Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra

This is an hour long program written by and featuring UK comedian Bill Bailey that’s perhaps best described as what if the cast of Monty Python wrote The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra? "

Bill Bailey joins forces with Anne Dudley and the BBC Concert Orchestra for an evening of his music and comedy. Using both contemporary and classical references, Bill Bailey explains, in his unique and hilarious way, the nuances of how the orchestra works and the lesser-known influences of various classical composers. Also included are some of his own original works, rearranged and performed by himself and the orchestra under the guidance of musical maestro Anne Dudley." - BBC


 

What does a Conductor Do?

I’m standing on a podium, with an enameled wand cocked between my fingers and sweat dampening the small of my back. Ranks of young musicians eye me skeptically. They know I don’t belong here, but they’re waiting for me to pretend I do. I raise my arm in the oppressive silence and let it drop. Miraculously, Mozart’s overture to Don Giovanniexplodes in front of me, ragged but recognizable, violently thrilling. This feels like an anxiety dream, but it’s actually an attempt to answer a question that the great conductor Riccardo Muti asked on receiving an award last year: “What is it, really, I do?”

I have been wondering what, exactly, a conductor does since around 1980, when I led a JVC boom box in a phenomenal performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony in my bedroom. I was bewitched by the music—the poignant plod of the second movement, the crazed gallop of the fourth—and fascinated by the sorcery. In college, I took a conducting course, presided over a few performances of my own compositions, and led the pit orchestra for a modern-dance program. Those crumbs of experience left me in awe of the constellation of skills and talents required of a conductor—and also made me somewhat skeptical that waving a stick creates a coherent interpretation.

Read it in the New York Times

Trusting the Ensemble

Conductor Charles Hazlewood talks about the role of trust in musical leadership -- then shows how it works, as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. He also shares clips from two musical projects: the opera "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" and the ParaOrchestra.

Can Barbie save Classical Music?

With a wardrobe for any occasion, it’s easy to picture Barbie as a fashion icon for the public school set. But American conductor and music producer Arnie Roth also wants us to try to picture Barbie as a young cultural ambassador, introducing her friends to the magical worlds of ballet and classical music.
For the past nine years, Roth has worked with Barbie’s corporate parents at Mattel to create a series of 10 straight-to-DVD movies based on timeless stories and ballets. All of them feature classical music on the soundtracks.
Released in more than 30 languages, these DVDs have sold in the hundreds of thousands around the world.

Barbie™ at the Symphony is a groundbreaking children's animated classical music experience, combining film projection of the best Barbie™ “ Princess” movies with the world’s most loved classical music scores performed LIVE by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
This series of CGI animated films features Barbie™ singing and dancing to ballet sequences choreographed by Peter Martins of the renowned New York City Ballet. Released in over 30 languages, these popular films have introduced millions of children to ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake and the timeless music to which they are set. Young audience members will be introduced to the arts through this thrilling new production written especially for them.
Popular scenes from the movies including Barbie™ as Rapunzel, Barbie™ in The 12 Dancing Princesses, Barbie™ as The Princess and the Pauper, Barbie™ and The Magic of Pegasus, and interactive conversations with Barbie™ captivate audience members of all ages.

The Good news here is that another generation of young people is being introduced to classical music.
Bravo!

from the Toronto Star - read the article here
quote above from press release - find it here

Lead like the Great Conductors

An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.

CBC News - Music - Free youth orchestra debuts in Moncton

A group of 45 Moncton children is participating in an after-school orchestral program fashioned after Venezuela's internationally renowned El Sistema initiative.The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra's pilot program aimed at teaching music to schoolchildren, especially those in low-income areas, officially opened in Moncton on Thursday.The Moncton initiative is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada to develop in the same vein as Venezuela's El Sistema.Students in Grades 1 to 4 started picking up their instruments about five weeks ago.
Ken MacLeod, president of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, said the idea is to put violins, violas, cellos and double basses into the hands of as many children as possible.

After a few short weeks, MacLeod said he is already seeing the payoff.

Read more:
CBC News - Music - Free youth orchestra debuts in Moncton