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Welcome to La Scena Musicale’s weekly Highlights, a roundup of classical music news from Canada and beyond. Off the back of numerous music industry layoffs in 2023, Universal Music Group and Atlantic Music Group have announced their own rounds of job cutting. Opéra de Montréal and Toronto Summer Music have announced their 2024-2025 seasons, and Canadian opera singers Emily Rocha and Tess Fackelmann have won awards in international competitions.
Music Industry Layoffs Continue In 2024
Universal Music Group (UMG) said in a fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 28 that it’s planning a “strategic organizational redesign” of the company. This will involve an undisclosed number of layoffs, called “headcount reductions” by UMG, according to Billboard. The company said the redesign would save them € 250 million (around $366 million CAD) over the course of three years.
Atlantic Music Group, an umbrella label owned by Warner Music Group, is also laying off around two dozen employees according to an internal Feb. 26 staff memo from CEO Julie Greenwald acquired by Music Business Worldwide. This comes only weeks after Warner Music announced that it’s laying off 10 per cent of its staff (Variety), or around 600 people.
Spotify enacted several rounds of layoffs in 2023 (Reuters): around 600 employees in January, another 200 in June, and around 1,500 – 17 per cent of its remaining workforce – in December. The company is now reporting a record number of Premium and total users (The Verge).
Recent and Upcoming Shows
Music critic Paul E. Robinson says the live concert recording of Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Pulcinella, performed last Saturday, “promises to be a winner.”
Stravinsky – Pulcinella at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Feb. 24 (Photo by Jae Yang)
On the latest performance by VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, Gianmarco Segato says Music Director Narmina Afandiyeva “made one forget the absence of an orchestra – sensitively giving space to the soloists when required, while maintaining propulsive tempi in the multiple large ensemble numbers.”
The TSO’s collaboration with NACO and the OSQ is fast approaching! Tickets are still available for the March 2 concert.
Young pianist Zhan Hong Xiao will continue the Mélodines series with a performance of Stravinsky, Ravel, and Chopin on March 6.
Zhan Hong Xiao (Photo provided)
On March 14, the Orchestre classique de Montréal and Italian trombone player Giuliano Rizzoto, under the direction of Jacques Lacombe, will perform works by two monumental Italian film score composers: Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone.
Théâtre Teesri Duniya is putting on a production of The Chemical Valley Project, which offers commentary on the nature of Canadian identity, Reconciliation, and Treaty rights. It’s being hosted at Studio Rangshala from March 14 to 24.
Festivals and Events
Opéra de Montréal has announced its 2024-2025 season with four productions: The Barber of Seville, Hamlet, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and La Bohème.
Toronto Summer Music has also announced its 2024 edition, Voices Within. On the festival program are performances by William Christie and Paul Agnew’s Orchestre des Arts Florissants and Jardin des Voix, Dame Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton, Vadym Kholodenko, Constantinople, and the Pacifica Quartet.
Toronto Summer Music Festival (Photo provided)
Bluesfest (Ottawa Citizen) has announced its 2024 lineup, including Neil Young, Maroon 5, and Mötley Crüe. The concert series will include performances by 40 local artists, including Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Steve Marriner, who’s competing in the Blues Harp Blow-off event.
Recordings and Debuts
People Places Records has also published What Brings You In by Toronto violinist and artist Leslie Ting. Everything from the album’s structure to its production is influenced by the idea of therapy. The works all feature improvisation based on compositions by the likes of Linda Catlin Smith and Rose Bolton.
The Glenn Gould Foundation has released two parts of its interview with “Iceland’s superstar pianist” Vikingur Ólafsson. The foundation has also premièred a 4-part masterclass series about Indigenous documentarian Alanis Obomsawin on YouTube.
Opera and Choral News
Bridget Esler
The George and Nora London Foundation Competition (The Violin Channel) has announced its 2024 opera winners. Soprano Emily Rocha is the only Canadian who will receive an award: the $2,000 George London Encouragement Award.
The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition has announced the 19 semifinalists for its 2024-2025 edition, including Canadian mezzo-soprano Tessa Fackelmann. Also on the list are sopranos Emily Richter and Catherine Thornsley, both of whom completed graduate studies in Canada (at McGill University, and the University of British Columbia, respectively).
Opéra de Montreal has announced that baritone Jamal Al Titi, soprano Bridget Esler, mezzo sopranos Justine Ledoux and Camila Montefusco and pianist Martine Jomphe will be joining the company’s Atelier Lyrique for the 2024/2025 season.
Instrument News
Violinist Anna Im has won first place at the Stuttgart International Violin Competition. According to The Violin Channel, the South Korean musician is being awarded with a € 30,000 prize (around $44,000 CAD), recital and concert opportunities with multiple philharmonic orchestras, and a loan of a 1746 violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini.
The Classic Piano International Competition in Dubai has announced that pianist Andrey Gugnin will receive € 100,000 (around $147,000 CAD) as the first place winner for his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. “The 36-year-old also received a 10-concert tour, a €50,000 honorarium, and performances with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra,” according to The Violin Channel.
Business and Politics in the Arts
Based on a survey of 125 music industry professionals by Viberate, where label managers were the majority of respondents, around 62 per cent listened to streaming services daily to discover new artists (Music Business Worldwide). Spotify was the streaming service most commonly used by respondents, with YouTube coming in second. SoundCloud was third, Apple Music was fourth, and Amazon Music was fifth.
Lang Lang (Photo provided)
Chinese pianist Lang Lang is now a Global Ambassador for Dior (The Violin Channel), a French luxury fashion house. This is a step up from his previous role as a company ambassador to China, which he assumed in January 2023.
Obituary
Paris Opera’s former director of the Lyric Training Center, mezzo-soprano Anna Ringart (Opera Wire), has died at 86.
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