Mona Webster, a British woman living in Edinburgh who passed away at 96 last August, decreed that the majority of her fortune be split between two organizations which represented her greatest interests: the Metropolitan Opera and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
Webster was born on the Isle of Man in 1913, where her father was a lighthouse keeper. She first discovered her love for birds when she moved to Scotland as a girl, and was later introduced to opera via the Met’s Saturday afternoon broadcasts. The Met’s director of planned and special gifts, Gail Chesler, said that Ms. Webster remembered Saturday broadcasts as far back as 1939.
Webster had been in contact with Met representatives since 2000 when she was invited to New York for an opening night performance following a generous donation. She had attended performances prior to 2000 with opera tour groups however, which established her connection to the organization and prompted her to write the $7.5 million donation into her will. Needless to say, her generosity will not only boost the opera company but also serve to illustrate the boundless audience that art, music, and nature all inspire.
Source: NY Times.
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
British Woman Donates Fortune to the Met, Bird Group
Villazón Returns for 2010 Season
Will Bring Voice With Him
Tenor Rolando Villazón announced on his website that he will return to the stage in 2010, after having to cancel the remainder of his 2009 season in April to treat a cyst on his vocal chords.
Villazón was scheduled to sing at the Met last year, but was forced to cancel due to his surgery. The video on his site is full of excitement and gratitude for supporters, and Villazón tells fans to keep an eye out for his soon-to-be released 2010 schedule.
Warm wishes and good luck to Mr. Villazón for his recovery and return to his art. Source: WQXR.
New York City Opera Returns To Renovated Stage
Sets New Extreme Home-Makeover Record at $107 million
The New York City Opera is back! The company returned home last Thursday night to a newly renovated Lincoln Center stage. The opening night concert, entitled “American Voices,” marked a huge step forward for the company, who was rumored to be facing closure during the latter portion of their 2008-09 season.
The New York State Theater has long been considered second-rate. The space was built for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair as a sign of cultural participation from the State of New York. However, a reputation for having sub-par acoustics has been its long-defining feature. So lackluster in fact, that an electronic audio-enhancement system was installed. While this helped, it did not stop declining ticket sales, and a growing deficit which threatened the the New York City Opera’s livelihood in 2009.
Now, it has been renamed the David H. Koch Theater, and a $107 million renovation intended to improve the acoustics has begun. The theater now seats 2,575; two aisles have been added to give the orchestra section greater accessibility at the cost of about 200 seats. The pit has been put on mechanical lifts to allow it to reach stage level for orchestra concerts. The carpeting and seats have all been replaced, and New York Times writer Anthony Tommasini has already declared that the new features make the house “the most comfortable in New York.”
So have the renovations brought the acoustics up to the standard which New Yorkers demand? Only time will tell. I for one am very excited to visit the new home for one of my favorite companies.
City Opera Returns in Its Newly Inviting Home – NY Times
HSO Filing for Chapter 11
The Honolulu Symphony has filed for bankruptcy. Things began looking grim for the orchestra, which is heralded as, “the oldest symphony west of the Rockies”, when musicians were forced to take a 15% pay-cut in September. When checks did not arrive for concerts during the months of September and October, musicians became suspect to what administrators publicly declared last week, that the debt of the orchestra (over $1 million) was far beyond expected, and filing for Chapter 11 was the only choice.
Despite not being paid for their services, musicians continued to give performances for the last 2 months, hoping that something would come through. Unfortunately, it did not. Half of the musicians will be laid off, and the 2009-10 season may not be able to continue. Original article on honoluluadvertise.com below.
Honolulu Symphony broke, ends season
Classical Is In The (White) House
Roof Not Yet On Fire
A blogger with The Washington Post followed up on yesterday’s performance at the White House, commenting that the presidential exposure and attitude towards classical music is encouraging. A White House spokesperson said the event won’t be the last to feature classical music, and those in attendance noticed how the President seemed very involved in the performances.
While the press did not have access to the masterclasses conducted by world class musicians including Sharon Isbin and Joshua Bell, they were allowed to hear the two performances of the day as well as Mrs. Obama’s remarks. Click to read the perspectives of the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.
If you missed our last article on the event, read it here.
Is Orchestra Hero Next On The Table For Game Developers?
A recent entry on the NY Times blog, The Score, talks about the phenomenon video game franchises Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Author, Michael Gordon, asks what thousands of music students have been saying since the game’s inception 5 years ago: “So why not orchestra hero?” Who wouldn’t want to play the violin solo from Scheherazade, or the trumpet opening for Mahler’s Fifth Symphony?
Gordon goes on to discuss the foreseeable problems with such a manifestation of the popular franchise. For example, the basic Rock Band set (guitar, drums, microphone) carried a retail price of nearly $200 at launch. One can only imagine what a basic orchestra set would cost; undoubtedly out of the range of most of the target audience.
I have a question, how much would it cost to gain the rights to the works of Beethoven, Brahms, or Tchaikovsky? Enough to further inflate the costs of the game to epic proportions? Probably.
Look at the recently released Beatles Rock Band, which carried a price of $249 for the game with instruments, and $59 for the game alone. Even die-hard Beatles fanatics like myself couldn’t let ourselves hand over the cash for the bundle, which came out less than 2 months ago and is already on sale for 20% off at Best Buy. The reason behind the high cost? According to executives, Yoko Ono (owner of the rights to a large chunk of Beatles songs), gave developers “hell”, and forced redesign after redesign, causing production costs to be unusually high. I can see a similar situation arising in attempts to digitize the great classical works.
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Juilliard Acquires Beethoven and Mendelssohn Manuscripts
Musicians Discouraged from Bringing Pencils
To mark the completion of a $200 million addition, The Juilliard School will host a lecture event tonight at Alice Tully Hall. The school is expected to announce the acquisition of two original manuscripts as gifts from Bruce Kovner, chairman of Juilliard and billionaire trader. Including the two newest articles, Kovner will have donated 140 manuscripts to the Juilliard archive.
The two items include a copy of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” each containing revisions and notes by its respective composer. There will be a concert as part of the event showcasing other works whose manuscripts have been obtained. This includes Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge” and the last act of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.”
Kovner has expressed his intent to make these manuscripts available to scholars, having already begun processing the artifacts for access on juilliardmanuscriptcollection.org Read about the event, the acquisitions, and the archive here (source: NYT).
Guest Conductor
It is becoming almost a standard rite of passage for young musicians: their first experience with some legendary conductor. Whether this takes place at a summer festival, all-state orchestra, or in the college/conservatory field, it is almost always a memorable experience. Musicians know what I’m talking about. You’re probably thinking about that time you played under Michael Tilson Thomas, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Bernstein, I could go on…
In a recent article, the New York Times chronicles a visit by veteran conductor, Bernard Haitink, to the Juilliard School in New York. Haitink conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for over 25 years, and for a time was the principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony. He is the quiet type, meaning, it would not surprise you to go through an entire symphony without hearing so much as a peep from his lips. When he does speak, you can be sure that the entire orchestra is listening.
Detailing 2 days worth of rehearsals, a comedic episode when fellow conductor Michael Tilson Thomas just decided to stop by, and all the ups and downs of an intense concert program featuring Brahms’ Second Symphony, the article is a worthy read, and sure to take you back to a great memory of your first summer at Tanglewood.
Getting to Know You, and the Score Too