An authoritative market report by IBISWorld lists the 10 fastest dying industries in the US.

They are:
1 Manufactured Home Dealers
2 Record Stores
3 Photofinishing; 
4 Wired Telecommunications Carriers; 
5 & 6 Apparel Manufacturing (men’s and women’s); 
7 Newspaper Publishing; 
8 DVD Game and Video Rental; 
9 Mills
10 Formal Wear and Costume Rental. 
The list is a snapshot of how high streets have changed over the past decade, and how they might change further over the next. If record stores have gone – the second biggest casualty -book outlets cannot be far behind. If anything to do with photography and printing is now self-op, what hope for publishers?
Worrying times.

If you want to ask someone to leave the room in 2011, you tell them – apparently – to transition off.

That’s what Fox News has just done, without prejudice, to its appallingly prejudiced and more than mildly fantasist presenter, Glenn Beck.
Here’s the Wall Street Journal headline:

Glenn Beck To Transition Off Daily Fox Program

I’m finding this a particularly useful coinage. I have used it twice today on cold callers and I think Wayne Rooney may have been searching for the phrase when he last faced the cameras.
Further applications warmly welcomed, along with any other neologisms that have entered your daily usage.

Deutsche Grammophon has signed the Seoul Philharmonic to a 10-CD deal, the first by any major label with an orchestra from the Far East – and, I suspect, not the last.

Seoul is a special case.
South Korea has the highest classical share of the record market on earth, around 17% of all record sales, and the consumers are overwhelmingly young and upwardly mobile. This is a demographic to die for.
The Seoul Philharmonic has Myung-whun Chung as music director. He has been a DG artist for much of his career, notably at the Opéra de Paris, the Radio France orchestra and the Santa Cecilia academy in Rome.

It also has Michael Fine as artistic adviser and chief producer. Michael is a former President of DG. He was spied upon and hounded out of the job by his Universal boss, Chris Roberts, a story I told here. Roberts has since gone. Michael’s return must feel very sweet indeed. 
And there’s is one more cherry on the cake. The Seoul Philharmonic are starting to tour. They will be at the Edinburgh Festival this summer. Good time to release a record.

A senior record producer Gilbert Hetherwick has broken cover on the tricks classical artists get up to in studio to make us think them immaculate. 

Hetherwick, former president of Sony/BMG Masterworks, now has a small studio near Woodstock, NY, where he tries to do things right.

He calls his blog the Grouse House Gazette and welcomes regular visits from great black American bears, drawing the line at music-biz snakes.

Here’s a section of his article, transplanted with permission. It makes sobering reading for anyone who believe that classical record stars are made in heaven.

I once saw a producer suffer through making over
1200 edits in a 60-minute recording by a world
famous classical  instrumentalist.  They were
literally taking the “attack” of one note and editing
it to the decay of another from the artist’s hand
written instructions on the score.  And I have seen
artists nearly lose their recording contracts because
their insistence on heavy editting had driven up the
costs of making their recordings to a point where
they would never turn any kind of a profit.  And
even “Live” concert recordings are corrected today,
as there is usually what is called a “patch session”
done later (or the next day) to make sure that all the
correct notes are covered.
With thirty years of digital recording now behind
us we now have an entire generation of classical
artists who don’t know any other way.   So
chances are, things won’t change much in the
future.  But as the major labels generally back
away from doing many new classical recordings,
and more and more artists are now taking on the
recording responsibilities themselves, the
expense of these postproduction costs are waking
a lot of them up to these expensive time
consuming realities.  And the smaller indie labels
that now dominate the market don’t have the
budgets that the majors once had.
So hopefully we will get back to more “honest”
classical recordings in the future.
But the “digital addiction” will be hard to kick…
More here.

Two members of the youth orchestra who are supposed to be replacing the OSB have announced that they will not play in it again. I publish below a moving letter from Luiz Felipe Ferreira in English and Portuguese.

In other developments, John Neschling, former chief conductor of the Sao Poalo orchestra is highly critical of the OSB actions here. He calls the process ‘truculent, socially unjust and arbitrary.’ 

There has also been a highly critical article from conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky.
Here’s Luiz’s letter:

    • Farewell OSB Youth Orchestra

      Today I left the OSB Youth Orchestra, because I disagree with all of the things that are going wrong within the Foundation. I am leaving because the dignity of a musician has to be worth more than 1000 reais or any false promises which we make. The OSB Youth Orchestra has always had the potential to be…incredible, incredibly talented young people who have made the orchestra sound like a great orchestra, mature and experienced. But this potential has never been explored correctly, we have always been seen as objects to cater to the whims of conductors or directors.

      We have often been introduced as “the cream of young musicians” and soon after we were replaced by “monitors”. Is it really possible that in order to have this “cream” the merits and creation of these students were worthy of the monitors, or could it be that the credit really belongs to the various competent teachers who have refined these young musicians? Teachers who were ridiculed publicly in interviews with this Artistic Director.

      The last words I heard before I packed my bags and left the orchestra was “I’d like to see your teacher take a part of his salary and support you”. I don’t think I need to dignify that with a comment, the quote speaks for itself, no? 

      I have witnessed and felt within my skin the disdain of a conductor, I’ve seen friends suffering, I’ve seen competent people humiliated in front of the orchestra, I’ve seen people submitted to psychological pressure minutes before appearing as a soloist with the orchestra, I’ve seen the money of our stipends discounted for obscure reasons…to be honest…i haven’t actually seen it…because it was never explained to us where this money went. People who were sick and delivered a physicians’ release were docked, people who went to witness the birth of their children were docked…these are just a few examples which express exactly what kind of grotesque apprenticeship we were subjected to. 

      Recently, we have had to divide the stage with various “monitors” (people who submitted to the professional evaluations), we had to witness the charged atmosphere between them, each one speaking badly about the others…is this really the supposedly educational project which is sold to audiences and sponsors? Is this the real OSB Youth Orchestra that is announced in the program? An orchestra in which during every rehearsal more and more monitors are inserted to mask and disguise itself as an orchestra that no longer exists?

      It is very sad to leave an orchestra where I have made friends, where I dedicated myself, had fun, laughed and lived intensely, but that orchestra has died, it doesnt exist any more, and to my friends who are there, each with their own reasons and convictions, I can only leave a message from my heart: Music is life, it is love and feelings. If you don’t perform thinking of this maybe it is because you are no longer being musicians! 

      I hope the musicians are treated with respect, because in spite of appearing ironic in these circumstances, one of the phrases that has stayed with me throughout my time in the OSB Youth Orchestra is “the baton makes no sound”. So…
      take the hint! Best Wishes, Luiz Felipe Ferreira

      Adeus OSB Jovem.
      by Luiz Felipe Ferreira on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 1:47am

      Hoje eu me desliguei da OSB Jovem, por discordar de todas as coisas erradas que ocorrem na fundação. Saí porque a dignidade de um músico tem que valer mais que

      mil reais ou que qualquer falsa promessa que nos façam.

      A Jovem sempre teve um potencial incrível, jovens talentosíssimos que faziam muita das vezes a orquestra soar como se fosse grande, madura e experiente. Mas esse potencial nunca foi realmente explorado da maneira correta, sempre fomos vistos como objetos para suprir vontades de maestro ou diretores. Várias vezes fomos apresentados como “a nata dos jovens instrumentistas” e logo em seguida eram dados os méritos aos monitores. Será mesmo que para se ter a tal “nata” o mérito e construção desses alunos eram dignos dos monitores ou seria de diversos professores competentes que durante anos lapidaram esses jovens?Professores esses que foram ridicularizados em entrevista pelo tal diretor artístico. A última frase que eu ouvi antes de pegar minhas coisas e sair da orquestra foi “quero ver seu professor pegar parte do salário dele e te sustentar.”. Acho que eu nem preciso comentar nada sobre isso né, a frase se desmerece por si só!

      Eu vivi na pele a antipatia de um maestro, vi amigos sofrerem, vi gente competente ser desmerecida na frente da orquestra, vi gente sofrer pressão psicológica minutos antes de solar com a orquestra, vi o dinheiro de nossas bolsas ser descontado por motivos obscuros..alias..vi não..porque nunca nos foi esclarecido para onde esse dinheiro ia.Gente que ficou doente e apresentou atestado foi descontado,gente q teve ônibus queimado na rua de casa na época da guerra no rio de janeiro foi descontado,gente q foi ver o filho nascer foi descontado…isso eram apenas algumas coisas que expressavam exatamente o aprendizado grotesco que tínhamos la.Recentemente,tivemos que dividir espaço na orquestra para diversos monitores(pessoas que se submeteram as avaliações da profissional),tivemos que presenciar o clima pesado entre eles mesmos,um querendo desmerecer o outro..será que esse é realmente o tal projeto educacional que é divulgado para a platéia e pros patrocinadores?Será mesmo que essa é a OSB Jovem anunciada no programa?Uma orquestra onde a cada ensaio q se passa são enxertados mais e mais monitores para mascarar e se disfarçar de uma orquestra que não existe mais?

      É triste deixar uma orquestra onde fiz amigos, onde me dediquei,me diverti,ri e vivi intensamente, mas essa orquestra morreu, não existe mais, e aos meus amigos que la estão,cada um com seu motivo e suas convicções,apenas deixo o recado de coração: Música é vida,é amor ehttp://www.facebook.com/l/038a9RMztiwQKPOwbZkkDUSmoEQ/sentimento.Se vocês não tocam pensando nisso é porque talvez nem músicos mais vocês estejam sendo!

      Espero que os músicos sejam tratados com respeito, porque apesar de parecer irônico, uma das frases que eu ouvi ao longo desse tempo na OSB Jovem que me marcou foi “Batuta não sai som”. Então..fica a dica!

      Abraços

      Luiz Felipe Ferreira

Hours after Universal launched a Japan-aid album, here’s EMI with a charity auction.

Only one classical artist in it, though. 

I want to buy Natalie Dessay’s used hardware. Not Kylie Minogue’s.
Show me a longer list.

LATE EXTRA: EMI tell me that Diana Damrau and the Berlin Phil have joined the auction. Counter-tenor Philippe Jarousky is also coming on board and Yundi Li is rummaging through his sock drawer (it’s what Chopin pianists like to give as presents, don’t ask).
That’s all very well, but where’s Natalie’s piece?
Press release follows:

 

 

 

ARTISTS AND
SONGWRITERS FROM THE EMI FAMILY UNITE FOR JAPAN

 

Exclusive
charity auction to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross’s disaster relief
efforts, at ebay.co.uk/EMIfamily4Japan

 

London, 5 April
2011 — Artists and songwriters from across the EMI family are raising funds to
help the Red Cross support people affected by last month’s earthquake and
tsunami in Japan, through an incredible
worldwide auction of personal items and memorabilia.

 

Artists from the EMI Classics and
Virgin Classics family taking part in the auction include Angela Gheorghiu,
Philippe Jaroussky, YUNDI and Diana Damrau.

 

The charity auction, which will be
managed by eBay, features items from some of the world’s biggest stars,
including Coldplay, Norah Jones, Katy Perry, Gorillaz, Iron Maiden, Jane Birkin,
the Beach Boys, David Guetta, Michael Franti, Lady Antebellum, The Chemical
Brothers, Depeche Mode, Celtic Woman, 30 Seconds To Mars, Rosanne Cash, Daft
Punk, Herbert Grönemeyer, Angela Gheorghiu, Keith Urban, Good Charlotte, and The
Beatles.

 

All funds raised will be used
towards the Japanese Red Cross disaster relief efforts to help those affected by
the earthquake and tsunami. Funds will be used for the on-going provision of
immediate relief to support the affected population during their recovery. EMI
Group has committed to match all funds raised from the auction up to a maximum
of one million euros.

 

The first phase of the charity
auction starts today (April 5) and will run until April 15th, with
more than 200 exclusive money-can’t-buy items. A second phase of the auction
will take place between April 11th – 21st. All the items
can be viewed at ebay.co.uk/EMIfamily4Japan.

 

Items included in the first phase of
the auction include Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin’s jacket from the 2010
Viva La Vida world tour, Jane Birkin’s own Birkin handbag designed by Hermes, a
pair of vintage speakers from Abbey Road’s famous Studio 3, five nights at
Michael Franti’s yoga retreat in Bali, the Beastie Boys’ Japanese MTV award, and
a signed limited edition lithographic Depeche Mode print.

 

The second phase of
the charity auction will include a 1987 Ferrari 412 as featured in Daft Punk’s
film ‘Electroma’, Katy Perry’s cupcake trampoline from her current California
Dreams world tour, a limited edition Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine Schwinn bicycle,
a signed guitar from Norah Jones, the MacBook used by David Guetta to create the
demos for ‘One Love’,
framed hand written lyrics from
Brian Wilson, Tinie Tempah’s pink blazer from the ‘Frisky’ video, and a limited
edition Gorillaz lithograph signed by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.

 

Multi-Grammy award
winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones said: “Japan has been
one of my favorite countries to visit and my heart goes out to everyone affected
by this disaster. I’m so glad I can be part of this fundraising effort along
with the EMI family.”

 

Brit Award winner Tinie Tempah
commented: “I was shocked when I heard about the earthquake and the devastating
effect that it has had on the Japanese people, and my thoughts are truly with
them. I’m happy to be a part of this great fundraising effort alongside the EMI
family. I really hope it helps make things a little bit easier at such a
difficult time.”

 

The list of items for sale in the
first phase of the charity auction from April 5th – 15th includes the
following:

 

  • 30
    Seconds to Mars
    – two tickets to a US show of their
    choice, a meet and greet with the band, a limited edition signed piece of
    merchandise, access to watch the show from the side of the stage, and a spot to
    join the band onstage during their performance of ‘Kings &
    Queens’
  • Aaron Neville
    – signed
    poetry book
  • Alice In
    Chains
    – a
    signed setlist, and 20 piece poster set
  • Angela Gheorghiu
    – her kimono
    costume from Madame Butterfly
  • B-52s – a dress worn by Kate Pierson, and
    a signed guitar
  • Bat
    For Lashes

    costume worn by Natasha, and a signed letter
  • Beastie
    Boys
    – a
    Japanese gold record, a Japanese MTV award and a rare copy of their BAPE dolls,
    all signed.
  • Celtic
    Woman

    original dress worn by Mairead Nesbitt in the ‘A Christmas Celebration Live’
    DVD
  • The
    Chemical
    Brothers – pair of guest tickets for
    Coachella, a meet and greet with the band plus a signed set list
  • Coldplay – Chris Martin’s jacket from the
    Viva la Vida world tour 2010
  • Darius
    Rucker

    signed guitar, signed football and signed CD
  • Depeche
    Mode
    – a
    limited edition lithographic print create to celebrate the release of the Tour
    of The Universe Barcelona DVD, signed by the band and
    framed.
  • Dierks Bentley

    handwritten lyrics to ‘Beautiful World’, signed CD, signed photo, and a signed
    football
  • Eric
    Church

    signed acoustic guitar
  • Family Force
    5
    – a
    private dinner with the band in Atlanta
  • Good
    Charlotte
    – a meet and greet with the band, a
    signed guitar, and free tickets to a live show
  • Herbert
    Grönemeyer

    dinner with him in Berlin
  • Hot
    Chip
    – the
    original drawings for the ‘Coming On Strong’ album
  • Huey
    Lewis & The News
    – hand written, autographed & framed lyrics,
    plus a personalized certified gold album for Greatest Hits, and a VIP concert
    experience & personal phone call from Huey to the
    winner
  • Immodesty
    Blaize

    1940’s dress from major photoshoot
  • Jane
    Birkin

    her own ‘Birkin’
    handbag
  • Julien
    Clerc

    signed platinum disc
  • Keith
    Urban
    – two
    tickets and a private meet & greet on his Closer tour
  • Keren
    Ann
    – a
    signed guitar
  • The
    Kooks

    handwritten lyrics to ‘Ooh La’
  • Lady
    Antebellum

    signed acoustic guitar
  • Little Big Town – signed acoustic guitar
  • Luke
    Bryan
    – a
    signed guitar
  • Melanie
    Chisholm

    her Cavalli belt as worn on the Spice Girls’ world tour
  • Michael
    Franti

    five nights at his Bali yoga
    retreat
  • Raphael – NRJ Award for Best Male Artist
    from 2006
  • Sick
    Puppies
    – a
    signed acoustic guitar
  • Simple
    Minds

    spend a day on tour with the band
  • Tiziano
    Ferro

    painting created for him by a top artist, inspired by his
    music
  • Vasco
    Rossi
    – a
    special black carpet, used at the launch of his new
    album

 

The list of items for sale in the
second phase of the charity auction from April 11th – 21st includes the
following:

 

  • Arcade
    Fire
    – four
    VIP tickets to their Hyde Park show on
    30th June 2011
  • B-52s – signed
    guitar
  • Beach
    Boys

    signed limited edition Pet Sounds plaque, plus hand-written, autographed &
    framed lyrics to a Beach Boys song from Brian Wilson
  • The
    Beatles

    the last of an
    extremely limited edition Schwinn bicycle featuring the Yellow Submarine
    artwork
  • Billy Corgan
    (Smashing Pumpkins) – a signed limited
    edition tour T-shirt worn by Billy Corgan
  • Chris
    Tomlin

    handwritten and signed lyrics
  • Corinne Bailey
    Rae
    – a
    personal favourite Prada dress worn by Corinne on her first tour, along with a
    note from Corinne
  • Daft
    Punk
    – 1987
    Ferrari 412, used in the Daft Punk film Electroma
  • David
    Bowie
    – 35
    albums signed by the artist
  • David Crowder
    Band

    signed Yamaha keytar
  • David
    Gilmour

    three framed and signed prints of David Gilmour in Gdansk, photographed by
    Anna Wloch, including David, Polly and Lech Walesa, David on stage at soundcheck
    and a selection of David’s guitars.
  • David Guetta
    – his Apple
    MacBook, used to create the demos for his album ‘One
    Love’.
  • Deadmau5 – his famous diamante mau5 head
    stage costume
  • Dean
    Martin
    – the
    opportunity to record a duet with Dino at the world-famous Capitol Studios
  • Duffy – the bicycle used by Duffy in the
    making of her 2009 Diet Coke commercial
  • Duran
    Duran
    – a
    painting by the band
  • A
    Fine Frenzy

    – the outfit worn by Alison to the 2011 Grammys, plus the handwritten lyrics to
    a song of the winning bidder’s choice
  • Gorillaz – limited edition lithograph with
    certificate of authenticity signed by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn  
  • Helene
    Fischer
    – a
    dress worn by Helene on stage
  • Iron
    Maiden

    exclusive limited edition ‘Ed Force One’ A2 print signed by Iron Maiden, two
    pieces of original Iron Maiden Japan 2011 event artwork signed by artist Herve
    Monjeaud, plus signed Nicko McBrain drumsticks as used on The Final Frontier
    World Tour
  • Jeff
    Bridges

    signed guitar,
    and a drawing of the seed maze from his yard
  • JLS – Aston and Ortise’s bowling shirts
    from the filming of ‘Stars & Strikes’, plus two signed
    albums
  • Jonas
    Brothers

    signed bag
  • Juan
    Luis Guerra

    – the hat worn on the cover of ‘La Llave De Mi Corazon’, signed by the
    artist
  • Katy
    Perry
    – a
    cupcake trampoline featured on stage on her current California Dreams tour
  • Kylie Minogue
    – signed
    ‘Kylie’ large lettering in white wood, from the ‘Fever’ album promotional
    campaign
  • Marisa
    Monte

    signed limited edition CD/DVD kit
  • Megadeth – a guitar signed by Dave
    Mustaine
  • Norah
    Jones
    – a
    signed guitar
  • Philippe
    Jaroussky

    signed and framed gold disc
  • Priscilla
    Ahn
    – a
    watercolor painting created by Priscilla following the Japanese earthquake,
    entitled ‘Falling, Tumbling, Raindrop Hearts’
  • The
    Prodigy

    signed drum machine from their studio, and a 7″ limited edition of ‘Invaders
    Must Die’
  • Rosanne Cash
    – the blouse
    designed by Catherine Malandrino that Rosanne wore on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay
    Leno’ in 2006, autographed copies of her “Black Cadillac” and “The List” albums,
    autographed copy of her memoir “Composed,” and two tickets to any concert of the
    winning bidder’s choice with a meet and greet backstage
  • Scouting For
    Girls

    signed Brits memorabilia
  • Simply
    Red
    – signed
    and framed setlist from a gig in Tokyo
  • Tinie
    Tempah
    – his
    pink blazer worn in the video for ‘Frisky’
  • Willie
    Nelson

    signed guitar

 

There are three items donated by the
world famous Abbey Road Studios, including an in-depth tour of the studio (which
is otherwise not open to members of the public), a pair of Quested Q412
loudspeakers, system, amps and crossovers (circa 1987) from Abbey Road Studio 3,
and a 1921 Steinway grand piano from the now-closed Olympic Studios, along with
a photograph of it being played by Bono.

 

In addition to these auction items,
the charity auction will feature other very special items including a collection
of all 37 editions of the US hit NOW compilation series, plus a number of signed
CDs, box sets, posters and other items from artists including Jane’s Addiction,
Robbie Williams, John Lennon, David Bowie, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and The
Band.

 

– ENDS

 

Enquiries

 

For
EMI:

Dylan
Jones

SVP, Corporate Communications,
New
York

Tel: +1 212 492
1230

djones@emigroup.com

The Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy may not automatically be top of your morning, but he’s getting the kind of launch that most would cry for.

Dennehy has a release next month on Nonesuch. The first track, Love and Death, for singer (Iarla O Lionard) and ensemble, is a meditative setting of old Irish tropes. But the second, That the Night Comes, to poems by W B Yeats, sounds eerily familiar the moment the soloist starts floating over the Crash Ensemble (cond. Alan Pierson).
This will not have been the intention of the composer, who was doubtless double-dotting his darnedest to sound different. But the work is a long, slow, declining cadence and the singer is Dawn Upshaw who – on Nonesuch in 1992 – catapulted an obscure composer from Katowice to international bestsellerdom. Henry Mikolai Gorecki’s third symphony became the first by a living composer to sell a million copies.
Many tried ever after, with predictable futility, to emulate what Pierre Boulez dismissed as ‘holy minimalism’. Dennehy comes closest in atmosphere and vocal phrasing – the leaps he gives Upshaw to sing – to anything I have yet heard. Almost a tribute album.
This is not to suggest imitation, let alone plagiarism – far from it. There are audible affinities with Samuel Barber’s sonorities – Knoxville, especially – and the importation of Irish folk mode is unmistakable. This is a work of many influences, a captivating, contemporary composition.
And that’s before Nonesuch got to work on it. No-one is saying outright that this is the next Gorecki but that suggestion is out on the street and Dennehy’s residency at Carnegie Hall this month with Ms Upshaw (see press release below) will go further to planting the Gorecki link in the public mind.
It’s an astonishing launch for a new composer and I wish him well with it. Now watch those charts. Here’s the microsite.
Donnacha Dennehy: "Grá agus Bás" [cover]

Date: April 4, 2011 | Contact: Samantha Nemeth | Tel: 212-903-9753 | E-mail: snemeth@carnegiehall.org

DAWN UPSHAW AND DONNACHA DENNEHY LEAD A WORKSHOP FOR
YOUNG SINGERS AND COMPOSERS PRESENTED BY
CARNEGIE HALL’S WEILL MUSIC INSTITUTE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE
BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC, APRIL 11-17, 2011

Participants Premiere Their Collaborations at a Carnegie Hall
Neighborhood Concert in Queens on April 16 and in Zankel Hall on April 17

This April, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, in partnership with The Bard College Conservatory of Music, will present a Professional Training Workshop led by soprano Dawn Upshaw and composerDonnacha Dennehy. In this intensive seven-day workshop beginning April 11, the duo will mentor four composers and ten singers on the collaboration between composer and performer in creating new vocal music. The participants will preview their new works for voice and ensemble in a Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens on Saturday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m. and premiere them in Zankel Hall on Sunday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. The ensemble will be conducted by Alan Pierson.

Carnegie Hall commissioned four young composers–Shawn JaegerAviya Kopelman,Christopher Mayo, and Shen Yiwen–to write new voice and ensemble works for selected singers, three chosen by audition and seven from The Bard College Conservatory of Music graduate program in vocal arts, where Ms. Upshaw is Artistic Director. Ms. Upshaw and Mr. Dennehy mentored these musicians through the collaborative compositional process, leading up to these premiere performances.

The singers selected in this year’s workshop include: Fanny Alofs, mezzo-soprano; Julia Bullock, soprano; Jeongcheol Cha, bass-baritone; Leroy Davis, bass-baritone; Jeffrey Hill, tenor; Mellissa Hughes, soprano; Clarissa Lyons, soprano; Margot Rood, soprano; Nian Wang, mezzo-soprano; and Ilana Zarankin, soprano.

Mr. Jaeger describes his Letters Made with Gold–with texts drawn from Appalachian sacred and secular songs–as a piece about “being in love and knowing that you, and your beloved, will die. The cycle traces a progression from youthful passion and optimism through denial and anger to acceptance.” Texts in Mr. Mayo’s Death on Three-Mile Creek are drawn from death notices written by 20th century poet and essayist Jonathan Williams, who was greatly influenced by Uncle Jake Carpenter’s “Jot-em-down Book” of the 1800s, which was later transcribed as Uncle Jake Carpenter’s Anthology of Death on Three-Mile Creek, now considered one of the most important records of 19th-century rural North Carolina.

Ms. Kopelman’s Grief Measure is in three different languages–English, Russian, and Spanish–but are unified, according to the composer, by the universal emotions they express, each in its powerful way. Mr. Shen’s Taking Leave of a Friend, explores the eighth century, Tang dynasty poetry of Li Po beginning with a drinking song, With a Man of Leisure, moving through Ballades of Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, which tell of romances from the past, and ending with a comb
ination of two poems, < em>Taking Leave of a Friend and Sit Alone With the Ching-Ting Mountain.

About the Workshop Leaders:
Donnacha Dennehy, who lives in Dublin and teaches composition at Trinity College, has received critical acclaim for his work, with The New York Times calling a recent piece “magnificently energetic,” and The Wire saying that he “has a sound world all his own.” His debut recording for the Nonesuch label, Grá agus Bás, featuring Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird and Dawn Upshaw will be released on May 3, 2011. He has received commissions from WNYC (for the Bang on a Can All-Stars), Icebreaker, Percussion Group The Hague, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, among others. Upcoming commissions include a new work for Nonesuch artists Kronos Quartet and one for Ms. Upshaw and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide renown as a singer of opera and concert repertoire ranging from the sacred works of Bach to the freshest sounds of today. A four-time Grammy Award winner, she was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 2007, the first vocal artist to be awarded the “genius” prize. Current season highlights include performances of works by Osvaldo Golijov and Joseph Canteloube at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a European tour with György Kurtag’s Kafka-Fragmente, reprising her celebrated role in John Adams’sEl Niño with the San Francisco Symphony, and beginning her second three-year term as Artistic Partner with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The Helsinki Music Centre opens in September and, by the accounts reaching me, it’s going to sound pretty good. First night features two orchestras and three conductors – but then Finland exports almost as many maestros as cellphones, so the surplus is hardly surprising.

What is remarkable, though – and I bring this to you from Fimic, source of all Finnish music news – is that over the next couple of months Finnish orchestras will be giving premieres of new fewer than 13 works by Finnish composers.
Let me parse that for you. Finland has a population of 5.4 million, perhaps a quarter the size of New York’s. In one season, Finnish orchestras are introducing 13 works by living composers. In one decade New York orchestras introduced…. oh, finish that yourselves.
When the new hall opens, it will be with a living art form.

It has been announced in Germany that film director Wim Wenders will not, after all, direct the next Bayreuth Ring in 2013.

Apparently, the Katharina and Eva agner who are running the show could not agree to the cost and paraphenalia of filming it in 3-D, as Wenders did so successfully in his Pina Bausch epic.
Here’s the German link.
And here’s my recent reflection on Pina.
Well, it was a good idea while it lasted…

I’m going on Radio 4’s PM programme in a couple of hours to discuss the Berlin Philharmonic scheme of releasing some of its concerts in movie houses, in 3-D.

The story, from the morning’s Guardian, strikes me as an initiative that is behind time, rather than ahead of it. I can understand people taking up the Berlin offer to watch them live on the internet – not that many subscribers have done so – but why watch them in a cinema, with people popping corn and whispering around you?
Am I missing something?
Your thoughts, please, before I go on air….
The first release, by the way, is Mahler’s first symphony and Rachmaninov’s symphonic dances.

A rush release, out tomorrow, features some of the foremost classical artists on Deutsche Grammophon giving their services for Japan quake and tsunami victims.

Big cheers for all concerned. Add it to your collection.
Meantime, I hear the Stuttgart orchestras have raised 70,000 Euros for Japan. Good on them.
Here’s the release information:

Deutsche Grammophon, Decca release Classics for Japan – Music for Healing April 6 to benefit Japanese Red Cross

Charity album features stars of the classical music world including Daniel Barenboim, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mitsuko Uchida, Seiji Ozawa

As part of the global music relief effort to benefit those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, some of the biggest names of the classical music world have come together to releaseClassics for Japan – Music for Healing, a digital-only album released on April 6.

Featuring favourites of the classical music repertoire, such as the Andante from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21, Massenet’s Meditation from Thais and Beethoven’s Moonlight Piano Sonata, the album boasts a stellar list of artists who are either Japanese or who have enjoyed particular success in Japan, including Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alice Sara Ott and Akiko Suwanai.

The featured world-class artists hope to demonstrate to classical music lovers across the world the uniting force of music, bringing comfort and relief to all both through the power of music and through the direct proceeds of the album. Funds will be used for the provision of immediate relief and resources, and for the ongoing recovery of the affected population.

Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics are working together to release and promoteClassics for Japan – Music for Healing. Universal Music and the artists on the album will donate their proceeds to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Every few years the Salzburg Festival threatens to sack the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and replace it with some other ensemble of equivalent rank.

The Viennese give a weary sigh and say ‘nobody plays it like we do.’
Then the politicians have their say and the press whip it up and, for a few weeks, we read headlines that the old alliance is broke and will never be repaired. Stand by Berlin and Sir Simon, this could be your big moment.
Yeah, right.

Forget the headlines. The Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival have just agreed a new deal until 2016 under which the orchestra will play four out of six operas each year, plus concerts. 
So no need to sell the second home in the Salzkammergut.