June 17, 2024

It seems like the BBC is really broadening its hiring criteria! Seeking Assistant Producer: Disabled, neurodivergent, or dead. Zombies are welcome to apply!

+++

It's Monday. Let's get to it.

The big idea: Canadian Opera Company's general director departs
Opera world: Met Opera’s programming strategy not paying off as they’d hoped
Making news: Report on orchestral repertoire demonstrates staggering gender and racial inequities
Laugh of the week
Around the web: Public domain art, the story of Manitoba's first outlaw, 10 ways to reuse coffee grounds, plus more curious internet finds.

CLASSICAL CHARTZ

Weekly selections are based on sales numbers and albums we simply love and think you NEED to hear!

For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz with the New Classical FM’s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 pm EST!

THE BIG IDEA

Opera Shock: Canadian Opera Company's General Director Departs

Big news from the Canadian Opera Company (COC) as General Director Perryn Leech unexpectedly steps down, effective immediately. The announcement, made by COC Board Chair Jonathan Morgan, leaves David C. Ferguson, former COC Board President, stepping in as interim GD.

Ferguson, an opera aficionado with a robust finance background, brings a wealth of experience from his tenure as Executive Managing Director and CFO of BMO Capital Markets.

Leech, who joined COC in 2021 amid pandemic uncertainties, previously led Houston Grand Opera, marking a 40-year career in opera. His sudden exit follows financial concerns highlighted by the postponement of an upcoming production and the decision to mount Houston Grand Opera’s Madama Butterfly instead of an original work.

COC’s Morgan expressed gratitude for Leech’s contributions, assuring a continued commitment to artistic excellence during this transitional period. Stay tuned as this story unfolds. — MV

TOUR DE HEADLINES

John Rutter (Photo courtesy of the artist)

John Rutter gets knighthood in King's Birthday Honours List 2024 — Composer John Rutter has been awarded a knighthood in The King’s Birthday Honours List 2024, recognizing his extensive career and contributions to choral music, alongside Roger Wright, former controller of Radio 3 and director of the BBC Proms. | Classical-music.com

The Best Classical Music Albums of 2024 (So Far) — Gramophone magazine's Editor's Choice selections for 2024 so far highlight a diverse range of exceptional classical music recordings, including works by Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, and Prokofiev, performed by renowned artists such as Bertrand Chamayou, Janine Jansen, and the Takács Quartet. | Gramophone

All-Black Opera Pays Tribute to Canadian Singing Legend Portia White — The all-Black opera Aportia Chryptych debuts in Toronto, celebrating Nova Scotia contralto Portia White, the first Black Canadian concert singer to achieve international fame, with a blend of classical and contemporary music. | CBC

OPERA WORLD

(Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera)

Met Opera’s Programming Strategy Not Paying Off As They’d Hoped

In an effort to recuperate from pandemic-related funding challenges, the Metropolitan Opera has been programming contemporary works to attract fresh audiences. But the new works aren’t drawing the crowds the organization hoped for.

Driving the news: Over the last few years, Metropolitan Opera general director Peter Gelb has been programming contemporary operas at the Met in hopes of attracting newer, more diverse audiences. A third of the Met’s repertory now comprises 21st century operas, such as Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and Kevin Puts’s “The Hours.” But unfortunately, this gamble hasn’t paid off. The opera house, which has 4,000 seats, averages only around 72% full. The contemporary works average houses that are a third empty.

Get up to speed: The Metropolitan Opera is the largest performing arts institution in the United States. It has a budget of $300 Million USD. But since the pandemic, it has withdrawn nearly $40 Million from its endowment.

Yet, things are looking up for the organization. Gelb’s bet on presenting new works has resulted in younger audiences, with the average ticket buyers' age now 44 rather than 50, as it was in 2019. Audiences have slowly returned, and the Met’s modern operas have received some of this season’s most glowing reviews. Let’s wait and see if the tides turn for these innovative works. — SS

MAKING NEWS

Report On Orchestral Repertoire Demonstrates Staggering Gender and Racial Inequities

The UK organization Donne, Women in Music released a report on repertoire programmed by 111 orchestras in 30 countries. The findings demonstrate a widespread, staggering lack of diversity in the composers programmed by orchestras worldwide.

What’s up: Earlier this month, the UK organization Donne, Women in Music, released a report entitled Equality and Diversity in Global Repertoire. The report surveyed the repertoire of 111 orchestras across 30 countries over the 2023-2024 season. Led by Elizabeth Hardman and Gabriella Di Laccio, the report analyzed 16,327 compositions. It found that 7.5% of works were composed by women, of which the majority were white. White men composed 89.3% of scheduled works.

What it means: Study leader Gabriella Di Laccio described the reports as a call to action for the classical music industry. In 2024, classical music organizations have no excuse not to program the countless masterful works by racialized, non-binary or female composers. The study also names the orchestral world’s most and least inclusive programmers and details which composers are most performed.

Do we want classical music to reflect the multicultural, vibrant world in which we live? Or are we content for it to remain a vestige of the colonialist, patriarchal world of the past? These are the questions Donne, Women in Music’s important study evokes. Let’s hope the right people are asking them. — SS

GAMES

Nothing says Monday like a mini-crossword .

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: Igor Stravinsky was born in 1882.

🎨 Art: A great resource for art in the public domain.

☕ Useful: 10 ways to reuse coffee grounds.

🤠 Interesting: Murder, mystery and Manitoba's first outlaw.

🐶 Awww: This puppy looks just like an Oreo.

LAUGH OF THE WEEK

How did you like today's email?

Today's email was brought to you by Sara "Opera Shock" Schabas and Michael "Paying Off" Vincent.

CONTACT US