A new exhibit will open on February 22 at Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, centered around Debussy, whose 150th birthday will be celebrated throughout 2012. The exhibit is “a mix of works Debussy admired and those he could have seen”, according to the team behind this all, Xavier Rey of the Musée d’Orsay,  Guy Cogeval, the director of the Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie (formerly head of the Montreal Fine Arts Museum) and musicologist Jean-Michel Nectoux. Pieces once owned by his brothers-in-law—the painter Henry Lerolle, the composer Ernest Chausson and Arthur Fontaine — are mostly featured.  If you plan a trip abroad, you won’t want to miss it. Concerts and conferences will also be presented until June 11.

Details can be found here…

There is no doubt about it, the Stradivarii are still a very hot topic. Have scientists finally discover the mysterious “secret” behing their exceptional qualities? Not really… Indeed, a recent study by French acoustician Claudia Fritz, from Université Paris-VI, hints that the instruments may not be as wonderful as everyone seems to think. During the 2010 edition of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, she led a blind test with 21 very high level violinists: several competitors of course, as well as some experts and a couple of experienced instrumentalists. Throughout the process, participants wore welder’s glasses to mask any distinct caracteristics of the instrument and the room was filled with perfume so that the typical old wood scent wouldn’t be able to influence the violinists’ answers.

The study was two-folded. First, participants were invited to play, in a random order, on three modern violins made by famous luthiers, two Stradivarii and one Guarnerius del Gesu. Afterwards, they indicated which instrument they would  bring home with them. Secondly, two violins were shown and they simply had to find which one of the two was the 18th century one. Here, most failed miserably and, when came time to pick “their” instrument, only 8 out of the 21 picked one of the three “famous” ones. The instrument which appealed to most was a modern one and the one least chosen was… a Strad circa 1700.

When the study was published, early this month, many detractors stated that it was ridiculous to consider “taming” an instrument in a hotel room, in a few short minutes and that the qualities of an instrument would be revealed much later on. It so happens that I recently spoke with violist Antoine Tamestit who explained to me that the encounter he had with his Strad was far from love at first sight, that he considered on several occasions givin g it back to the Habisreutinger Foundation and that it took him more than a year before he developed a close connection with the instrument!

One thing is for certain: these mystical instruments have not revealed yet quite yet…

An article from The Star to read about this…

After a full year of Mahler and Liszt, what does 2012 hold in store for anniversaries fans? We’ll see if presenters catch on, but it will be the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth , the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and the 250th of the premiere of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

And who should we watch for in the rising stars department? Cellist Stéphane Tétreault, according to The Gazette. To read…

Of course, you know and love Beethoven’s Ninth (who doesn’t?) You may want to listen to it as performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal when they inaugurated the Maison symphonique de Montréal in September or could try something a little different, for example the project 9 Beet Stretch, the brainchild of artistLeif Inge. Here, a recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth doesn’t last a little over an hour but 24 hours, without pitch distortion. It gives the work a somewhat eerie quality at first but then a profond sensation of calmness emerges.

Click on Ludwig’s face to start your podcast of this new reading of the work.

The title seems intimidating, but what does a music director really do? Is it true that he whips (metaphorically, of course) the musicians during rehearsals, that he throws constant tantrums and has an inflated ego? Of course not, but… Tony Cirone explains:

“With this control over the musical score, it’s easy to see how such power can be abused.  It’s one thing to address sections or the entire orchestra regarding changes in the score, however, when individuals are approached regarding rhythm, intonation, or sound issues, the tone of the conversation is telling.  It doesn’t take much for a musician to feel the conductor is not pleased with his or her contributions. And when this leads to being called into the office for a meeting or making an official request to re-seat a musician, it affects the entire orchestra because one never knows who may be next.”

You can read the rest of this revealing blog post here…