August 19, 2007

It’s this week in classical music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

The general director of the Santa Fe Opera says he plans to retire but will not step down until a successor is in place.  Richard Gaddes, who is only the second director in the 51 year old opera company’s history, said he would definitely stay through the 2008 season.  The 65-year old, who has held the position since 2000, estimated the search for a replacement would take 12-18 months.  Said Gaddes, “I always knew I would not stay in the job into my 70s.”

The New York Philharmonic is considering an official invitation from the north Korean Government to perform in Pyongyang.  A South Korean news agency reported that US envoy Christopher Hill and his Korean counterpart had discussed the possibility of civilian cultural exchanges between the two countries as a way to improve relations. Philharmonic spokesman Eric Latzky noted, “We appreciate the invitation and will explore the possibility of this as we would any other invitation.”

The Compact disc turns 25 this year.  In 1982 the first CD was produced at a Philips factory in Germany, sparking a worldwide global music revolution.  Philips and Sony teamed together to work on the format in the late 70s, settling on a format of 74 minutes, enough to accommodate a complete performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  The first CDs went on sale in November of ’82; the first CDs to be pressed were “The Visitors” by the Swedish Pop group ABBA and Herbert Von Karajan conducting “An Alpine Symphony” by Richard Strauss, both on the Polygram label.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic will stage a full-scale symphonic concert on cyberspace in a 3-d virtual world on the internet entirely built and owned by its residents, called “second World”. Second world residents (over 8 million around the world) can buy property, start businesses, go to concerts and buy art.  And, on September fourth, 100 residents will be able to watch a live video and audio stream of the orchestra playing music by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Liverpool composers Kenneth Hesketh and John McCabe, after which they can go to the bar for a live Q&A session.  

For more information on these and other items and events, go to the KBAQ website at KBAQ-dot-org.… be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me at noon every weekday for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries, … I’m Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ’s  “This week in Classical Music”…  on 89-five KBAQ, K-B-A-Q Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University