orchestra

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Composer 'Nearly Fell Over' at What He Found at Auschwitz

Composer Leo Geyer has re-created incomplete scores of music played by orchestra at Nazi camp

(Newser) - Music played amid the highs and very deep lows of Auschwitz will be heard again for the first time in 80 years. Leo Geyer, a composer and conductor pursuing a doctorate in music and composition at Oxford University, has re-created musical scores from sheets held in the archive of the...

NY Philharmonic Marks Historic Gender-Related Milestone

Women have made major gains in an industry still dominated by men

(Newser) - The New York Philharmonic marks a milestone this fall as it settles into a newly renovated David Geffen Hall: for the first time in its 180-year history, women will outnumber men onstage. Per the New York Times , the narrow differential—45 to 44—could be a temporary condition, as the...

Seattle Maestro Abruptly Quits, Saying He Felt 'Threatened'

The 'New York Times' calls it 'an unusually bitter, and open, rupture'

(Newser) - The maestro of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra resigned abruptly on Jan. 3 in an email sent from his home in Denmark. The Seattle Times reported last week that now-former music director Thomas Dausgaard said in a Symphony news release that his decision was "a result of these pandemic times,...

Flutist Who Shared Conspiracy Theories Is Out of a Job

Baltimore Symphony fires Emily Skala

(Newser) - A flutist who courted controversy with online posts about everything from COVID to the 2020 election results is out of a job in Baltimore. The city's orchestra this week fired principal flutist Emily Skala, reports the Baltimore Sun . The move comes about six months after the orchestra publicly rebuked...

Orchestra Finds 'Wow!' Kid
Orchestra Finds 'Wow!' Kid
May 10, 2019 1:54 AM CDT

Orchestra Finds 'Wow!' Kid

He charmed crowd at Boston performance

(Newser) - The Handel & Haydn Society has found the kid who delivered what the orchestra's president calls "one of the most wonderful moments" he's experienced in a concert hall. Stephen Mattin says his grandson, 9-year-old Ronan Mattin, was the boy who charmed the crowd with a delighted "...

Top Flutist Makes $250K a Year, and Is Suing Over It

Elizabeth Rowe argues the BSO has refused to pay her the same as her male colleague

(Newser) - When the Boston Symphony Orchestra's selection committee heard 29-year-old Elizabeth Rowe audition, it didn't know her gender: As Geoff Edgers writes in a lengthy piece for the Washington Post , the orchestra's blind auditions dictate that a screen obscures the musician's identity. She landed her "dream...

Extracurricular Club for Disabled Now a World-Renowned Orchestra

Czech Republic's Tap Tap group, which started 18 years ago, plays all over the world

(Newser) - It's an unusual orchestra, one that has played in London, Madrid, Moscow, and Jerusalem. Today, Tap Tap, created 18 years ago to give students at a renowned Prague school for the disabled an extracurricular activity, has become a major musical operation that has drawn millions of fans, first at...

After 71 Years With Orchestra, She Fatally Collapses on Stage

Bassist Jane Little of the Atlanta Symphony was 87

(Newser) - Jane Little began playing with the brand-new Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at age 16. On Sunday, 71 years later, she died after collapsing on stage during a performance with the same group, reports CNN . "Truly unbelievable," says a spokesperson for the ASO. The 87-year-old bassist never regained consciousness after...

Vienna Philharmonic Was Packed With Nazis in WWII

Investigation reveals details 75 years later

(Newser) - Following accusations that it's kept quiet about its Nazi ties, the Vienna Philharmonic opened itself to a historical investigation. And ahead of tomorrow's 75th anniversary of Austria's Nazi annexation, the results are coming to light: Some 60 of 123 orchestra members belonged to the Nazi party, the...

Yes, Orchestra Conductors Make a Difference

Infrared lights on a baton help prove it: Study

(Newser) - Skeptics might think orchestra conductors are superfluous as they stand front and center waving their batons, but a new study suggests otherwise. In fact, the University of Maryland research concludes that the more forceful a conductor is, the better the music, reports NPR . Researchers put infrared lights on a conductor'...

Philadelphia Orchestra Files for Bankruptcy
 Philly Orchestra 
 Files for Backruptcy 
Going for Baroque?
Apr 17, 2011 9:58 AM CDT

Philly Orchestra Files for Backruptcy

Board cites large decline in audience, but musicians say move premature

(Newser) - The 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a "tremendous decline" in audiences. The orchestra, made internationally famous by such great conductors as Stokowski and Ormandy, has $46 million in operating costs this year, but is expecting just $33 million in revenues, reports the AP...

Outcry Kills Plans for Wagner, Israel Reconciliation

Composer's great-granddaughter calls off Israel trip

(Newser) - The great-granddaughter of Hitler's favorite composer has called off a visit to Israel amid a public outcry. Katharina Wagner had planned to announce that the Israel Chamber Orchestra would be invited to play at an annual festival in Germany celebrating Richard Wagner's music. Israeli orchestras have been boycotting the anti-Semitic...

Music Pioneer Mitch Miller Dead at 99

Record exec went on to host karaoke precursor 'Sing Along With Mitch'

(Newser) - Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, died Saturday at age 99. Miller was a key exec at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis, and Tony...

LA Shows the Love to 28-Year-Old Maestro

Gustavo Dudamel takes up baton at leading American orchestra

(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...

Maestro Wages May Sink US Orchestras
 Maestro Wages 
 May Sink US 
 Orchestras 
analysis
May 16, 2009 7:54 PM CDT

Maestro Wages May Sink US Orchestras

(Newser) - Overpaid maestros had better accept slimmer paychecks before America's great orchestras sink into silence, John von Rhein writes in the Chicago Tribune. With the Great Recession raging and musicians accepting pay cuts, big-name conductors like Lorin Maazel and James Levine still rake in millions. Welcome to "the dirty little...

YouTube Orchestra Makes Strong, if Not Subtle, Debut

Symphony orchestra was selected by YouTube viewers voting on clips

(Newser) - YouTube's "crowdsourced" symphony orchestra made its debut at Carnegie Hall last night. Its 90-plus members played like "a finely tuned instrument," a BBC reviewer found, despite the fact that they had only met in person a couple of days earlier. The musicians, from 30 countries, were picked...

YouTube Musicians on Their Way to Carnegie Hall

Viewers vote 90 players onto orchestra

(Newser) - Even Internet boosters who predicted that the Web would democratize everything probably weren’t including classical music. The first YouTube Symphony Orchestra has completed auditions, and is set to perform April 15, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ninety musicians—ages 17 through 55—from some 30 countries were voted onto...

Chinese Virtuoso Conducts Assault on Glass Ceiling

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

(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...

Robo-Maestro Takes Baton
 Robo-Maestro Takes Baton 
May 14, 2008 3:27 PM CDT

Robo-Maestro Takes Baton

Honda robot manages to wow Detroit audience despite limitations

(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...

Shhh! Europe Law Forces Orchestras to Tone It Down

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

(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...

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