This Week in Classical Music-August 17, 2008

by: Randy Kinkel

August 17, 2008

Gustavo Dudamel

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Dudamel on Conducting
•Met fans in line for 5 hours
•Strad Cello to be auctioned

This Week in Classical Music 8-17-08

It’s This Week in Classical Music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.
Gustavo Dudamel knows the secret of good conducting; in an interview for the UK’s Telegraph, Dudamel says, “You can learn technique," he agrees, "but a conductor is a leader, a person whom players will follow. You can be the best musician in the world, but the instinct to keep the attention of hundreds of people is impossible to learn. It's something natural. I think this is the secret of a good conductor." He’s also delighted to be conducting opera; He has just conducted La Bohème in Milan and Berlin, and is preparing Carmen for 2010. "Opera I love," he says.” It’s a new world for me, and it's wonderful to be at La Scala and the Berlin State Opera, because they are at the top of the tree. With the symphonic repertoire, it's different, because this is the world where I learned conducting." Dudamel, who takes the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic next season, has been on tour with the Gothenburg Symphony; he says conducting the Gothenburg orchestra is "wonderful"… "They are like a chameleon," he says. "They can change colour, but always keeping their personality and the Nordic sound - clean and velvety. I love this." Dudamel takes on conducting duties in Walt Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this upcoming season in November.
Met Opera subscribers endured a five hour wait to exchange tickets last week. Monday was the first day that season subscription holders were allowed to exchange individual tickets for other performances. Lines had been long in previous years, but several factors made it worse this year. The first person in line showed up about 5 a.m., five hours before the box office opened; .Reconstruction at Lincoln Center made the lobby inaccessible from the main entrance, forcing people to line up in the basement. It was also the first day for members of the Metropolitan Opera Guild — a support group — to buy tickets. The Met is no longer allowing subscription holders to switch dates immediately when they put in their orders online or by mail or phone. Adding insult to injury, in the eyes of most patrons, was a new $5 charge per ticket exchange at the box office. In an interview, The Met’s Peter Gelb said “instant exchanges” had been allowed in recent years, when ticket sales were not so good and there was more availability. He said he was trying to return to the days when subscribers took the good with the bad, giving away the tickets they did not want or donating them back to the box office. The $5 exchange fee is a signal of that, he said.
A rare Stradivarius Cello is expected to bring record bids at auction this fall. The cello is one of only 60 made by Antonio Stradivari. It was made in 1717, and was owned for years by British cellist Amaryllis Fleming. The Fleming Family is selling it to benefit the Royal Academy of Music; auctioneer is Tarisio, the online instrument auction house, which estimates the cello will bring 1.75 to 2.3 million dollars. Dealers will tour the cello for viewings to London, Cremona, Boston, and New York. Online bidding, at tarisio.com, will open October 1 and will end October 31 at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
For more on these and other items and events, go to the website at kbaq.org, be listening each week at this time for another update, and join me every weekday at noon for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I’m Randy Kinkel, for This Week in Classical Music, on 89-five KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

Permanent link |