The Well-Tempered Ear
The Metropolitan Opera has canceled the rest of this season and announced the following season of Live in HD. How will the cancellation affect concert seasons here and elsewhere?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Unfortunately, it seems like The Ear’s prediction on Monday is coming true.
Given the coronavirus spikes and complications of vaccine production, testing, distribution and administration, The Ear said, it looks like live concerts are likely to be canceled for the rest of this season and perhaps even for the fall of 2021.
Here is that post:
Then yesterday the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City announced exactly that: It is going to cancel the whole season, and not just the fall productions, as originally planned. (You can hear general manager Peter Gelb discuss the plans for this season and the next season in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Given that the Met is the largest performing arts organization in the United States, it promises to be a Big Domino with a lot of influence and side effects.
Here is the Met story, with more quotes, details and information, from The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-cancels-coronavirus.html
Perhaps to provide some reassurance and attenuate the negative news of the decision to cancel, the Met also announced its Live in HD season for the 2021-22 season, which is based on live productions.
Here it is on the website Opera Wire: https://operawire.com/met-opera-2021-22-season-here-is-all-the-information-for-this-seasons-live-in-hd-performances/
And if you want to know what the Met (below, from the stage) is planning to offer instead, here is a link to the Met’s own website: https://www.metopera.org.
What do you think will be the local effects of the Met decision to cancel the entire season?
Will other musical organizations follow suit, cancel the entire new season of in-person events and go safely online with virtual events?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Is having perfect pitch ever a problem? Can a pill give you perfect pitch? A story on NPR inspires a lot of public doubt.
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ALERT: Remember that today from 1 to 8 p.m. is Double Reed Day at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. Hosts are UW professors oboist Kostas Tiliakos (below left) and bassoonist Marc Vallon (below right) Registration is $20 at 1-1:30 p.m. in Mills Hall. The event features master classes, exhibits, a dinner and free concerts of music for bassoon and oboe. Here is a link to a previous blog post about the day:
By Jacob Stockinger
One opera composer and musical titan – Mozart (below) – had it.
Another opera composer and musical titan – Richard Wagner (below) — did NOT have it.
So, how important is having perfect pitch to having a successful career in composing or performing music?
And is perfect pitch a question of chemicals and drugs as well as of genetics and heredity?
Here is a quick summary of perfect pitch with some names of classical musicians who are said to have possessed it.
http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/classicalmusic101/p/perfectpitch.htm
And here is an even longer and more detailed background piece with more names, examples and anecdotes from The New York Times:
Being one of the 1-in-10,000 people who have perfect pitch can pose problems, as a YouTube video about best-selling hip-hop violinist Paul Dateh at the bottom discusses.
The question of perfect pitch was also raised by a recent story on NPR. A scientist challenged the notion that perfect pitch is genetic and made claims for a drug that can confer it.
But many readers remain dubious. They say the story not only contains inaccurate reporting and underreporting of the drug’s side effects, but also confuses perfect pitch with relative pitch.
Here is a link to the story. But sure to read the more than 100 reader comments, many of them very strong, about the story. And leave your own reaction there or even better in the COMMENT section of this blog.
http://www.npr.org/2014/01/04/259552442/want-perfect-pitch-you-could-pop-a-pill-for-that
Tags: Bassoon, double reed, drugs, hip-hop, Jacob Stockinger, Madison Opera, Metropolitan Opera, New York Times, NPR, Oboe, Paul Dateh, perfect pitch, Richard Wagner, side effects, University of Wisconsin School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wagner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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