The orchestra pit of the Opera Theatre in the Sydney Opera House wasn’t big enough to accommodate the 86 orchestral musicians required for Opera Australia’s present production of Korngold’s “Die tote Stadt”. Answer: take them off-site and link them to the theatre with video and acoustic technology.
Matthew Westwood of The Australian has the full story:
The Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Matthew VanBeslen, discusses new ways of sustaining “classical” music. (See post on “Where To Next For Symphonic Music?”) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/orchestras-strike-chord-with-their-communities/story-e6frg8n6-1226071948052
Violinist Nicola Benedetti has created a project, The Virtual Benedetti Sessions which hopes to offer organisations across the world the opportunity to engage with and together, learn, provide, uplift and excite. Programmes of activity will be available for young musicians, conservatoire and university level music students, instrumental teachers, adult learners, non-instrumentalists, amateur musicians, parents, siblings…
The Music Performance Unit UNSW has awarded its 2020 Willgoss Ensemble Composition prize jointly to Elizabeth Younan and Michael Grebla. The prize is aimed at encouraging and promoting the creation of an original, short work for ensembles, in support of a thriving instrumental and choral program at UNSW Sydney. The winners each receive $2500 and…
With orchestras and opera companies around the world facing an uncertain future, this feature from the New Statesman argues that in London at least, the marketing of classical music events, especially opera, is flawed. It says the selling of opera is too often “conceived by people who already love the art form for people who already love the art…
Did you know that the infamous Nokia ringtone is based on a phrase from Francisco Tarrega’s Grand Valse?! Thomas Dolby is the musician whose team created the ring tone that is heard 2 billion times a day! More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9622000/9622785.stm
The Fractured Orchestra Project is a collaborative composition by members of the 550-strong Sydney Youth Orchestras, and the end result is now available online. The Fractured Orchestra is a multi-faceted creative project commissioned by the Sydney Youth Orchestras. Over 3 months in winter 2020 during the height of COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney, Australia, the musicians…