Meeting the educational needs of talented young instrumentalists in a rural, sparsely populated state with few musical resources in the schools is a challenge. And it’s a matter of paramount concern to Jeffrey Domoto, now one year into his job as music director of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association. More
Here’s a really exciting development. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra just announced an internet contest for identifying a guest soloist. Any adult in the U.S. can compete in ten instrumental categories by uploading a video, not unlike the YouTube Symphony. Pittsburgh’s artistic team will review the videos and choose twenty semi-finalists. Then the world can vote to pick four finalists, who will be flown to Pittsburgh for an audition to play with the orchestra.
For millions of Americans, hunger is a reality. According to recent studies, one in six people in this country will struggle with simply putting food on the table. Over the last three years, orchestras have stepped in to help. The Orchestras Feeding America food drive, launched by the League of American Orchestras in partnership with Feeding America in 2009, has harnessed the collective energies of orchestras nationwide to help relieve hunger. Since the inaugural food drive, some 250 orchestras in all 50 states have partnered with their local food banks to raise more than 350,000 pounds of food. More
In a recent essay in New York Magazine, classical-music critic Justin Davidson went public with his struggle to like Philip Glass’s music. “Drugs work differently on different metabolisms, angels appear only to the elect, and I lack the gift of spinning Glassian tedium into bliss,” he wrote. More
Baseball. Barbeque. Bruce Springsteen. One could argue that American culture has its own “three Bs.” Brass bands, though certainly not without precedent overseas, could easily be deemed a fourth, given the almost mythical space they occupy in New Orleans musical culture. Of course, leave it to the Big Apple to put its own unique spin on such a vital American musical tradition. The Asphalt Orchestra is a New York-based brass band incorporating dramatic elements More