Mark Likes Music

We just got back from a two-day, one-night trip with Mom and Dad to Prince Edward Island: bridge over, ferry back. We had the perfect beach weather for our stay at Cavendish. Alex and Caitlin met a sprightly young fella who's living in Memphis by way of Cleveland. When I asked him if he was Canadian, he replied, "I don't know what that is, but I'm not." More videos on my YouTube channel.  We stayed a the Stanley Bridge Country Resort, which gets a bad rap by some reviewers on Tripadvisor.ca for being a little ragged. It's true that it could use better TVs--and covers on the duvets--but it was clean, the staff was helpful, and the restaurant served good food efficiently. All six of us were content. Today, we made our way to Charlottetown. We toured Province House, where the PEI legislature holds its sessions in a room that can charitably described as intimate. Province House, a national historic site, also hosted a conference in 1864 where the so-called...

The Pittsburgh Symphony is budgeting a deficit of almost $900,000 for the coming fiscal year . And it looks as if that budget gap could be greater if they don't get all of the $1.25 million that they're requesting from a county agency that redistributes the proceeds of a 1% sales tax to arts and culture organizations. This will be the third year in a row that they orchestra posted a deficit. The orchestra just finished up performances at a festival in Quebec .

The Charlotte Observer reports that the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte is cutting its grants to groups by 4%, after cutting their dole toll 25% last year. It sounds as if most groups are reconciled to this. I'd like to hear more about the ASC's plan for their "match.com for the arts."

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is getting $1 million from the Mellon Foundation for multimedia projects involving other areas of the humanities and stuff "outside the realm of classical music." It seems like a lot of big plans for $1 million over four years. But what do I know? (Not much; you?)

Alan Gilbert's Sunday routine . Glad to know. Thanks, New York Times .

Trinity Wall Street, comprising the Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel in downtown Manhattan, announced that composer, organist, and all-around good guy Julian Wachner will be their Director of Music and the Arts , starting September 7. Naxos released a volume of his choral music earlier this year. You can hear samples, and an interview with Wachner, on the company's website . Also, visit julianwachner.com . 

Through its premieres and First Edition recordings, the Louisville Orchestra has probably done more for new music than any other group in the US since WWII. The orchestra has fallen on hard times of late, but as Andrew Adler reports, it is coming up with a plan--a 30-year plan, no less--to turn things around. There's also a new documentary out about its legendary, probably-will-never-see-again commissioning project. Here's the trailer:

The $100,000-plus that the Charlotte Symphony took in last year at their summer concerts helped keep them afloat this season. According to the WFAE website,  audience members were a little less generous this year , although they still collectively chipped in $75,832. As orchestra executive director mentions, one of the reasons for the reduced total is that many people might assume that the Charlotte Symphony has solved its money problems. It hasn't; it's only bought itself some time . 

At least we know now why they can't afford to bring the orchestra to the Bronx: Philharmonic Paid Maazel $3.3 Million in Last Season - NYTimes.com

The Richardson Symphony Orchestra in Texas has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the musicians' union, which put the band on its unfair list . As Scott Cantrell reported last wee k, the orchestra has missed payments to musicians in the past and is trying to get them to sign a contract without union representation. That was the last straw for American Federation of Musicians local president, Ray Hair. Being on the unfair list means that AFM musicians can face huge fines for doing work for the orchestra. The orchestra, led by executive director George Landis, is complaining that the AFM is acting arbitrarily and with malice by penalizing players and their organization.

Confusion reigns in Hawaii: the Honolulu Symphony Society says the musicians quit, but the union claims otherwise .

"Bollywood" is ridiculous, and it's been the standard by which a lot of blogging types have measured the new group of songs that Liz Phair released as Funstyle on her website . That was the first song she streamed on her website, but there's a new one up there now. I think you'll like it. You can find the entire album on YouTube . You'll see why a lot of people echo Pitchfork and compare it with Bob Dylan's Self Portrait .

A couple of weeks ago, Bob Aldridge gave his Brevard Music Institute composition students the same assignment, to set Walt Whitman's "When the Dazzle of Day is Gone." Last Thursday, he hosted an afternoon concert of the results. If there was a time when young composers were afraid to write a triad, that time is long gone. In fact, I get the distinct impression that these Brevardians were deliberately avoiding anything that would mark them as "inaccessible." I heard some Barber, some Broadway, and some Blue . On Saturday night, the college students joined up with their teachers for a bang-up Heldenleben . WDAV broadcast this last Sunday, plugging Kalichstein's Schumann Concerto . But that was a real disappointment. The orchestra was great, but the pianist just wasn't prepared. If you can, skip it and listen to the Strauss online . The high school students at Brevard showed their stuff Sunday afternoon, starting their concert with Joan Tower '...

A couple of days ago, the children, Vanessa, and I spent over two hours at the Cradle of Forestry historic site in the Pisgah National Forest. The highlight of the trip for Alex and Caitlin was, as it is for many the old steam engine. You'll find this late 19th-century relic on the outdoor path, but there are some fun displays in the visitors center as well. The Pisgah National Forest was once private land owned by the Vanderbilts. Carl A. Schenck, a German charged with maintaining the forest, founded the first forestry school there in 1898. Today, the Pisgah Forest is owned and maintained by the federal government. Search "Cradle of Forestry" on YouTube for some videos of the steam engine (apparently, it's a hit with a lot of kids). We've got some videos and pictures, which we'll post later.

You owe it to yourself to take a listen to at least one of the concerts from the Brevard Music Festival that classical stations WDAV (in Charlotte) and WCQS (in Brevard). The show is called Open Air Brevard, and it's on Sundays at 3 PM.  The orchestra is made up of students and faculty. The quality of the performances from the kids is really high, and the faculty is really committed. Here's a video a scenes from the Fourth of July band concert. It's not the most exciting clip you've ever seen, but it'll give you an idea of what it's like here. You can see my in-laws at 1:14. People really like the cannons in the 1812 Overture here, by the way.