Interchanging Idioms

Four programs cancelled and two are re-scheduled The Minnesota Orchestral Association announced today that it has cancelled further concert performances through Saturday, April 27, 2013, noting that nearly a year into contract negotiations its musicians have yet to put forward a counterproposal and no contract settlement has been reached. All ticketholders of affected concerts are being contacted and offered a variety of options including the opportunity to exchange tickets for a future concert or receive a full refund. A complete list of affected concerts is available below. “We will soon mark one full year since the start of our negotiations, and we renew our call to the musicians to issue a counterproposal that helps resolve the Orchestra’s financial challenges. It is confounding that over the last 11 months the Union has neither been willing to suggest a proposal of their own nor accept ours,” said Minnesota Orchestra Board Chair Jon Campbell. “In order to initiate progress ...

Four programs are cancelled and four are rescheduled as negotiations continue The Minnesota Orchestral Association announced today that it has cancelled or rescheduled its concert performances through Sunday, April 7, 2013, due to the current labor dispute. All ticketholders of affected concerts are being contacted and offered a variety of options including the opportunity to exchange tickets for a future concert or receive a full refund. A complete list of impacted concerts is available on page 2. In the ongoing contract talks with the Musicians’ Union, the Orchestra Board agreed on January 2 to conduct the joint financial analysis musicians have sought in order to verify the organization’s financial position. Last week, the Board suggested that the terms of this analysis should focus on testing the accuracy of the organization’s Fiscal 2012 results and the forward-looking financial assumptions upon which the organization’s strategic plan is based. Discussions between the Board...

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends. - John Churton Collins TwtrSymphony was due to release our debut track tomorrow. The studio working on the project was flooded making continued work on the project impossible at the present. Garry Boyle, our engineer, was able to recover all the data several days ago and thought he might be able to keep to schedule. But after re-assessing the damages to the studio, it is apparent nothing is going to happen for a least a couple of weeks. We will keep you posted as to options and updates as they become available. Thank you for your support and understanding. We are not daunted, just delayed.

The St. Louis Symphony announced today a change to the September 30, 2011 concert at Powell Hall. Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra will now be performed in lieu of Edgar Meyer’s Double Bass Concerto No. 3. The concerto was to have had its world premiere at Powell Hall, but it has not yet been completed. The September 30 program also includes works by Ives, Copland and Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Tickets are still available and can be purchased on line at www.stlsymphony.org , by phone at 314-534-1700 or in person at Powell Hall’s box office, 718 North Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103.

Program will remain unchanged and features Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto Due to a sudden back injury, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestr a regrets to announce that violinist Midori has cancelled her upcoming engagement to perform with the BSO in the concerts on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore and Friday, October 22, 2010 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Conductor Gilbert Varga is still scheduled to lead the program. Midori expressed her regret, “I’m so disappointed to miss the opportunity to play with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Varga! I have strained my back and have been strongly advised against physical exertion at this time. I greatly appreciate the graciousness and understanding of the BSO, and look forward to re-scheduling our collaboration at the earliest opportunity.”

Due to temporary health problems, Mr. Previn has been advised by his doctor not to travel at this time, and has therefore unfortunately had to withdraw from the London Symphony Orchestra concert on 25 April 2010. We are delighted that François-Xavier Roth has agreed to step in at short notice to conduct the concert. There are slight changes to the programme, which is now: Copland Appalachian Spring - Suite (as before) Barber Knoxville Summer of 1915 (replaces Previn Miss Sallie Chisum remembers Billy the Kid ); soprano soloist remains: Barbara Bonney Dvorak Symphony No 9 ('From the New World') (replaces Strauss Alpine Symphony )

Michael Berkowitz will replace Damon Gupton as the conductor in the BSO SuperPops’ program, Motown Tribute with Spectrum, April 22-25, 2010. In this program, the BSO SuperPops and Spectrum celebrate the classic sounds and dance moves of 1960s’ Motown and R&B. Darryl Grant, Pierre Jovan, David Prescott and group founder Cushney Roberts have worked with artists such as Tony Bennett, Blue Magic and Little Richard, as well as headlining Royal Caribbean Cruise ships and various nationwide tours. They currently perform nightly on the Las Vegas strip. About Michael Berkowitz Michael Berkowitz is currently the principal pops conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony in California. Previous posts have included the Carolina Pops in Greensboro, North Carolina and the Paducah Pops in Kentucky. He is also the music director and conductor for Liza Minnelli and her Tony Award-winning Liza's at the Palace on Broadway and on tour. He also served as Marvin Hamlisch's music director for ni...

Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves to replace Natalie Dessay Celebrated mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, who portrayed Giullietta in the 1991 Spoleto production of Les Contes d’Hoffman , will replace singer Natalie Dessay at the Dock Street Theatre Reopening Gala on Thursday, April 1st in Charleston, SC. Ms. Dessay has cancelled all upcoming U.S. appearances due to illness. Recognized worldwide as one of today's most exciting vocal stars, Ms. Graves is hailed by USA Today as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century.” The combination of her expressive, rich vocalism, elegant stage presence, and exciting theatrical abilities allows Ms. Graves to pursue a wide breadth of operatic portrayals as well as delight audiences in concert and recital appearances on the world’s most illustrious stages. Ms. Graves will join Spoleto Festival USA artists violinist Geoff Nuttall, pianist Pedja Muzijevic, cellist Christopher Costanza, violist Caroline Blackwell, actress Heather Gillespie, and arti...

Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable” and Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances , Suite III to replace Albeniz’ Iberia , Debussy’s Iberia and Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat , Suite No. 2 The repertoire for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s concerts scheduled for April 15-18, 2010 has been changed. The new program is now titled Music with Mena and includes Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances , Suite III, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 and Rodrigo’s Concierto de estio , featuring BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney. The program no longer includes Albeniz’ Iberia , Debussy’s Iberia or Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat , Suite No. 2. Audience favorite Juanjo Mena will still conduct. COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS Classical Concert: Music with Mena Thursday, April 15 at 8:00 p.m.—The Music Center at Strathmore Saturday, April 17 at 8:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH) Sunday, April 18 at 8:00 p.m.—JMSH Juanjo Mena , conductor Jonathan Carney , violin Respighi: Ancient A...

Interchanging Idioms had over 61,000 visitors in 2009 27 CD's reviewed, 60 concert reviews and over 850 posts We here at Interchanging Idioms would like to thank our readers, subscribers and friends helping to make this one of the top Classical Music blogs on the internet today. This is just a hobby for us, but obviously one you are enjoying... so we will endeavor to keep up the pace through 2010. If you have any thoughts, suggestions or comments, please let us know. Happy New Year     - from all of us at Interchanging Idioms

My sincere apologies for all my loyal readers who have been wondering what's up with the last week - and a serious lack of anything new. I am currently studying for my Masters in Music Composition at Denver University and this week (Nov 16-23) is the final week of the quarter. So, everything is due NOW and there was a lot of it. Add to this a number of concerts, recitals and other events to attend and I've been a bit distracted. The week isn't over, but I am finished with most of the work so I should be able to get back to regular posts and updates as to what's happening in the classical music world. I've been reading my inbox and there are only 50 or so messages. Hopefully that will be caught up by the end of the weekend. On a side note, I do have a concert of my music coming January 28th. For those of you in Denver look for updates on this blog. If you're not in Denver at that time I'll try and post a few highlight mp3's here in the week o...

Mona Seghatoleslami of Classically Speaking , West Virginia Public Broadcasting has a wonderful article on Mark O'Connor and his new Americana Symphony with links to their interview. She also includes a link to a performance of Mark O'Connor, Yo-yo Ma and Edgar Meyer playing Mark's Appalachia Waltz on YouTube ( which I included here as well ).

Earlier this month, Hilary Hahn (pictured) premiered a new Violin Concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Both of these artists whose careers I tend to follow. If they are not at the top of the Classical World, they are both certainly headed there. Tom Aldridge of Nuvo wrote a review from the concert. Here are some of the highlights: Why is Higdon's concerto successful when so much contemporary music comes out of the woodwork, gets a hearing and disappears from whence it came? For one thing, Higdon handles the Modern orchestral style with a mastery that eludes a majority of her colleagues. All too many new works: (1) contain too few tonal references or common chords, (2) fail to balance the various ensembles such that one section (often the percussion) tends to predominate or the soloist is drowned out and (3) represent a compendium of compositions that are either revealed only by musicians studying their scores or containing repetitive figures that "groove" the listener in....

Previously I reviewed the live webcast of the opera "Leave Me Alone!" Today, I received an update to the cast list and some pictures of the production. Leave Me Alone! A Jazz Opera In Two Acts Music by Dan Plonsey Libretto by Harvey Pekar Additional Music by Josh Smith Additional Words by Mantra Ben-ya'akova Plonsey and Joyce Brabner Daniel Michalak and Josh Smith, Musical Directors Jonathon Field, Stage Director Robert Katkowski, Set Designer Barry Steele, Lighting Designer Victoria Vaughan, Stage Manager Daniel Michalak, Vocal Preparation Elizabeth and Orville Zharoff, Choreography CAST Dan Plonsey Harvey Pekar Mantra Ben-ya'akova Plonsey Joyce Brabner Josh Smith Joanna Lemle '10 (mezzo) Christopher Rice '10 (tenor) Kate Rosen '11 (mezzo) Patty Stubel '09 (soprano) Gerard Michael D'Emilio '11 (bass) David Schwartz '12 (acted only) Telephone appearance by Robert Crumb BAND Noah Hecht '10 (drums) A...

There are lots of reports that the version of "Air and Simple Gifts", which was performed by Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill at the President's Inauguration, was actually a pre-recorded version to which the musicians played insync to. I'm not sure why this is such big news; it's not like they were pretending to play something someone else had actually performed (ref: Milli Vanilli). The quartet recorded the piece and then made a decision, due to weather, to have the pre-recording piece broadcast because it would be impossible for their instruments to be in tune. What benefit would have been served by having the performance something less than amazing? It's still a lovely piece of music, the musicians are tops in their field, and they did play what we heard - just what we heard wasn't quite the same as what they actually sounded like on the day.

Here is the premiere of Air and Simple Gifts , composed by John Williams for the President Obama's Inauguration. Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun says: The "air" at the start of the roughly four-minute piece strikes a sober note, as if to recall the many challenges facing the country. The soft, slow, rather bittersweet theme, begun by the violin and soon picked up cello and piano, gives way to another, very familiar melody from the clarinet -- the gently uplifting Shaker hymn, "Simple Gifts," which was used so indelibly by Aaron Copland in his 1944 ballet score Appalachian Spring. Williams quotes that passage almost verbatim, and goes on to put the hymn tune through a very Coplandesque treatment before bringing the mood back down to earth with the opening material. I agree with one of the comments on Tim's article: I guess wish they had just played the Copland, a much better piece and one that makes the Williams not only a little trite but also unnecessary...

The soundtrack for "The Reader", music by Nico Muhly, has been released and available on Amazon. Zach Freeman wrote a review of the music here and says much the same thing about music as I did in my previous post . And Muhly delivers the goods. With a score consisting of roughly 50 minutes of stripped-down, “less is more” music, Muhly has created the kind of score that expresses passion and emotion with a relatively gentle and gentle delivery. The majority of the album seems to consist of a few strings and a piano. The back-to-back tracks “Go Back To Your Friends” (one of the longest of the album) and “Not What I Expected” (one of the shortest of the album) provide some of the most expressive bits of the album, pushing the strings into faster and more emotional rhythms, though most of the album is more subdued and contemplative. Muhly doesn’t seem to be one for excess, choosing instead to use a light collection of music to express heavy dramatic scenes. It’s an impressive...

The iconic underground comic book author Harvey Pekar will make his operatic debut at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Leave Me Alone!, an autobiographical jazz opera. A collaboration by two Cleveland natives, the opera combines a libretto by Pekar with music by saxophonist and composer Dan Plonsey. Leave Me Alone! depicts the lives of its creators in quotidian detail while asking big questions about the place of cutting-edge art in our society. Amidst the demands and interruptions of day-to-day life, Pekar and Plonsey wonder, how can artists carve out time for their creative work? More importantly, they ask, how do we cultivate a society that is receptive to the avant-garde? The opera, which is presented by Oberlin in cooperation with Real Time Opera, will receive its world premiere in a free performance on Saturday, January 31, 2009, at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel. The performance will also be streamed live to an international audience online at www.LeaveMeAloneOpera.com . Finney C...

Scottsdale arts philanthropist Richard Felder folded the Richard and Deborah Felder Foundation which supported the arts community in Scottsdale Arizona with hundreds of thousands of dollars. In a single year, the foundation granted $143,000 to performing arts venues and $25,000 to music festivals and education, according to a 2007 tax Form 990, provided by Guidestar, which examines charity tax records. Among some of the institutions routinely supported were the Arizona Opera with $25,000, KJZZ-FM (91.5) with $15,000, Scottsdale Cultural Council with $30,000 and the Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Ballet, both with $1,500. "Unfortunately, it's a financial situation," Felder said. "The whole foundation had to be shut down and we're very sad about that."

I am adding composer Nico Muhly to the list of people to watch for in 2009. He (or his publicist) has done a good job in getting press on his recent compositions. Variety did two different articles on him, one on Dec 17 and another on Jan 5th . He's also been featured in the LA Times , Paste Magazine and the Chicago Tribune . Perhaps this is because of his association with Phillip Glass or because he composed the music for the acclaimed "The Reader" just hitting the cinemas. Whatever the case, this sort of press is only likely to promote more press (like this blog)...