McDonald’s Has Vocal Contest for Workers
Singers who work for McDonald’s or its franchises are eligible to enter the Voice of McDonald’s Competition. Each year four singers are selected from each of the following regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia/Middle East/Africa. Each Global Finalist and a guest receive a paid trip to the city where the finals are held. In 2012, the 16 global finalists will compete in the final round to be held at the McDonald’s worldwide Convention in Orlando, Florida, where the winners will be determined. First prize will be $25,000; second prize: $17,000; third prize: $12,500; and fourth prize: $7,500. Global Semi-Finalists will receive $3,000. Additional prizes will be announced on the contest website.
The panel of judges for the Global Final Competition will consist of international music and talent experts. Performances at the finals will be judged on the following criteria: singing ability—including range, tone, and rhythm—counts for 60 percent of the score, creativity counts for 20 percent, and stage presence counts for the final 20 percent.
vom.mcdonalds.com/
Los Angeles El Sistema Joins with Bard College and
Longy School
The Los Angeles Philharmonic already has a relationship with El Sistema, the music training program that originated in Venezuela. Now it will join with Bard College in upstate New York and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., in launching Take a Stand, a joint musical education initiative. The schools expect to provide regular conferences and workshops for pioneering classical music educators and to support the development of an adaptation of the Venezuelan system to schools and students in the United States.
Take a Stand hopes to unite American music programs and provide leaders with tools for growth. It expects to create a new group of capable music teachers to be trained via the launch of a new master of arts in teaching music degree program which will be accredited through Bard and based in Los Angeles.
www.laphil.com/press/press-release/index.cfm?id=2715
www.simonbolivarorchestra.com/2011/10/longy-helping-launch-branch-of-revolutionary-el-sistema-progam-boston-globe/
Symphony Silicon Valley Has New Business Model
Symphony Silicon Valley is now in its tenth season. It has performed for well over 500,000 patrons during the decade since it succeeded the failing San Jose Symphony. “I never thought we were in a risky business,” says Andrew Bales, president of the orchestra, which he launched in September 2002. “The old symphony had overreached its marketplace. But people still love classical music.” The old orchestra folded after years of lackluster programming and dwindling attendance. But Bales’ new style of management has proved successful.
Symphony Silicon Valley is the Bay Area’s largest employer of classical musicians outside of San Francisco. The orchestra has weathered the economic downturn by running a tight ship. For one thing, it employs guest conductors instead of having a costly music director. It schedules only enough performances to keep seats filled and ticket revenues humming. Above all, it programs what its audiences most want to hear: old favorites like Beethoven along with eclectic and contemporary fare.
www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_18997222?
Conductor Responds to Critic
“All the performances were hampered, indeed sabotaged, by the conducting,” wrote Washington Post music critic Anne Midgette about Plácido Domingo’s conducting of Tosca at the Washington National Opera. “Rather than supporting the singers, his conducting either drowned them out or tripped them up. He got warm applause, but I’m not sure his presence sells enough tickets to make up for spoiling the evening.” Domingo responded, “For the first time in my life I am sending a letter to the editor of a newspaper, because your music critic, Anne Midgette, has crossed the line between reasonably objective criticism and what appears to be open animosity.” He said he found her criticisms “offensive and defamatory,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Spanish tenor and conductor holds the post of general director at Los Angeles Opera, where he conducts a production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet in November. Midgette has been the music critic of the Washington Post since 2008. Before that, she was a reviewer at the New York Times where she covered the Metropolitan Opera and other classical music institutions.
latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/10/placido-domingo-takes-on-washington-post-critic.html
