actually, Yes.
Sunday’s Super Bowl will feature 55 commercials and chances are, some of them will feature a symphony or an opera aria embedded in the soundtrack. Classical music in advertising goes back decades but its purpose has changed – becoming more self-referential, ironic and often comedic in its use.
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Rebounding Minnesota Orchestra is 'Still Mad at Itself'
So, what comes next for the Minnesota Orchestra in the wake of the contract agreement that ended the bitter 15-month lockout and returns the musicians to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on Feb. 7?
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The Puzzling Revival of the Vinyl LP
Today's Throwback Thursday looks at the continued strength of the vinyl revival. Tune in during the 8 am hour when Jeff Spurgeon plays a special vinyl track. The numbers are striking: CD sales declined nearly 15 percent last year. But vinyl sales moved in the opposite direction: up 32 percent…
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The Best and Worst of Classical Music in 2013
The year 2013 saw plenty of headline-making moments in classical music. Protesters came to the opening night of the Met, while a stagehands strike cancelled the opening night at Carnegie Hall. There were heated debates over women conductors and some complicated celebrations for Richard Wagner. It...
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Symphonies for Snoozing? When it's OK to Be Bored in Concerts
We've all had moments when our mind has wandered during a Wagner opera, a Bruckner symphony or perhaps a long Mozart recitative. Some of us have even dozed off. But maybe we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when our thoughts drift to a grocery list or an e-mail we forgot to send earlier.
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For New Classical Christmas Albums, Less is More
It’s that time of year again, when orchestras across the land are dusting off their holiday pops programs and choruses are warming up for Messiahs and sing-a-along carol extravaganzas.
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After the 'Mozart Effect': Music's Real Impact on the Brain
It stopped just short of promising eyesight to the blind or rain from dry skies. But disciples of the 1993 "Mozart Effect" study made impressive claims: Listening to music, they said, could boost Junior's math scores and maybe even get him into Harvard. The idea sparked a cottage industry of CDs,...
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On Major Podiums, Still a Man's World?
The absence of women conductors at the world’s top orchestras is no longer news, but it stands out more every year, as women scale male bastions in business, sports and entertainment. Of the 20 largest orchestras in the U.S., only the Baltimore Symphony has a woman music director: Marin Alsop…
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State of the Arts: Behind the NEA Survey
All the people clamoring to get into Broadway shows like "Wicked" and "The Book of Mormon" – or museum shows like the Rain Room at MoMa – are apparently the exception, rather than the rule. That's the conclusion of a new survey of public participation released last week by the National Endowment...
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Is Timid Programming Classical Music's Biggest Threat?
When times are tough, a lot of arts groups go for the sure thing. For orchestras, that means a Beethoven symphony cycle over Schoenberg or Cage. For an opera house, it's Carmen and La Boheme over a risky modern opera.
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Protesting or Praising, Classical Music Fans Become Activists Online
Before the Minnesota Orchestra locked out its musicians in a season-long labor dispute, the orchestra's administration had already locked down a large number of domain names – buying up at least a dozen website addresses that were variations on "Save Our Minnesota Orchestra."
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Musicians Use Beta Blockers as Performance-Enabling Drugs
Anyone who has had to give a speech at a wedding or deliver a Powerpoint presentation at the office knows the symptoms: sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, even nausea.
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Wagnerites: Classical Music's Most Obsessed Fans
When a new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle is planned, opera administrators bank on a significant portion of their audience coming from the ranks of Wagnerites or "Ring Nuts," a breed of Wagner-lovers known for traveling globally to feed their unrelenting hunger for opera's greatest epic.
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Nashville Symphony's Near-Foreclosure is a Warning to Orchestras
A symphony orchestra gets a gleaming new concert hall. It’s a symbol of cultural ambition, civic pride and even a centerpiece of urban renewal. Or, is it an albatross and a money pit whose costs ultimately come back to bite the organization?
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In Philanthropy, Why Naming Rights are the Name of the Game
Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art said it will name its newly remodeled plaza and fountains for David H. Koch, the billionaire conservative activist who gave $65 million towards the renovation. Koch has his name on a few prominent buildings around town, including the former New…
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Nazi <em>Tannhäuser</em> Renews Debate Over Radical Opera Stagings
Last week, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf cancelled a Nazi-themed production of Wagner's Tannhäuser, when the premiere performance prompted booing, mass walkouts and even reports of audience members getting sick. With scenes that reportedly showed Jews being murdered and dying in gas...
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100 Years After Stravinsky's 'Rite,' Can Classical Music Still Shock?
On May 29, 1913, the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring provoked a riot: whistling and booing, catcalls and fisticuffs overran the performance and the police were called in to quiet the angry crowd. It became one of the most celebrated scandals in music history. Today,...
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Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime?
POLL: Should classical music be used to fight crime and loitering? Move along, hoodlums. Antonio Vivaldi is playing at Newark Penn Station. When New Jersey Transit upgraded the public address system at the Newark transit hub a year ago, they began piping in classical music along with the...
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Does Bach Need 'Rescuing' from Period Instruments?
In recent months, symphony orchestras have returned to the music of J.S. Bach with a vengeance. The New York Philharmonic is in the midst of a month-long Bach festival with the expressed goal of reclaiming the master's music for modern instruments. At the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bach's St.…
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Ode to Joystick: Video Game Music Earns Points with Orchestras, Composers
For the first time a soundtrack for a video game has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category usually reserved for movie scores. The composer Austin Wintory's score for the wildly popular PlayStation 3 game "Journey" has been given a nod for "Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media,"...
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Have Cancellations in Opera Gotten Out of Hand?
With influenza reaching epidemic proportions in the United States — and the common cold not far behind — opera singers are dropping out of productions at an alarming rate.
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The Best and Worst of Classical Music in 2012
The year 2012 supplied plenty of headline-making moments in classical music. There was the infamous marimba ring tone at the New York Philharmonic, the opera singer with the controversial tattoos, the composer accused of plagiarism, and cellos booted off airplanes. It was a tough year for…
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Avery Fisher Hall's Extreme Makeover
When the news emerged last week that Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center is to finally go under the knife in 2017, reaction was swift and vocal. "Tear the place down!" wrote more than one commenter on a recent WQXR.org blog post. "The dimensions are all wrong," said another. Some familiar...
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How Arts Groups Can Recover Post-Sandy
Last week was basically a write-off for many of New York City's arts organizations. Superstorm Sandy shut down theaters, knocked out power to downtown clubs and submerged art galleries. For many individuals, it destroyed paintings, musical instruments and recording equipment.
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The Dangerous Business of Being an Opera Singer
In the old days, opera singers were expected to just "park and bark," as the static style of performing on stage is referred to within the business. But that’s a thing of the past. Singers now not only have look to like their characters, but also bound across raised platforms, fly through the air...
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Eccentric Genius: Is it Time to Rethink the Cult of Glenn Gould?
In 1955, Canadian piano prodigy Glenn Gould made a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations that made him world-famous. But Gould became just as famous for his eccentricities – humming along while he played, wearing gloves and overcoat in summer, middle-of-the-night phone calls and quitting the...
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How Troubled Orchestras Can Bounce Back – And Flourish
Recently, WQXR.org polled listeners on what's needed to help troubled orchestras in several major American cities. Focusing on major symphonies in Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Paul and San Antonio – all of which face contract disputes and bulging deficits – the responses varied...
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The Pitfalls of Carrying Musical Instruments on Planes
U.S. airlines are more punctual and less likely to lose your bag than at any time in more than two decades, according to a recent Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Transportation data. Fewer than three suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported lost, damaged or delayed from January through...
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In the Wake of Austerity, Europe Grapples with Arts Cuts
The headlines from Europe this summer are as persistent as a bad sunburn: the Dutch government has slashed arts funding by 25 percent, Italy’s La Scala opera house has announced a $9 million shortfall, and Madrid and Barcelona's main opera houses have both implemented cuts in productions and…
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Music Criticism as Contact Sport
As almost anyone with a Facebook account knows, classical music criticism is going from spectator sport to participatory activity. Some people read the comments on articles or news feeds just as avidly as the actual reviews that precede them. Meanwhile, as newspaper arts coverage is cut back in...
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The latest articles from Conducting Business
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