ENSEMBLE AND PERFORMER NEWS

Minn. Orchestra cancels Lake Harriet concert
July 24, 2008

Budget cuts are forcing the Minnesota Orchestra to cancel the final concert of the season at the Lake Harriet Band Shell in Minneapolis.

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Houston Symphony expects a balanced budget
July 22, 2008

The Houston Symphony expects to report a balanced budget for the fourth consecutive year when auditors complete their work on the 2007-08 season.

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Lang Lang: A Life In Music, So Far
July 18, 2008

Chinese pianist Lang Lang, at age 26, is one of the most visible, in-demand classical musicians in the world today. His concerts usually sell out (he played to an audience of 63,000 last night in New York's Central Park) and he's sold more than a million copies of his CDs and videos.

His story, published in the new autobiography Journey of a Thousand Miles, (read an excerpt) is one of fierce determination and a demanding stage father. Also, he writes about how moving to the U.S. meant abandoning what he says was a typical Chinese approach to his career: to be number one.

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Conductor James Levine has kidney surgery
July 16, 2008

The brother of conductor James Levine says the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera music director has had surgery in New York to remove a kidney.

Tom Levine said in a statement released by the Boston Symphony Orchestra that his 65-year-old brother's surgery Tuesday "went exactly as planned and expected, and has been described by the doctors involved as completely successful."

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Despite brief downturn in sales, subscriptions, Pittsburgh Symphony is back on track
July 16, 2008

Pittsburgh Symphony leaders were shocked this spring when ticket sales and subscription sales took a tumble after three consecutive years of increases.

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Tanglewood Announces Guest Conductors and Program Update
July 15, 2008

Due to a necessary curative surgery, Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine has been forced to withdraw from the remainder of the 2008 Tanglewood season.

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RPO embraces summer with 2008 concert series
July 13, 2008

While many organizations use summer to take a break, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra continues its musical offerings, keeping Rochester filled with music all year round.

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James Ehnes: A Little Recital And A Grammy
July 13, 2008

James Ehnes
James Ehnes
When James Ehnes won a Grammy earlier this year for his recording of Barber, Korngold, and Walton violin concertos, the win was touted by one critic as a "triumph of excellence over hype."

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Costs dash NAC plans for orchestra's Asia tour
July 12, 2008

The National Arts Centre Orchestra has called off a tour of Asia it had tentatively planned for the fall of 2009, after facing steep increases in travel and cargo costs and a shortfall in private and government funding.

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Cunard Line Presents the National Symphony Orchestra 2008-2009 Red Series
July 10, 2008

Cunard Line is proud to announce a new partnership with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), an artistic affiliate of Washington, D.C.'s famed Kennedy Center. A highlight of the new alliance is the organization's upcoming debut aboard Queen Mary 2 as featured guests of the acclaimed Cunard Insights programme.

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YouTube Monks Storm European Pop Charts
July 09, 2008

YouTube Monks Storm European Pop Charts The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.

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Manuel Barrueco: Guitarist For All Centuries
July 09, 2008

Manuel Barrueco
Manuel Barrueco
Time-traveling has never been as easy, or as enigmatic, as in these two offerings by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Cuban-born American guitarist Manuel Barrueco.

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SLSO receives major sponsorship from Wachovia Securities
July 08, 2008

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has an important new partnership: Wachovia Securities will be the title sponsor of the ensemble's main orchestral series for the next three seasons.

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Pittsburgh Opera shift pulls Hahn two ways
July 08, 2008

Christopher Hahn's promotion from artistic director to general director of the Pittsburgh Opera might appear to be a nod by its board in the direction of artistry, given that he's had tremendous success re-inventing the opera company's look and invigorating its casting since arriving here in 2000.

But Hahn and the board have a different take on his succeeding the business-minded Mark Weinstein. It was Hahn's ability to make difficult decisions with a limited artistic budget that helped secure the promotion, and it is his belief that a tightly run ship will allow for better productions that will be a bedrock of his leadership.

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Opera's free radical
July 06, 2008

IT was fortunate for Christine Douglas that the operatic voice should not be rigorously trained at too young an age. It wasn't until she had misspent her youth, wandered by happenstance towards voice training, fallen literally flat on her back and then, finally, fallen in love with Mozart, that she began to take her career as a soprano seriously.

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Maestro brings passion to two classical traditions
July 03, 2008

Tran Vuong Thach spent 14 years as a violinist before rising to the rank of the youngest orchestra conductor 10 years ago and receiving a Meritorious Artist Title last year.

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Alexander Neef named new head of Canadian Opera Company
June 26, 2008

The Canadian Opera Company named German-born artistic administrator Alexander Neef as its new general director Wednesday, stressing that the 34-year-old's age is an asset as the company tries to attract younger people to its productions.

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Zurich Opera Hires Andreas Homoki From Berlin's Komische Oper
June 25, 2008

Andreas Homoki, the director of Berlin's Komische Oper opera house, will leave his post in 2012 to become director of Zurich's Opernhaus, the Swiss opera company said in a statement.

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Philharmonia strikes up deal with Signum Classics
June 24, 2008

The Philharmonia Orchestra and record label Signum Classics have announced a partnership to release live and archive studio performances.

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David Russell: Of Guitars and Pingpong Balls
June 19, 2008

David Russell
David Russell
The sounds of Scotland come honestly to guitarist David Russell, but so do the sounds of Spain. Russell's parents were Scottish artists, bohemians who traveled around in a camper van. When Russell was a kid, they moved to Spain, to a village of 800 people on the island of Minorca. These days, the town isn't much bigger — about 1,200 people — but now there's an avenue named for its best-known classical guitarist. They call it "Avinguda David Russell."

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