Controversial Measures Protect Musicians’ Hearing
Musical companies in Europe and elsewhere are rethinking their repertoire and conductors are redefining their concept of fortissimo. Members of various European orchestras are now being asked to wear decibel-measuring devices during rehearsals to monitor the sound levels players experience. If levels are too high and the people in charge do not want to make changes to bring levels down, the piece can be eliminated from the program, reports the New York Times.
The Bavarian Radio Symphony was to premiere Dror Feiler’s State of Siege on April 4, but the work was removed from the program when no consensus could be achieved on either lowering the decibel level or requiring the musicians to wear noise-abating headphones, said the report.
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/arts/music/20noise.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rsstechnorati.com/articles/0wNslbXo9594i6Yzw78dHPWzKDXT/7Sswzz25xkAsdM=robocaster.com/dailynews/podcast-episodehome/ news-ci_8987488/noise-rules-steal-some-symphony-thunder-eur…
Single Mom Striking Back for Downloaders
The Recording Industry Association of America accused Tanya Anderson, a 45-year-old Oregon single mother, of “file sharing.” The association’s agents contacted her frequently by mail and by phone, telling her that if she did not pay them more than $4,000 the RIAA would sue, reports businessweek.com. She hired a lawyer, fought the suit and won her case.
Anderson is now suing the RIAA for $5 million, charging that the association’s unauthorized snooping broke the law, according to Business Week. She wants to make her suit a class action so that others who have been the innocent victims of this type of investigation can also receive some benefit.
Anderson, who still needs to pay her own lawyers, believes that many people who did not download music illegally have paid the RIAA because it was cheaper than hiring a lawyer, says the story.
www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_18/b4082042959954.htm
Rocker Composing Opera for the Met
“I’ve wanted to write an opera since I was 14 years old,” said Rufus Wainright, Canadian rock singer and songwriter, in an interview with Variety. Wainright’s commission from the Metropolitan Opera calls for him to write a work that explores the life of an opera singer. Primadonna will tell of divas in their various incarnations, ranging from opera to the movies. Wainright will write both the music and the libretto, which will be in French, said the report.
“Once the lights go down, it all sort of boils down to the same thing,” Wainright said, about the difference between rock and opera. “It just has to be good.”
www.variety.com/article/VR1117984552.html?categoryid=16
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2276586,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=39
‘Brigadoon’ to Grace Broadway Again
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 musical, Brigadoon, will take the stage in New York City during the spring of 2009, after the usual Boston tryout, says broadway.com. Playwright John Guare, who wrote Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves, will construct a new version of Brigadoon for 2009. Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford is set to direct the new production.
The original show ran for 600 performances following its opening on March 13, 1947, and was made into a 1954 movie starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. The musical was last seen in New York in 1980.
www.broadway.com/GEN/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=563285
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/theater/08arts-BRIGADOONTOR_ BRF.html?
www.variety.com/article/VR1117983643.html
