Art has been created as protest, as a halcyon for difficult times, as pure entertainment, but fundamentally, the artist chooses how to approach their art at the time of creation (or in the case of staging an opera – at the time of re-creation).
Read MoreI've always admired leaders who inspire and allow the people around them to do their jobs without micromanaging. I think it allows for people to do their best work. No leader wants to be a tyrant or a dictator.
Read MoreMiles Plumlee played above himself and did all he could to will the team to win. He made me proud to be a Duke alum.
Read MoreHe did stump me when he asked a great question about what I would add to my program if I were to add a contemporary piece of music.
Read MoreFirst, I want to wish my dad the happiest of birthdays. He’s somehow been able to put up with me for 34 years of my life! Congratulations to the Florida State Seminoles for killing my Blue Devils’ 25-game win streak. FSU played a tough game.
Read MoreIn the end, art endeavors to create beauty and order.
Read MoreAnd, OV's next season is looking to be an amazing one. (Think live elephant).
Read MoreThe amazing thing is that there is still room to build. That was just a start, so the future of the YSO is very bright!
Read More(I mean, it ended with me discussing fixed cost allocation with the board treasurer, Charley Hanses, so you know it was fun!)
Read MoreI need to figure out is what the relationship is between the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and the youth symphony. There is a lot of potential in the youth orchestra for really developing a younger generation of musicians.
Read MoreI can say in all honesty that I am thoroughly convinced that we will see some major concert artists (in everything from jazz to pop to classical) coming out of Texas over the next few years.
Read MoreAll of this has led me to going back through great American music – and we have some truly great American music.
Read MoreI went to my first opera and was thoroughly unimpressed, and this was at the Vienna State Opera and a production of Madame Butterfly!
Read MoreI can’t name the number of times that I’ve been told that the problem with opera is “that it is too long! Nobody has an attention span that can sit there for three hours anymore! We’re a video game, iphone society. Nobody can sit still for three hours!”
Read MoreAs Bill Curry said in his speech – in 1988, he checked with the Library of Congress about a statement that he had heard on TV, and they verified it: The most written about person in human history was Jesus. The second was…..Wagner. Where does this fascination come from? For composers, he was one of the most innovative musicians ever, so that explains why music historians study him and his music, but to be the second more written about person in history after Jesus?
Read MoreI think the audience deserves composers and artists who try to make each performance life changing, so I think we must swing for the fences.
Read MoreI think many people think of opera as a rarified “upper crust” art form, but when you hear the composers talking about their work, the opera fanatics realize that there is a great deal of craft that goes into creating great opera, and the neophytes realize that they understand more about opera than they give themselves credit for.
Read MoreI’m fascinated by the fact that Beethoven uses rhythm to create that tension in the first movement.
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