New York State Theater to be Renovated
Gerard Mortier, the incoming general manager and artistic director of New York City Opera, and the NYC Ballet’s ballet-master-in-chief, Peter Martins, have agreed to renovate the State Theater rather than have the two organizations go their separate ways, reports bloomberg.com. The State Theater is a Lincoln Center venue built for ballet where audiences barely hear the sound of the dancers’ feet. For a time some thought the opera would seek to perform in a venue that does a better job of reflecting the sound of voices. NYCO wants sound to carry more and the ballet likes the current state of the theater, so Mortier and Martins will be looking at acquiring a removable acoustical system.
Renovations will take some time, so the theater will be dark for part of the 2008-2009 season. NYCO says it will perform in various other halls around the city during that period.
www.bloomberg.com
Site Offers Lesson Plans for Classroom Singing
The British website singup.org can help elementary school teachers with resources and projects for teaching music to their students. It even has instructions for teachers who are not formally trained in music but wish to include singing in their curriculum. Instructors can download the sheet music for simple songs. The website encourages students to compose and provides instructions for singing games that can help maintain pupil interest.
Ten songs are available currently, each of which the site describes so teachers can make intelligent selections for their classes. Because the site is British, however, some of the wording may need to be changed for American classrooms. Selections include folk songs, play songs, seasonal works, and a few compositions by British school children.
www.singup.org
Welser-Möst to Head Vienna Opera in 2010
Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst will take over the post of general music director of the Vienna State Opera on Sept. 1, 2010, reports the Cleveland Orchestra, which Welser-Möst currently manages. Welser-Möst has been music director at Cleveland for the past five years and is committed to that group through the 2011-2012 season. In 2005 he was named general music director of the Zurich Opera.
http://blog.cleveland.com/reviews/2007/06/welsermost_named_music_directo.html
www.clevelandorch.com/html/about/musicdirector.asp
ENO Now Offering Podcasts
The English National Opera is now offering free downloads of their operas on the company’s website, says playbillarts.com. Each podcast includes opera excerpts as well as interviews with the singers and members of the creative team. The opera currently available is Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. ENO performs every opera in English, even if it is not the original language of the work.
www.eno.com/podcasts/main.html
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/7407.html
Gibson Features Self-tuning Guitar
The Gibson Guitar Company has joined with a German company, Tronical, to produce a guitar that can tune itself in two seconds, reports news.com. The technology recognizes pitch as the player strums, and uses motors to loosen or tighten the pegs accordingly. It can tune the strings normally or to a customized combination of notes.
Gibson’s self-tuning Les Paul model costs $3,399. The self-tuning mechanism, called Powertune, is also available separately for $800 and can be installed on many different models of guitar.
www.news.com/Opening-act-for-Gibsons-self-tuning-guitar/2100-1041_3-6221226.html
www.ralaudio.com/tronical-powertune-automatic-guitar-tuning-system-p-1795.html
Herb Alpert Gives $30 Million to UCLA
Music legend Herb Alpert’s foundation has donated $30 million to UCLA for the formation of a new school of music that will be devoted to jazz, classical, popular, and world music, the university recently announced. In conjunction with UCLA’s departments of ethnomusicology, music, and musicology, the Herb Alpert School of Music will be devoted to the study and performance of music in all of its global diversity.
The new music school will provide a balanced approach to scholarship, performance, and practical knowledge, says the university. “At UCLA we are deeply committed to excellence and contemporary thought throughout a full range of arts study and practice,” said university chancellor Gene Block.
www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-enters-a-new-era-in-music-40261.aspx
