Gambling Addict May Have Tried to Pay Off Debts the Wrong Way
Until recently, Greg Hogan was a cello student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Now he is a bank robbery suspect, according to various news reports. Hogan allegedly walked into the Wachovia Bank in Allentown and handed the teller a note demanding money. He walked out with a little less than $3,000 and was arrested the same night during the college’s orchestra practice, said the reports.
Hogan allegedly needed the money to pay off some of the $5,000 he owed in on-line poker debt. His attorney says the robbery was a cry for help, because the student musician wore no mask and did not have a gun, even though he may have told the teller he did.
No longer enrolled at Lehigh, Hogan is currently in a treatment program for his addiction, and might spend two years in prison if convicted of bank robbery, reports said.
www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/07/12/student.robber.ap/index.html?section=cnn_law
Rest in Peace, Jeffrey Kneebone
On Aug. 1, dramatic baritone Jeffrey Kneebone passed away after losing his battle with melanoma, said various reports.
Kneebone began his career with the New York City Opera portraying roles such as Scarpia in Tosca, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Germont in La traviata. He went on to sing many parts that made use of his prodigious acting skills as well as his outstanding vocal ability, and he appeared with most of the top U.S. regional companies.
Colleagues found him not only talented but amiable and easy to work with, said the reports. He will be sorely missed.
Conductor Has New Ideas for Marketing Classical Music
Demetrius Fuller, founding music director and conductor of the Sinfonia Gulf Coast in Destin, Fla., has some new and interesting ideas for marketing his music to new audiences. Last summer, for example, he presented “Beethoven and Botox,” a program of chamber music at an upscale spa, says the orchestra’s website.
For the fall season, Fuller is taking bids on a chance to conduct the orchestra. The winner will receive a few conducting lessons and lead the orchestra in a short selection.
“Rush Hour Concerts” are another of his innovative ideas. These one-hour performances allow audiences to enjoy music, appetizers, and beverages, then drive home after the heavy traffic has dispersed, says the site.
www.sinfoniagulfcoast.org
Houston Symphony Enjoys Successful Season
For the second year in a row the Houston Symphony has decreased expenses, increased income, and balanced its budget, according to the Houston Chronicle. Ed Wulfe, Symphony Society past president, was instrumental in initiating many of the changes, but musicians, management, and the board of directors all contributed to the orchestra’s good financial performance, said the report.
Next season the symphony hopes to double its endowment and attract more young subscribers, so it has installed screens in the concert hall that allow audience members to see close-ups of various musicians as they play. The symphony is gearing its new marketing agenda to the younger generation and its programming will endeavor to appeal to various groups of prospective Houston Symphony fans, says the site.
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4064170.html
Art Gallery Opens at the Met
On Sept. 22, the Metropolitan Opera opened its brand new “Arnold and Marie Schwarz Gallery Met,” a space for new visual art inspired by opera, says playbillarts.com. Located on the south side of the opera house lobby, admission is free and the area is open to the public.
Curator Dodie Kazanjian, who is also a Vogue magazine editor-at-large, will be showing brand new opera-related works, says the report, adding that the current selections are all inspired by the heroines of works featured at the Met this season.
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4895.html
Missouri Orchestra Enjoys an Excellent Year
Under the leadership of Music Director Michael Stern, 46, son of violinist Isaac Stern, the Kansas City Symphony had a most successful 2005-2006 season, says kansascity.com. In the maestro’s first year with KCS, ticket sales were up 36 percent and total revenue increased by 57 percent, said the report.
Thanks to its increased revenue, the orchestra has expanded its community outreach and school concerts. The 2006-2007 season will be the orchestra’s 25th, and it is off to a very good start, says the report.
www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/music/15078033.htm
South Florida Adds More Performance Space
For the past few years, suitable halls for classical music and opera have been hard to come by during the winter season in south Florida. Now two new halls in Miami—the 2,400-seat Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House, and the 2,000-seat Knight Concert Hall—will help alleviate that problem. Together they form the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Miami Performing Arts Center).
The Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale also presents classical music, as well as Broadway shows, and can make more money with an opera performance than a show, according to south Florida’s Sun Sentinel. The problem is that an opera often requires a rehearsal, a night when no one buys food or drink, so the hall tends to focus on musicals.
www.southflorida.com/music/sfl-mu23browardjul23,0,1785641.story?coll=sfe-music-reviews
www.miamipac.org
www.browardcenter.org
Professor Creates New Way to Illustrate Chord Relationships
Dmitri Tymoczko, composer and assistant professor of music at Princeton University, uses dots on a triangular prism as a new way of representing musical chords and other clusters of notes, says Princeton.edu.
Tymoczko’s goal is to find a way of linking one pleasant sounding chord to similar chords or related clusters of notes. He thinks that this method of representation will help composers locate usable melodies or sequences of notes that have some recognizable relationship to each other. The composer maintains that his prism can encompass a much wider range of harmonies and melodic sequences than systems that employ more familiar forms of notation, says the report.
www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S15/19/53C88/index.xml?section=topstories
