The perfect combination of classical and modern

Last Friday i went to see the BU's opera performances.A visual and auditory feast, a combination of classical and modern elements.

The most interesting thing of the performance is the combination of classical opera and modern elements. The stage set and costume collocation, the use of the color and lights are very modern.
Mozart's classic opera generate a new feeling after the director's innovation . It not only satisfy the person who had loved opera and classical music, but also attracted some music enthusiasts. The whole process for about three hours, but people they did not feel boring.

The combination of classical and modern music innovation, It is worth to promoting.

Figaro Gets a Divorce

While looking in Washington Post for some interesting reads about what's new in Classical Music World, I couldn't really understand why I had to scroll down from so many huge Kesha, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber articles to find a one paragraph (!) review of a Marathon Evening of Prokofiev Piano Concertos- which in my opinion is pretty intense but I won't be surprised if a lot more people will find it easier to relate to Kanye's Life of Pablo than to Prokofiev.
The similar thing happened when I was looking at NY Times during breakfast couple days ago and found a small paragraph on classical music after three pages of Taylor Swift. Right below the crosswords- there was a classical concert review, which again leads me to the point that of course news paper will write what sells. I am sure that Taylor Swift news sell better than string quartet performance in Brooklyn and it's probably because a significant part of general audience can relate themselves to her songs better that to a particular classical music composition.
Later in Telegraph however I found this interesting read about a modern opera composed by Elena Langer which is a sequel to The Marriage of Figaro. This brought me to the thought that in Classical Music- we always look back, always. We look back to Baroque Period for the most mastered counterpoint, we look back to Classical Period for a best sense of order, form and structure, we look back to Romantic Period for character pieces, to Impressionist for colors, to the music of XX century for new vision and ideas. Exactly the same way the composers of the past have been looking even deeper into past to write their reflections and answers to the music that has been written before. So many masterpieces have been taken out from or been influenced by Bach or Beethoven and you can actually hear the connection that makes you wonder what exactly did Brahms or Busoni were looking for in Bach. Such curiosity makes me want to go back to Bach- to listen and to look for connections. It's all mutually connected; composers, pieces, periods.
What makes the contemporary music stand out, which is also a fascinating thing about contemporary music is that it stopped sounding like anything before. It's all new, new music, new ideas, new approach and I as a musician I think this is wonderful, but as a casual listener I know that from time to time I would crave to hear something more safe- a slightly modified version of something that already has been sitting in my mind, something I could personally connect to. People are all so crazy about connecting dots and bringing things back from the past. That's why we have all those sequels and covers and remakes in music, theater, movie industries that will not only never fall out of fashion but will even become more popular when re-written or re-filmed with a fresh view of a modern world.
I really liked the idea behind writing a continuation of The Marriage of Figaro which I hope will elicit some curiosity from listeners and they will want to go and check out the original opera. Also I think it won't hurt if something similar takes place in modern composition practice. Article

Some ideas of classical music after an concert

Last thursday I attended a classical music concert on Thursday. It was a faculty artist recital worked of Schumann, Schubert and Mahler. The singger is Karyl Ryczek and the pianist is Wayman Chin. It was a wonderful and amazing concert. Fully showed the beauty and attractive of classical music. on that day we all had a free opportunity to enjoy classical music, but mostly of audience were  longy's students and some music teachers. There always have a lot of classical music concerts in school, the audiences mostly are the people who learning music of adult undergraduate or graduate students, and the old man.

I was wondering if we can build a relationship of cooperation, to the primary and middle school students and senior high school students, to provide more opportunity to let them to contact with classical music. Help to cultivate their interest in classical music. At the same time also can organize students into the elementary、middle schools and high schools, set up the concert.

Also can have volunteers to teach music or extracurricular coaching, then performing together. I think it will be helpful for spread of classical music in the younger generation.

Is classical music really on the decline?

Many people said classical music is on the decline, the situation of record sales is bad, dozen of orchestras closed their doors. The problem that classical music faces is obvious, the institutions of classical music are very expensive. On the other hand, listeners prefer new online services, so they seldom buy CDs. We should cherish classical music, they are essence of life and humanity, we need to build audiences for it, give young people more education about it, set more nonprofit enterprise to help classical music.

http://mariustesch.net/the-future-of-classical-music/

YOLA at the Super Bowl halftime: hit or miss?

Most of us saw or heard from friends about the performance of Gustavo Dudamel and YOLA at the Super Bowl halftime show. I encountered this article that represents not so positive opinion about the performance, it's value and it's reasons. The note of skepticism takes over from the very first sentence: "How disappointing was it that Gustavo Dudamel and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles were relegated to accompanying Coldplay and singing along with Chris Martin, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars? It was disappointing. " And then he keeps going with the fact that kids weren't introduced, the purpose of Gustavo on the stage wasn't explained and that YOLA should've been given a chance to have their own performance of classical music piece.
I think the idea behind the outreach programs such as El Sistema is to give children a opportunity to experience music, playing an instrument, working in an orchestra and let the music change their life. The children of YOLA had been greeted, cheered for and treated as super stars which I can imagine had been an amazing experience for a lifetime. So is it really wrong that they were accompanying a pop song or that Beethoven was put aside for this only time? Enthusiastic musician plays music for music and is open for experiments, just as Gustavo and YOLA had an outstanding and successful performance in collaboration with the representatives of pop culture. Nobody expresses judgmental opinions when Boston Pops plays Twelve Days of Christmas for fun, so what's wrong with YOLA playing for Coldplay?
Would it be great if YOLA was given it's own performance and bought some classical music to the sport fans?- Of course and let's hope that now it's more likely for them to get this offer. Is there a possibility that this super bowl could have passed without YOLA at all and still remain popular?- Absolutely, so as classical musicians let's appreciate the attention and chance that was given to those kids. Personally I am proud of those kids, happy for the opportunity that was provided for them and I think they did an amazing job at the halftime show.

The future market of classical music

Classical music has thrived for centuries as a living art, always changing and growing. But the classical music business has suffered the recorded music downturn while clearly music consumption and performance continue to evolve. In fact many say it is now facing its biggest challenges of all time, and risks becoming obsolete, such as many orchestras are facing financial trouble, and there’s worry that younger generations are connecting less and less with composers like Brahms and Debussy. So what’s in store for its future?
"Asia Pacific is the future for classical music. The sheer number of people who study it and the good", says John Harding, who has spent accumulative two dozen years in the Asia-Pacific region. Also there are someone saying classical music needs to address a calcification in it's culture and training apparatus. It relies on an academic culture that is old, very white, and generally very dismissive of change.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-07-22/future-classical-music