There Ain't No Brotherly Love

The Philadelphia Orchestra strikes on opening night.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Update: the strike is over.

This is the only conductor appearing at Verizon Hall,
the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Photo alteration by the author.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, which began this decade mired in bankruptcy proceedings, went on strike tonight, effectively killing its opening night gala concert for attendees and donors. The musicians of the orchestra sent a press release to Superconductor at 7:10 this evening, announcing their decision. Tonight marked the official opening of the orchestra's season with a gala concert at the Kimmel Center. That concert, which would have featured works by Ravel, Gershwin and Ottorino Respighi's The Pines of Rome, was cancelled.

The Business of Revivals

Impresario Michael Capasso may save two failed opera companies.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

In his proposal for a New York City Opera Renaissance, impresario Michael Capasso
suggests mounting Franco Zeffirelli's production of Tosca (above)
in Lincoln Center's intimate Rose Theater.
Act I of Tosca. Photo © Teatro Opera di Roma.

In a dramatic turn of events worthy of the operatic stage, two recently darkened New York opera companies have unveiled a plan to join forces and come back to life. The proposal, linked to yesterday on parterre.com (and readable here) comes from Michael Capasso, the general director of the recently dimmed Dicapo Opera. The new hybrid opera company would be called (wait for it)

NEW YORK CITY OPERA RENAISSANCE.

Opera Company Seeks Sugar Daddy

It may be curtains for New York City Opera.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The City Opera may cease operations and declare bankruptcy next week.

Like Anna Nicole Smith, the subject of what may be the final opera produced by the New York City Opera this season, the once-proud oper company has found itself in dire need of a sugar daddy to save its existence.

Unfortunately, J. Howard Marshall (played by Robert Brubaker in Anna Nicole) the oil billionaire who married the Texas Playboy bunny and stripper is dead. That much is certain.

Concert Review: A Little Taste of Heaven

Three concertos highlight the "Philadelphia sound."

Conductor Charles Dutoit.

by Paul Pelkonen

Mention the Philadelphia Orchestra to a music lover in the ast two years and their first thought may be "bankruptcy." The fiscally troubled orchestra did file Chapter 11 in 2011. But as Thursday night's Carnegie Hall appearance proved, high artistic standards are still the norm for the orchestra from Broad Street.

Charles Dutoit has served the Orchestra as Chief Conductor since the tumultuous 2008 exit of Christoph Eschenbach. (He will become an Emeritus next season, making way for the incoming music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.)  This concert allowed he Swiss conductor showed his experience and skill in three diverse concertos from three different composers.

The concert opened with the cerebral Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments by Frank Martin. This 1949 piece by an under-played, underrated Swiss composer  evokes Ravel in its complex orchestral fabric. Martin's work looks back to the Baroque and the idea of the concerto grosso, allowing each soloist to display their instrumental skills before breaking into small groups and engaging in a joyful, dancing finale.