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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: conductor

conductor stories: 7 news summaries

 LA Shows the Love to 
 28-Year-Old Maestro  

Gustavo Dudamel takes up baton at leading American orchestra

Oct 1, 09 9:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Los Angeles Philharmonic greeted its new music director yesterday with waves, cheers, and bursts of brass and strings, and cameras tailed the new boss as he hugged his principal musicians. It wasn't a standard first day, but Gustavo Dudamel of Venezuela isn't a standard maestro—he's only 28 years... More »

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California • classical music • Los Angeles • Gustavo Dudamel • Los Angeles Philharmonic • orchestra • conductor

(Newser) - Anti-suicide campaigners fear that the death of a British conductor and his wife in a Swiss suicide clinic this week will cause a rise in "together forever" suicides among the elderly, the Times of London reports. Edmund Downes, 85, chose to die alongside his terminally ill wife. Church groups... More »

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suicide • assisted suicide • euthanasia • conductor • Edward Downes • Joan Downes

obituary

Conductor Downes, Wife End Lives in Swiss Suicide Clinic

Couple faced failing health

Jul 14, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, have died at a Swiss suicide clinic, ending their lives “under circumstances of their own choosing,” the couple’s children said today. Downes, 85, was largely blind and Joan, 74, had cancer, the Times of London reports, which their children... More »

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cancer • classical music • assisted suicide • obituary • blindness • Sydney Opera House • Royal Opera House • conductor • Giuseppe Verdi • Edward Downes • Joan Downes

Chinese Virtuoso Conducts Assault on Glass Ceiling

Classical superstar Xian Zhang is young, energetic—and a woman

Jan 8, 09 11:50 AM CST
(Newser) - In the traditional world of classical music, no area has been less hospitable to women than the conductor’s platform. So it’s remarkable that one of the world’s hottest maestros is not just a woman, but a 35-year-old from China—Xian Zhang, associate conductor at the New York... More »

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China • music • classical music • Chinese women • New York Philharmonic • orchestra • conductor • Xian Zhang • wowOwow

 Robo-Maestro Takes Baton 

Honda robot manages to wow Detroit audience despite limitations

May 14, 08 3:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - It was classical music, but when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra hit its final note last night, it sounded an awful lot like the future. Honda’s Asimo robot led a real, live, human orchestra, and though the android was only repeating the recorded movements of a human, the performance went... More »

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classical music • Detroit • Honda • robot • orchestra • conductor

 Shhh! Europe Law Forces 
 Orchestras to Tone It Down 

Noise legislation means musicians are playing musical chairs, the real game

Apr 19, 08 9:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new law in Europe to protect employees from ear-damaging noises is stifling a surprise industry—orchestras. Conductors are taking it down a notch to comply, in one case canceling a world premiere because it exceeded the allowable decibels in rehearsal, the New York Times reports. At the Royal Opera... More »

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European Union • classical music • composer • noise • orchestra • conductor • decibel

 Pavarotti Lipsynched
 Last Performance 

Late tenor too sick to sing live at Turin Olympics opening ceremony

Apr 7, 08 9:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - Lipsynching isn't just for neophytes like Nikki Hilton—none other than tenor Luciano Pavarotti faked his way through his final public performance at the opening of the Turin Winter Olympics, the Guardian reports. In a new book, Pavarotti's conductor and pianist claims that he recorded the cancer-stricken tenor and the... More »

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classical music • opera • Luciano Pavarotti • tenor • orchestra • Turin Olympics • Leone Magiera • conductor • lip sync

7 Stories


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