Digital Producer, Writer, Editor
The New York Philharmonic has found its successor to Alan Gilbert. The orchestra announced on Wednesday that its next music director will be Jaap van Zweden, a fastidious Dutch conductor who will lead the ensemble as it embarks on a multi-year hall renovation set to begin in 2019. Continue reading “New York Philharmonic Taps Jaap van Zweden as Music Director”
Broadway, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall all went dark this weekend as the historic snowstorm walloped the East Coast, leaving many arts groups scrambling to issue refunds or reschedule performances where possible. But one rock-and-roll veteran went the extra mile after his concert was cancelled. Continue reading “A Blizzard Prompts Cancellations and a Free Download”
There’s no other symphony like Gustav Mahler’s Eighth. The piece got its nickname, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” at its 1910 premiere in Munich, which featured 1,030 performers, including 858 singers, 171 instrumentalists and the composer himself on the podium. Although a thousand musicians aren’t normally used these days (300 to 500 is more typical), it’s still a demanding and expensive undertaking, and thus we don’t hear it as often as Mahler’s other nine symphonies. Continue reading “Mahler’s Eighth Symphony: Unjustly Neglected?”
The dearth of black actors among this year’s Oscar nominees has triggered what some observers are calling a full-fledged diversity crisis for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, even as the president of the organization has promised change.
Lack of diversity in the arts isn’t just a concern for Hollywood, of course, and there are echoes of this debate in the classical music field. Continue reading “Hollywood’s Diversity Debate Has Echoes in Classical Music”
For the second year in a row, the film with the most Academy Award nominations features a soundtrack peppered with classical compositions. In both instances, the filmmaker responsible for the mix is the Mexican director, producer and former composer Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Continue reading “‘The Revenant’ Mixes Savage Landscapes with Classical Music”
Once the esoteric pursuit of historians and library nerds, interest in archival photography has skyrocketed recently thanks to digital-forward research libraries as well as social media websites like Instagram, Retronaut and Vintage Everyday.
Last week, the New York Public Library did its part in a big way, releasing over 180,000 digital images for public use on its Digital Collections website. Continue reading “11 Classical Music Highlights From the NYPL Digital Archives”
Classical music listeners remained faithful to the physical album in 2015, even as CD sales across all genres dropped and overall streaming numbers nearly doubled. Continue reading “Classical Music Listeners Faithful to Physical CDs in 2015”
Tributes are being paid to Pierre Boulez, the pioneering French composer, conductor and theorist, who died on Tuesday at age 90. Looking back at a career that stretched over seven eventful decades, a particularly lively chapter took place during his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic, from 1971 to 1977. Continue reading “Pierre Boulez’s Rug Concerts, Ahead of the Curve”
What will happen in 2016 in classical music? Here are seven trends to look out for. Continue reading “7 Classical Music Trends to Watch for in 2016”
For the final week of 2015, the pop music critics of the New York Times put together a survey of their top music videos of the year. A couple of the choices crossed into classical territory, including an intriguing video for Terry Riley’s minimalist landmark In C. Continue reading “The Year 2015 in Classical Music Videos”