Bulletin Board


Italian Broadcaster Recording Operas for Theaters in U.S. and Elsewhere

RAI, Italian Radio and Television, plans to record seven opera productions in high definition video and digital 5.1 audio for exhibition in foreign movie theaters. The resulting films will be shown in 56 venues across the United States, according to Playbill. Because the presentations are films rather than live broadcasts, individual theaters can set the show times. New films will be available each month, said the report.

Selections filmed at La Scala in Milan include: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (January), Verdi’s La traviata (February), Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (March), and Puccini’s Il trittico (May). In April, RAI plans to record Verdi’s La forza del destino on the stage of La Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and in June, Puccini’s La rondine, in the newly refurbished La Fenice in Venice. Participating theaters are listed at the links below.

www.emergingpictures.com/opera_venues.htm
www.playbillarts.com/news/article7323.html

It Was Too Good to Last

The Music Score Library Project, which had featured more than 15,000 scores known to be in the public domain in Canada, was removed from the Internet for legal reasons, according to multiple reports. Its owners were scrupulous about copyright observance. But since the site was accessible from anywhere in the world, it ran into legal problems with owners of copyrights that are still in force outside Canada. Courts have held that sites can be presumed to be in compliance with the law when it can be seen that they attempt to do comply with the copyright laws of their home country. Nevertheless, some publishers assert that online sellers must comply with the laws of every country on earth, the reports said. The matter will have to be sorted out by the legal systems of several countries before the public can again have unfettered access to this type of material.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/21/0559220
www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97728_
www.dmwmedia.com/tags/international-music-score-library-project
www.nowpublic.com/politics/public-domain-music-score-site-shut-down-due-conflicts-copyright-law

Mackay to Take Over at Santa Fe

The Houston Chronicle recently announced that Charles Mackay, currently general director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, will assume the top position at Santa Fe Opera in October. Born in Albuquerque, Mackay grew up in Santa Fe and worked for that opera company for the better part of a decade.

Richard Gaddes, the current Santa Fe Opera general director (who replaced the company’s founder, John Crosby in 2000), expects to retire after the completion of the company’s 2008 summer season.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap.fn/5289522.html
www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/11/05/daily91.html

Symphony Sets Good Example

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the city’s symphony orchestra has begun sponsorship of an ensemble composed of African-American high school student musicians. Participants will receive free lessons and coaching in chamber music. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nouveau Chamber Players hopes to give its young members the tools they will eventually need to have serious careers in classical music.

African American and Latino musicians make up a mere 4 percent of the membership of today’s major orchestras. The percentage of singers is higher.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071025/NEWS01/310250041

The Sky Is Falling . . . on the Author

British music critic Norman Lebrecht has been predicting the death of classical music for many years. In his latest book Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness: The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry, he purportedly accuses Naxos Records founder Klaus Heymann of unethical business practices, say several reports. Heymann sued, saying the accusations are false and citing 15 statements in the book he says are inaccurate.

Lebrecht’s publisher, Penguin Books, has issued an apology and agreed to pay an undisclosed sum, according to the New York Times. The company will also seek the return of all unsold copies of the book in the UK. Lebrecht says that sales of the American version of his book are unaffected.

www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/arts/music/20lebr.html?ref=music
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/26/pressandpublishing.medialaw?gusrc=rss&feed=media
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article3104667.ece_

Berlin Philharmonic Addresses its Past

British-born conductor Sir Simon Rattle has been leading the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in its attempt to clean up some images left over from the days of the Third Reich. Recently, he directed the group in a concert that ended with a stirring rendition of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a piece that was not allowed under Nazi rule. An exhibition of 1938 propaganda materials that depicted the German government’s denunciation of Stravinsky and fellow composers of the time accompanied the concert. The presentation also noted that the orchestra was only allowed to continue playing during those years because it agreed to the government stipulations.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/07/wberlin107.xml

Maria Nockin

Born in New York City to a British mother and a German father, Maria Nockin studied piano, violin, and voice. She worked at the Metropolitan Opera Guild while studying for her BM and MM degrees at Fordham University. She now lives in southern Arizona where she paints desert landscapes, translates from German for musical groups, and writes on classical singing for various publications.