Musical America Blogs

By Rebecca Schmid „Kinder, schaff Neues,“ (Children, create something new) Wagner wrote in an adage frequently quoted by stage directors in Germany. In Bayreuth, 136 years after the founding of his festival, the spirit is alive and well. Provocatively-minded Regietheater, for lack of a better blanket term, has come to stamp the recently installed administration [...]

by Sedgwick Clark It’s not often that one can gratefully quote British musical mudslinger (or “gadfly,” depending upon your point of view) Norman Lebrecht. But his report on Sunday (8/26, Arts Journal) that Pierre Boulez had begun rehearsals in Lucerne months after “an eye operation that went wrong” was the best news I’ve heard all year. Boulez [...]

By Robyn Guilliams What is the difference between a “non-profit” organization and a “tax-exempt” organization?  I hear these terms used interchangeably – do they mean the same thing? Great question!  These terms do not mean the same thing.  All tax-exempt organizations are non-profits; however, not all non-profits are tax exempt. When an organization wishes to [...]

By Rebecca Schmid The Bayreuth Festival has had its share of scandal to contend with as Wagner’s bicentenary approaches next season. An international investigation into exclusive ticketing practices; the publicized struggle to find the director for a new Ring cycle; administrative policies that have reportedly shortened rehearsal time; widely reviled productions; and—most recently—the last-minute withdrawal [...]

by Sedgwick Clark I ran into Mostly Mozart’s music director, Louis Langrée, prior to Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s concert that I reviewed last week, and told him how much I was looking forward to hearing the Lutosławski and Bartók works he was conducting a week later. His eyes widened and he smiled broadly, saying how much he [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein Dear Law & Disorder: After we booked an artist, the artist’s agent booked them to perform two weeks later at another venue 25 miles away from us. It’s a smaller venue that charges less for tickets than we do. This will impact our sales. Can we cancel? I was told that [...]

by Rebecca Schmid The historical forces that decide which composers enter the canon often seem beyond our control. Why Brahms should become hackneyed while chamber music enthusiasts are not familiar with the name Martinu continues to frustrate musicians and critics alike, and yet a refreshing trend seems to be emerging. As Anne Midgette writes this [...]

by Sedgwick Clark At Mostly Mozart on August 3, Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s largely direct, unfussy, and vigorous music-making was quite satisfying both on its own and as an augury of his future leadership of the embattled Philadelphia Orchestra. I’ve heard that curious Philly audiences have flocked to his appearances since he became music director-designate, and it [...]

By Robyn Guilliams Dear Law & Disorder Team – We run an international competition that takes place in a different country every two years and each time we have to learn new lessons around taxation. What is the Withholding Tax situation around jury services or the teaching of master classes for non-US resident jury members? [...]

by Sedgwick Clark By popular demand, I offer another baker’s dozen of Africa photos to tide over a humid summer. Our last two weeks of May were in South Africa’s fall season—very dry, with Kruger National Park’s brown grass sparsely green only near the river. The jungle foliage may have desiccated, but the bare bush [...]