The august Grey Lady herself has taken notice of the Spring for Music Festival, which is presenting seven orchestras – including our own Oregon Symphony – at Carnegie Hall in May. At the New York Times website, a photo of the OSO’s trumpet section leads the article, which makes note of the tight the

  Last night I had the pleasure of attending OPUS, the current play running at Portland Center Stage. It’s a short play (it runs about 90 minutes) that examines the inner workings of a top-rank string quartet. It was a very enjoyable experience, and a play that can be enjoyed by both insiders and those [...]

The Easter break continues for the Oregon Symphony, but most of us are in some way practicing for the rehearsals for next week’s classical subscription program, which is also the program that we’ll be recording for commercial release (our first with music director Carlos Kalmar) and taking to our Carnegie Hall d

  It’s easy to forget, but we live on a pretty lonely planet – let’s do our part to keep it habitable.

  Violist Sam Bergman has always been one of my favorite bloggers. We both started blogging at around the same time, and he’s always managed to make me think about things in new ways. Today, Sam has written a post that sums up the way many of us – both musicians and managers – feel [...]

  German violinist Julia Fischer will be releasing a new album, entitled Poeme, on Decca Classics May 3, 2011, and it will be one of the last recordings issued with Yakov Kreizberg and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic.  Ms. Fischer has dedicated the album to Kreizberg’s memory: “In loving memory of Yakov Kreiz

The Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall is presenting a royal command performance of the Concertgebouw Orchestra with conductor Mariss Jansons and violinist Janine Jansen for free as part of Queen Beatrix’s visit to Berlin.  You can get complete details and watch the taped broadcast in high-definition fo

This season has been a great one – lots of incredible guest conductors and soloists, and some wonderful repertoire, too. Next season promises to be equally fantastic. That still won’t deter me from putting out my wish list for soloists, conductors, and repertoire for upcoming seasons. Some of these ideas admitte

  The first two of our three concerts here in Portland are done, and they’ve gone very well, indeed. (Salem residents, you get your chance on Thursday night at Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.) I have to say, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 with Canadian violinist James Ehnes has been a supreme

  In just two hours the Oregon Symphony will play the first of three subscription concerts in Portland that may be a high point of our season thus far. I think Carlos arrived at the hall on Thursday with a burning desire to show that he’s still a relevant and potent force in the musical [...]

The board of the Philadelphia Orchestra voted today to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This despite $140 million in the endowment. Some legal experts contend that the bankruptcy could be thrown out if it’s not perceived to have been taken in good faith. Others say that it is warranted. Some labor experts see it as [..

  I’m stunned by this video – I am literally speechless. I’m glad that I’m still able to type! Let me know what you think of this – is this the future of classical music?

Christopher Rouse’s String Quartet No. 3 will be premiered by the Parker Quartet at Carnegie Hall Friday evening, April 15th. Here’s a video that Carnegie Hall has posted:

  You can surf over to the DSO’s website and watch their PBS televised return to the stage at the Max on-demand. Watch the video here.

While last-minute talks between management and musicians are underway, the Philadelphia Orchestra edges closer to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I find it inconceivable that one of the great orchestras of the world might soon go under – clearly there are some hard questions that must be asked about how the organization

Yes, it’s William Walton’s Partita for Orchestra. Here’s the first movement – Toccata – led by John Barbirolli. Anything entitled Toccata is always a pain in the ass to play.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Here are ten random thoughts on life in an orchestra. A music director need not live year round in their place of employment to be effective. Really. If they are managed well when they’re in town, they’ll seem to be everywhere at once, and everyone who wants a piece of them will get them. Can [...]

  I love the musings of Michael Hovnanian, who is a double bass player with a Major Midwestern Orchestra (in Oprahtown). He has written yet another gem of a post, which has one of those paragraphs that I simply had to share: Dutoit stayed for another week to lead us in Petrushka, along with the [...]

  The concert the Oregon Symphony is presenting this weekend has been given the title “A Pair of Sixth Symphonies”. The first of the pair is by a Czech composer who many have heard of, Bohuslav Martinu, but whose works most likely have remained unknown to the vast majority of concert goers. I’ll talk

I was thinking about the Detroit Symphony strike today, as I was going about my business, and a few thoughts came to me. My first thought is what are all of the stakeholders at the DSO feeling right now? Surely, they are all relieved that the orchestra did not go over the brink and cancel [...]

The Detroit Free Press has announced that the Detroit Symphony musicians and management have come to a tentative settlement of the six-month long strike. Face-to-face meetings resumed after an unnamed intermediary proposed terms that were accepted by both sides. Details here and here.  [shout out to Drew McManus at adaptis

Hannu Lintu, one of our favorite guest conductors from years past in Oregon, is making quite the splash in the Cincinnati Symphony’s music director search. Read all about it here.

  IMG_7430.JPG | Originally uploaded by nobleviola click photo to enlarge It started out sunny and cheerful, but before i could get my cycling gear ready, the heavens opened up. So a nice coffee was in order while I waited for the rain to subside.

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlNTIMR5kR4

  My new toy, a little mini HD handheld digital video recorder, arrived in the mail today. This means that I can finally do some video posts on the blog! This is where your help comes in. Send me (either via the ‘contact me’ tab above, or in the comments section below) your suggestions of [...]

  The NASA space probe Messenger has sent back the first photos of the surface of Mercury – the innermost planet of our solar system – taken from its orbit around the planet. One of the most obvious features of the photos: a huge 53 mile wide crater named Debussy.

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM9ZRLXZBR8 Discovered via @Oregon_Symphony on Twitter.

  Phew. This weekend is over. It seemed, on Thursday afternoon, that Monday would never, ever come. It’s been such a busy time for me over this past week, especially considering that it was the spring break week for the Oregon Symphony. But, as time during the season is relatively scant for doing outside musical

  Amy Schwartz Moretti, former concertmaster of the Floriday Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony, and director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music since 2007, has released a new recording on the Sono Luminous label. Recorded by Skywalker Sound‘s Grammy Awa