Rest in Peace, Maestro Menotti
Renowned composer Gian Carlo Menotti passed away Feb. 1 in a Monte Carlo hospital at the age of 95, according to the British newspaper the Guardian. Menotti was born in Italy and maintained Italian musical traditions despite having lived in the United States and the United Kingdom. Surprisingly, he wrote his own texts, usually in English. Considered a successor to Puccini, he wrote operas about down-to-earth people in a tonal, easily accessible style.
During the winter of 1947-48, Menotti’s double bill of The Medium and The Telephone ran for 211 performances on Broadway. His first full-length opera, The Consul, premiered in Philadelphia in 1950, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Circle Award. His most frequently performed opera—his 1951 Christmas piece, Amahl and the Night Visitors—is the first opera written specifically for television.
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2211596.ece
www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.1167959.0.0.php
www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2004975,00.html
UK Revives Singing in the Classroom
Statistics in Britain show that only 11 percent of children aged 7 to 11 are learning to play instruments. Most children are getting no music instruction outside of school, so the government has instituted a program for the teaching of singing in primary classrooms. Devised by singer Maurice Walsh, the new program will cost 10 million pounds.
Church choir leaders are applauding the step, saying that these schools are the principal source of musical instruction for the young singers who eventually join their groups.
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2551209,00.html
www.bbcmusicmagazine.com/newsread.asp?id=26334
TeKanawa and the Launched Lingerie
Dame Kiri TeKanawa did not appear at any of the concerts given by Australian pop singer John Farnham. Reports say she withdrew from appearing with the crooner when she discovered that some of Farnham’s fans toss underwear onto the stage.
The concert’s promoter is suing the soprano and her former manager, Nick Grace, for $464,000, contending that they breached their 2005 contract. TeKanawa is counter suing, saying that she had often expressed her misgivings to Grace about the planned appearances.
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5937.html
Alison Trainer Gets International Publicity
Soprano Alison Trainer has won the Liederkranz Contest and the Metropolitan Opera’s regional auditions. She has sung with many symphony orchestras and opera companies but her fame has been modest. Recently, however, she got a great deal of publicity after bedbugs allegedly bit her some 150 times during her stay at a Phoenix hotel.
www.breitbart.com/news/na/cp_e010351A.xml.html
www.courttv.com/people/2007/0104/alison_trainer_ap.html
Domingo Still Learning New Roles
Plácido Domingo will assume his 127th role, Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano at the Washington National Opera next season, say reports. He will also expand his conducting repertoire to include Mozart’s Don Giovanni during that season, the reports add.
www.topix.net/content/wapo/3514560324418470695710964290112001452298
Dallas Symphony Gets New Conductor
On Feb. 1, the Dallas Symphony announced the appointment of Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden to the position of music director. He will take up the post at the beginning of the 2008-09 season.
Trained as a violinist, van Zweden was concertmaster of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra at age 19. Currently, he is music director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, where he is planning concert versions of two Wagner operas in the near future.
www.dallassymphony.com/
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/classicalmusic/4522609.html
L.A.’s Chandler Pavilion to Be Remodeled
During a news conference in which the Los Angeles Opera announced the repertoire for its next season, General Manager Plácido Domingo mentioned that the company will remodel its theater, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. When the Los Angeles Times phoned the Music Center (which includes the pavilion) for confirmation, President Stephen Rountree said it would not happen before 2011 because the desired renovations pertaining to acoustics and technical facilities would cost $100 million in funds yet to be raised. Regardless of the timeline, Angelino opera fans are happy to know that it will happen, say reports.
www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-opera19jan19,0,3907134.story
Location of New Theaters: The City or the Suburbs?
When all the theaters are downtown, many people have to travel long distances to attend. When they are in the suburbs, they may attract only folks who live nearby. A recent poll in the Tucson, Ariz. Star showed that the majority of respondents preferred theaters downtown. The city of Alpharetta, a suburb of Atlanta, Ga., thinks otherwise, however, and is building a facility for symphony concerts as well as popular entertainment.
www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/166560
www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2007/01/24/0125lvaso.html
New Jersey Symphony Incurs Deficit
Neeme Järvi, music director of the New Jersey Symphony, recently told the Associated Press that the orchestra will hire fewer big name soloists because of having incurred a deficit in 2006, says newsday.com. Last year the symphony earned $12.4 million but spent $13.6 million.
Järvi said that he can hire musicians of equal quality for less money because there are so many fine players and singers available at this time.
www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj–njsymphony0124jan24,0,7703645.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
West Coast Symphony Finishes in the Black
The Pacific Symphony of Orange County has been selling 91 percent of the tickets in its new Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, according to the Los Angeles Times. Subscriptions are up 10 percent and revenues are expected to increase 20 percent by the end of the fiscal year, says the report, adding that the orchestra has been solvent for 17 consecutive years.
www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/qtakes/cl-et-quick27.1jan27,0,4755635.story?coll=cl-mreport
