Brian Sacawa: Sounds Like Now

Equation

90 million - 27.5 million = BSO black ink.

In order to get itself out of the red, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will tap its endowment, draining one third of their nest egg.

Back from Austin

Live to iPod

In just weeks, live concerts by the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, including the LA Phil's fresh "Minimalist Jukebox" series, will be available for download on iTunes. Beginning tomorrow, you can get Lorin Maazel conducting the last three Mozart symphonies and by April 4 you should be able to pick up tracks from the "Minimalist Jukebox." As reported in yesterday's New York Times, both orchestras have shown signs of hipness by jumping on the digital bandwagon and joining a new initiative by the Universal Music Group built on its Deutsche Grammophon and Decca recording labels. The NY and LA Phils are the first two orchestras that will offer downloadable live shows, but negotiations are currently underway with 10 other US orchestras as well as groups in London, Paris, and three German cities. Participating orchestras will offer about four concerts per season through iTunes. Contemporary composers and new music aficionados undoubtedly stand to gain the most from this service--that is, if orchestras choose to offer programs that include premieres rather than programs of old warhorses. Gone will be the days of waiting years for a recording of a new work to become available for public consumption. And in a world where we joke that "premiere performance" is often code for "last performance," at least there is the possibility that the new work will live on in recorded form, being accessible almost immediately for those who couldn't make it to the premiere to discover.

NPR misc.

Two interesting stories from today's Weekend Edition Sunday:

- Did you know that pipe organs can be a source of pollution? Organ builders in the European Union are having to search for different metals to build their pipes with as a mean of adapting to a new EU environmental directive aimed at reducing the amount of lead in electronic devices.

- What side of the authenticity argument does Norwegian baroque guitarist Rolf Lislevand come down on? His new CD Nuove Musiche, which features percussion, theorbo, clavichord, nyckelharpa, and a jazz-tinged double bass as the back-up band for vocalist Arianna Savall should be an indication.

In Austin

I'm in Austin for a performance of Michael Djupstrom's Walimai this Tuesday at the Music Teachers National Association National Conference. Mike won their national composition competition with the work and will be here fulfilling roles as faithful collaborator on the piano and national award recipient.

Overwhelmed?

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

HGP in Tucson

Hybrid Groove Project played to a packed Room 232 last night at the University of Arizona School of Music. Dubble8 prefaced the main show with a mellow and introspective 30-minutes solo set. The Project's style of musical presentation, which is to synthesize elements from traditions as diverse as modern classical music, free jazz, funk, and break-beat electronica, is partly designed to deliver "New Music" in a fresh and engaging way, attempting to remove the traditional barriers and pre/mis-conceptions about what new music is and to whom it appeals. To that extent, it was extremely encouraging to see a largely "young" audience at last night's show. In the spirit of collaboration, we were joined on "Every Time" (Tucson remix) by Brian Ten Eyck (our team's sprinting stud) on didjeridou and Brian Ellis on the Hammond B3 organ. Here's a short video clip of the show. Apologies in advance for the poor sound quality. They don't outfit small digital cameras with the best microphones.

SPARK review

Justin Schell has a review of last month's SPARK Festival over at NewMusicBox. My recap is on the way . . . I promise.

Pet project

Heavy weather

It must be true. Something will inevitably go wrong when I'm traveling. (This is not completely true--my recent trip to Philly was incident-free.) For example, did you know that when you buy an airplane ticket you are not guaranteed a seat on the plane? I did not know this, for when I checked in at American Airlines for my flight from Baltimore to Tucson via Dallas, I was not given a seat assignment. Instead I had to wait with my fingers crossed, hoping that they could convince enough people to take the $400 credit and free hotel stay or get enough luggage off the plane to make the weight restriction so that I could have a seat. I finally got the last seat on the plane, just minutes before they closed the doors. But that was not the end of this mischief, my friends. It was merely the beginning.

I usually take a late flight from Baltimore back to Tucson, therefore getting in well past midnight, leaving me groggy on Monday, which happens to be a busy day for me. However, this time I planned well--my flight was to arrive at 8:13 p.m. Plenty of time to do laundry, prepare for pedagogy class, and have a decent night's rest. You know what they say about the best laid plans . . . There was a huge electrical storm system in and around Dallas that actually shut the airport down. We were placed in a holding pattern and then finally diverted to Houston, where we sat on the taxi-way for an hour, got refueled for an hour, and then were sent off on our merry ways back to Houston. We arrived in Houston at midnight.

I quickly learned that my flight to Tucson was still there (a miracle?) but would be taking off in 20 minutes. I landed in the C terminal and my connecting flight was leaving from the A terminal--just one Skylink stop away. Well, one Skylink stop away when both trains are running. And just my luck, the train that ran counterclockwise (see map above) was out of service for the night so I had to take the grand tour of DFW on the clockwise running train. But luckily, the flight to Tucson was delayed and I was able to get on just as they were closing the door, only to sit there for another 30-45 minutes for no apparent reason.

To make a long story a little shorter, I finally arrived in Tucson at 2 a.m. and was at my door by 3 a.m. It's always an adventure.