by Kenneth Woods | Jul 16, 2006 | A view from the podium
Tom Service of the Guardian on his own experience at a conducting workshop, the St Magnus Centre, directed by Martyn Brabbins. It’s a very similar set-up to the RCICW, excpet that they seem to have a lot of outside funding. Interesting...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 16, 2006 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
The greatest music festival in the world, the BBC Proms, got under way on Friday evening with a concert by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiri Behlolavek (who I assisted at the NSO a few years back). The major work on the program was Shostakovich’s Fifth...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 15, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
I was very touched and impressed that Tim Managan, who wrote the original piece on Shostakovich and Bowles that inspired my recent essay got in touch to let me know more about the circumstances of Bowles’ original remarks. You can read his comments here. He has two...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 14, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
Back in December 2005, my colleague Joyce Rice and I were talking about strategies for marketing the Oregon East Symphony more effectively. In this context, she asked if I had a blog, or had ever thought of doing one, and, if so, perhaps there were ways I could use...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 14, 2006 | A view from the podium
Quick update on David, who collapsed on the last page of The Creation last Saturday with the Gwent Chamber Orchestra and the Brecon Cathedral Singers. Bad news first- Tests confirm that David had a stroke, and he is suffering lack of mobility in his left arm and...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 13, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
Fantastic post in the Telegraph on music in education. The author, Frank Furedi, brilliantly describes the cowardice that is killing music education in the western world. What he doesn’t talk about, and what I think really needs to be discussed, is that, just as...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 13, 2006 | A view from the podium
Thanks to Scott Spiegelberg for mentioning my blog on his very readable site Musical Perceptions. I’m touched to know I still qualify as a young conductor at 38. The definition of a young conductor has changed radically in the last 10 years. 50 used to be young...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 13, 2006 | A view from the podium
Some years ago a friend (who happens to be both Jewish and one of the most knowledgeable musicologists in the world) told me about a film he had seen of Furtwangler conducting Wagner’s Meistersinger Prelude in a factory during WW II, under the swastika. He described...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 13, 2006 | A view from the podium
I read an interesting and thought-provoking post this morning in the Classical Life blog which caught my eye because it was about Shostakovich, a composer whose music is very dear to me. Tim Managan, the blogger, quotes from the composer and author Paul Bowles, who in...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 11, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
As readers may have guessed from some of my recent posts, one of my summer projects has been to get to know YouTube and to understand what it means to people in all of the creative industries. Copyright has become a more contentious point of conversation than ever...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 11, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media, Nuts and bolts
Interesting discovery today. Ligetisplit, a Chicago based blogger (I think the whole question of annonymous blogging, especially in the music world, might merit a post in the near future). He’s started uploading clips of various conductors to YouTube with his...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 10, 2006 | A view from the podium
This was always one of my favorite songs to play as a guitarist, back in the day. Thank god for youtube. Check it...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 9, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
Had an absolutely wonderful day with my friends in the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra. The LCO was founded as an orchestra for string teachers in the region to have an opportunity to perform string and chamber music repertoire at a very high level, and so they have a...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 8, 2006 | A view from the podium
Blogs are a somewhat clumsy place to talk about things that really matter, but I want to go on record as wishing a speedy recovery to one of my favorite colleagues, David Gedge, who collapsed tonight during a performance of The Creation in Brecon. I know an awful lot...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 8, 2006 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
So, back to sustaining…. We talked in some detail about one small bit of Beethoven, and some of what we had to understand in order to begin shape the sound to make the music sound as alive, vibrant, intense and directed as the composer wants it to sound. For the...
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