Is classical music the only cure for tinnitus?
Really? Really?! Someone thinks classical music will cure tinnitus?
Um. Okay then. I guess I should be cured by now, eh?
Read online:
I want an oboe reed Halloween costume with light blue string as in the area where it is in the picture I’m providing.
Really. And I love it! I had never thought about going as an oboe reed. Clever!
I think I’d want to be a golden reed …
Not only did illness force Riccardo Muti to withdraw from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Ball concert Saturday night at Orchestra Hall, it will force the CSO music director to cancel the remainder of his fall residency weeks with the orchestra.
The Italian conductor, 69, is “suffering from extreme gastric distress” and, on the advice of local physicians, “must fly home to Milan to consult with his doctors,” according to a statement released by the orchestra on Sunday. The release did not elaborate on the seriousness of Muti’s condition.
“I cannot express the depth of my regret that I am unable to complete this first residency as music director,” Muti said in a statement. “I have had the privilege of making marvelous music together with this great orchestra, and I am confident that we will continue to do so when I return again.”
Here is another article.
I certainly wish him a speedy recovery.
unfortunate: having a 6th grader play the oboe and an 8th grader play the sax..at the same time. talent: being able to sing along to their songs.
I’m hoping to attend some of these this year. Last year I couldn’t manage to make it happen … but I simply have to make plans and GO this time. After seeing a bit about Das Rheingold I’m rather excited to get to one of the broadcasts of that!
Wagner’s Das Rheingold – New Production
October 9, 2010 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010, 1 p.m. ET; Monday, Nov. 29, 2010, 6 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours
Two unparalleled artists join forces to create a groundbreaking new Ring for the Met: Maestro James Levine and director Robert Lepage. The cycle launches with Das Rheingold, the prologue to Wagner’s epic drama. “The Ring is not just a story or a series of operas, it’s a cosmos,” says Lepage, who brings cutting-edge technology and his own visionary imagination to the world’s greatest theatrical journey. Bryn Terfel sings the leading role of Wotan for the first time with the company, heading an extraordinary cast.
James Levine; Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Patricia Bardon, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, Franz-Josef Selig, Hans-Peter König
Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov – New Production
October 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, 12:00 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 5 hours
René Pape takes on one of the greatest bass roles in a new production by Stephen Wadsworth. Valery Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s epic spectacle that captures the suffering and ambition of a nation, with Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Ekaterina Semenchuk leading the huge cast.
Valery Gergiev; Ekaterina Semenchuk, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Oleg Balashov, Evgeny Nikitin, René Pape, Mikhail Petrenko, Vladimir Ognovenko
Donizetti’s Don Pasquale
November 13, 2010 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, Dec.4, 2010, 1 p.m. ET; Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, 6:30 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Anna Netrebko revives her sensational turn in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Music Director James Levine conducts. When Otto Schenk’s production premiered in 2006, the New York Times called it “brilliant” and “wonderful.”
James Levine; Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, John Del Carlo
Verdi’s Don Carlo – New Production
December 11, 2010 at 12:30 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2010, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, Jan.22, 2011, 12:30 p.m. ET; Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, 6 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 5 hours
Director Nicholas Hytner makes his Met debut with this new production of Verdi’s profound, beautiful, and most ambitious opera. Roberto Alagna leads the cast, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, Marina Poplavskaya, Anna Smirnova, and Simon Keenlyside also star. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, back after his triumphant debut leading Carmen, conducts. “I think Don Carlo is the quintessential Verdi opera,” Hytner says. “Right through this opera there is, on the one hand, an implacable expression of impending doom and, on the other hand, a succession of the most gloriously open-throated arias, the most fantastically determined music.”
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Marina Poplavskaya, Anna Smirnova, Roberto Alagna, Simon Keenlyside, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Eric Halfvarson
Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West
January 8, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011, 1 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Puccini’s wild-west opera had its world premiere in 1910 at the Met. Now, on the occasion of its centennial, all-American diva Deborah Voigt sings the title role of the “girl of the golden west,” starring opposite Marcello Giordani. Nicola Luisotti conducts.
Nicola Luisotti; Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani, Lucio Gallo
Adams’s Nixon in China – New Production
February 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, Mar. 12, 2011, 1:30 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 4 hours
“All of my operas have dealt on deep psychological levels with our American mythology,” says composer John Adams, who conducts the Met premiere of his most famous opera. “The meeting of Nixon and Mao is a mythological moment in world history, particularly American history.” Acclaimed director and longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars makes his Met debut with this groundbreaking 1987 work, an exploration of the human truths beyond the headlines surrounding President Nixon’s 1972 encounter with Communist China. Baritone James Maddalena stars in the title role.
John Adams; Kathleen Kim, Janis Kelly, Robert Brubaker, Russell Braun, James Maddalena, Richard Paul Fink
Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride
February 26, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011, 1:00 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo reprise their starring roles in Gluck’s nuanced and elegant interpretation of this primal Greek myth. Tenor Paul Groves also returns to Stephen Wadsworth’s insightful production, first seen in 2007. Patrick Summers conducts.
Patrick Summers; Susan Graham, Plácido Domingo, Paul Groves, Gordon Hawkins
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
March 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, April 2, 2011, 1 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 4 hours
Natalie Dessay triumphed as the fragile heroine of Donizetti’s masterpiece on Opening Night of the 2007–08 season in Mary Zimmerman’s hit production. Now she returns to the role of the innocent young woman driven to madness, opposite Joseph Calleja, who sings her lover Edgardo.
Patrick Summers; Natalie Dessay, Joseph Calleja, Ludovic Tézier, Kwangchul Youn
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory – New Production
April 9, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, May 7, 2011, 1 p.m. ET; Monday, June 13, 2011, 6:30 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours
Rossini’s vocally dazzling comedy stars bel canto sensation Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of this Met premiere production. He vies with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the trouser role of Isolier, for the love of the lonely Countess Adèle, sung by soprano Diana Damrau. Bartlett Sher, director of the Met’s hit productions of The Barber of Seville and The Tales of Hoffmann, describes the world of the opera as, “a place where love is dangerous. People get hurt. That can be very funny and very painful. Rossini captures both—with the most beautiful love music Rossini ever wrote.”
Maurizio Benini; Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Susanne Resmark, Juan Diego Flórez, Stéphane Degout, Michele Pertusi
Strauss’s Capriccio
April 23, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, May 21, 2011, 1 p.m. ET; Monday, June 27, 2011, 6:30 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours
On Opening Night of the 2008–09 season, Renée Fleming dazzled audiences when she sang the final scene of Strauss’s wise and worldly meditation on art and life. Now she performs the entire work, in which the composer explores the essence of opera itself. Joseph Kaiser and Sarah Connolly also star, and Andrew Davis conducts.
Andrew Davis; Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen, Peter Rose
Verdi’s Il Trovatore
April 30, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, June 4, 2011, 1 p.m. ET; Monday, July 18, 2011, 6:30 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 3 hours
David McVicar’s stirring production of Verdi’s intense drama premiered in the 2008–09 season. James Levine leads this revival, starring four extraordinary singers—Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky—in what might be the composer’s most melodically rich score.
James Levine; Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Wagner’s Die Walküre – New Production
May 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm ET
U.S. Encore: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 6:30 p.m. local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, June 18, 2011, 12 p.m. ET; Monday, July 11, 2011, 6 p.m. ET
Expected Running time: 5 hours, 30 minutes
A stellar cast comes together for this second installment of Robert Lepage’s new production of the Ring cycle, conducted by James Levine. Bryn Terfel is Wotan, lord of the Gods. Deborah Voigt adds the part of Brünnhilde to her extensive Wagnerian repertoire at the Met. Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek star as the twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde, and Stephanie Blythe is Fricka.
James Levine; Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, Hans-Peter König
Seriously, what would you do with an oboe that couldn’t be done better and cheaper with a shawm?
When Benjamin Jaber first sat in the principal chair of the San Diego Symphony’s horn section two years ago, he immediately felt at ease. “It just clicked,” he said. But it wasn’t until he sat on an audition committee considering the principal oboe candidates that he realized the uniqueness of his situation.
“Most of the principal winds, a couple of the brass and the strings were there, and in the discussion and interaction it was clear we were really all on the same page,” Jaber said. “We were on the same wavelength, looking for the same things. It was really smooth. That’s when I knew it’s a really cool thing that we have here.”
Music director Jahja Ling has assembled an ensemble remarkable in its mixture of youth and experience, its diversity, its talent, but most of all, its attitude and the degree of interaction between its musicians.
“It’s always a challenge to work with everybody when people are so committed and passionate and obviously have strong opinions,” said Sarah Skuster, who won that audition and just finished her first season in the critical role of principal oboe. “But I feel like in this orchestra it’s very collaborative. People really look out for each other. There’s a lot of respect, and that’s not always the case.”
Check out the entire article.
Oh … but about this paragraph:
A 1997 Harvard study found the job satisfaction of symphony players to be just below “federal prison guards” and just above “industrial production teams.” And that was the glory years of American orchestras. Since then, musicians in numerous orchestras have had their pay slashed, weeks of employment cut, and, in places like Detroit, their livelihoods threatened.
My job satisfaction is actually much higher. The only dissatisfaction I have is with my reeds or my own deficiencies. Truly. I’m so thankful to have the job I have. As I tweeted after our Saturday night concert: “I am so blessed to have the job I do & I have one of the best seats in the house too! I need to stop whining. But I probably never will.”
😉
So … we finished the first set of symphony. I was on English horn for the Mahler. Very few notes. Very exposed. And I did okay. Maybe I even did fine. Heck, maybe I even did well. Who knows? I sure never do!
Nathan Gunn was great. I could listen to that voice of him forever, I think. Such an incredible, beautiful, warm sound. Loved, loved, loved it! As did the audience.
Here’s a little Gunn & Bell for you:
I also played assistant principal oboe on both the Schumann first symphony and Beethoven’s seventh. Playing assistant (“AP”) is a nice change; no stress, really! What AP does is allow the principal oboist to have a bit of a break. We do this when the parts have so many notes with very few rests. It’s not done very frequently, but this set did really call for it and I was happy to get to do it; when I have so little to play, as I did with the Mahler, playing AP helps me feel more involved in the concert. So I’m grateful. (Thanks, PH!)
While we were performing today the Giants were playing what I hoped would be their last game before they moved on to the playoffs. Owning an iPhone meant I could check the score right before we started the concert, during intermission, and immediately following the concert. I will not, however, have the iPhone on during a performance. It was tempting, believe me, but I will not enter the world of the performer who is online while working. I’m a good girl, I am! (Name that show.)
Good news, though. The Giants are in the playoffs.
It’s quite true what they say about the Giants, though. TORTURE!
