reed on!
I received this the other day:
On April 11, 2010, New Jersey City University will be holding a Woodwind Day from 12noon to 6pm. Marsha Heller, Oboe Professor and myself will be performing the Mozart Piano Quintet on a faculty recital and holding a master class for double reed making.
Please let me be one of the first to alert you to a new oboe business! Bob Hubbard was my oboe teacher beginning at about the age (mine, not his!) of thirteen. I then went on to sit next to him in the San Jose Symphony, when I won the English horn position there. He is a dear friend, and wonderful man. And NOW he and his wife, Christy, are open for business. Do check out … drum roll please … Westwind Double Reed.
I think you’ll find the site not only handy for equipment, but for the wealth of information there. For instance, click on the shaper tip link. Then click on one of the tips, say the Lucarelli … not only will you read the specs on the tip, but you’ll see a nifty bio of Mr. Lucarelli as well. How cool is that?! You can spend hours at that site, for all this sort of info.
Check it out!
(How confusing is it that “National Opera Week” is longer than a week? Hmmm.)
Opera San José is proud to announce its participation in Opera America’s National Opera Week, November 13-22, 2009. An “unprecedented critical mass of opera activity in the United States,” National Opera Week will celebrate the vitality of opera in America as a contemporary cultural expression.
To commemorate the occasion, Mayor Chuck Reed will be making a special proclamation at the opening night performance of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) on November 14th.
As a part of this week-long celebration, residents from Opera San José will be performing a free concert for commuters at Diridon Station, between 5-6pm on November 18th, 2009.
While you’re enjoying the music, enter to win two tickets to La Cenerentola! This beautiful opera tells the classic tale of Angelina, a kind and beautiful girl who captures the heart of a prince, despite the schemes of her horrid stepsisters. A
family-friendly comedy, this opera will charm you with hilarious antics, dazzling music, gorgeous costumes and spectacular sets.Student tickets to Opera San José productions are only $11 for ages 25 and under. Bring the family to our matinee on Sunday, November 15th, and stay after the performance to meet Cinderella and her Prince!
Opera San José performs at the California Theatre in downtown San José, on the corner of S. First Street and E. San Carlos – less than a block from San Antonio station and dozens of delicious restaurants. VTA and Caltrain monthly pass holders: save 20% on tickets to La Cenerentola! Visit www.operasj.org for more information.
The International Double Reed Society is pleased to announce the third annual performance competition for young artists.
First prize for the 2010 competition is a $2000 US cash award. The second prize is a $1000 US cash award. The third prize is a $500 US cash award.
If you’re convinced you can belt it out with the best of ‘em, crank up your volume and submit an a cappella audition video for the “Star-Spangled Sing-Off” sponsored by San Francisco Opera and Classical 102.1 KDFC.
Three finalists of the online contest, selected by KDFC listeners voting during the week of Aug. 24, will be posted on the station Web site Aug. 31. David Gockley and Nicola Luisotti, general director and music director of S.F. Opera respectively, and KDFC program director Bill Leuth will then pick the winner, to be announced the morning of Sept. 8 by radio host Hoyt Smith.
San Francisco Opera has a job opening: Assistant to the Director of Artistic Administration.
Included in the requirements is this one:
At least three years increasingly responsible Outstanding grammar, spelling punctuation and editing skills.
Um. Say what?
Maybe I’m just an idiot, but it seems to me that that is a rather odd sentence and I can’t quite make sense of it. You?
Despite the tough economic landscape currently facing Bay Area arts groups, Ballet San Jose has decided to push forward with an ambitious expansion in its 2009-10 season.
In an announcement to be released later today, the company will unveil plans to increase the number of main-stage programs from five to six and to extend the runs of several productions, including the company’s popular version of “The Nutcracker.” With the exception of “Nutcracker,” most ballet programs have run just one weekend in recent years.
In addition, the entire season will be produced with live music by Symphony Silicon Valley. In the past, some productions have been done to recorded music to contain costs.
The announcement is here.
I might write more about this later (the “rest of the story” sort of thing). But maybe not. For now, though, let me just say that more work is more work, and for that I’m grateful! These are tough times, so to see we might be doing more is a good thing. (Of course some will conflict with Opera San José, so I’ll have to be doing some calendar work here soon to see how all of this fits together.)
San Francisco Symphony has created a social network site. I just read the press announcement over at Chris Foley’s Collaborative Piano blog.
Hmmm. Will I join? Seems kind of like a “wanna be” sort of thing for a musician to do, you know? I can see fans of the SFS joining. But me? I dunno. I feel like it might look rather pathetic.
But maybe that’s just a silly fear, and is part of my morning mood. Perhaps some breakfast will change things.
The San Francisco Symphony today announced the appointment of Donato Cabrera as Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) beginning in September 2009.
I have one student and another “sometime student” who play in the youth symphony.
Maestro Cabrera has a blog … or, i guess he calls it a journal. Sort of similar though, right?
I’m just gonna paste the whole thing, but you should visit the site too, just because I tell you to.
Woman breaks white-tie-and-tails ceiling
POSTED AT 4:11 PM ON APRIL 15, 2009 BY ALISON YOUNG (0 COMMENTS)
Italy has named its first female conductor of a major orchestra and she’s an American. Well, to be exact, a Chinese-born American. Xian Zhang has been named the Music Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Maestra Zhang was a smash conducting the New York Philharmonic and recently smashed right through another glass ceiling in Germany as the first woman to conduct the Staatskapelle Dresden on their home turf. Her first gig with the ‘Verdi,’ when she won over the audience and musicians, was a massive concert of Strauss, Zemlinsky and Ravel. And she pulled it off seven months pregnant. Take that, maestros!
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY
Department of Music
presents
Double Reed Festival
Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, 2009
with guest artists
Jeffrey Rathbun
Associate Principal Oboe, Cleveland Orchestra
Steven Wilson
Bassoon, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C.
Nashville Double Reed Ensemble
Freelance professional oboists, English hornists, bassoonists, and contrabassoonists
Guest Artists Recital
Friday, April 24, 8:00 pm, Ward Recital Hall
Registration, Master Classes and Mass Double Reed Ensemble
Saturday, April 25, 2009, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
McMeen Music Center, Lipscomb University
Nashville Double Reed Ensemble and Guest Artists Concert
Saturday, April 25, 2009 7:00 pm, Collins Alumni Auditorium
For more information and pre-registration, contact:
Marilyn Smith: marilyn.smith [at] lipscomb [dot] edu (615) 966-5929
Just sent to me:
The 2009 John Mack Oboe Camp will take place June 6-12, 2009 at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC. Teaching this summer will be Frank Rosenwein, Principal Oboist of The Cleveland Orchestra and Martin Hebert, Principal Oboist of the Oregon Symphony. John Symer will also give a class on oboe repair and adjustments. The emphasis of camp is standard etudes and orchestral excerpts. Enrollment is open to advanced high school students, college students and professionals. A limited number of auditors are also taken each year. Please check our website here for more information and to apply online.
I should probably set up a page for oboe camps as I’ve done in the past … I haven’t kept up with this stuff for a long time. But for now this will have to do.
… I’m sure he was concerned about his next paycheck. Now he need to worry for a good long time!
Spanish tenor Placido Domingo on Friday won the first $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize for his “unrivaled” contributions to the world of opera, the award foundation said.
I read it here.
Update
I have heard from Martin Schuring and, with his permission, I’m posting his email here. I think some readers will be relieved:
I read your blog listing the ASU music programs that were eliminated recently. It is true that ASU cut quite a few academic programs this past week, mandated by very large budget cuts passed by our legislature. They also took that opportunity to clear off some programs that we had not used for years, and that had no students following those degrees. We haven’t had a masters degree in performance for years; we now call it masters in vocal performance, keyboard performance, orchestral instrument, etc. It allows us to be more specific in setting requirements for disciplines that are quite different from each other. So, nothing was lost and we will continue to educate masters students in music just as before.
Arizona State University is announcing program closures, including these:
Music
M.A. Music and Music Theory Concentration (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
M.M. Music concentrations in
– Performance (Music Theatre/Opera Directing) (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
– Music (Performance) (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
– Performance (Music Theatre Performance) (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
– Performance (Music Theatre Musical Director) (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
Music Ed (Jazz Studies) (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
Music Artist Diploma (applications closed; process of disestablishment has begun)
Martin Schuring is the oboe professor there, and is quite well known in the oboe world.
I’m just rather stunned.
Until 4:00 PM tomorrow you can purchase tickets to tomorrow night’s Così performance for $50. Check it out!