Classical music brings money to the pits

The classic Lucerne Festival brings the business and public sector an annual benefit of almost 24 million francs. The sponsorship contributions and the subsidies are worthwhile for the Lucerne economy as well as for the city and canton.

Lucerne Festival had its economic benefits analyzed in 2015 by the University of St. Gallen. It was, after the years 2000 and 2008, the third study. The same method was always used.

Adding to this economic added value for the region of CHF 22.6 million is the advertising value generated by media reports abroad. The study puts this at 1.1 million francs.

According to the St. Galler study, Lucerne Festival today contributes 20 to 22 million francs to regional value added. In 2000, the value was 18 million francs lower. In 2008, when the festival time was a week longer, it was 24 to 25 million francs higher.

The visitors were responsible for the high regional purchasing power inflow, which made substantial expenditures in the context of the festival, according to the study. This contribution to value creation was around 11 million francs.

According to the study, the sponsors, who in addition to the sponsorship contributions contribute around 8 million francs, play an important role. In addition there are investments of the festival and expenses for the care of the artists.

The regional purchasing power inflows benefit primarily the restaurants and the hotels. Through pre-production, the overall contribution of Lucerne Festival to regional value creation in model calculations increases to around 30 million francs.
Lucerne Festival had budgeted revenue of CHF 24.2 million in 2015. The majority is covered by the ticket sales as well as sponsorship and patronage contributions. Government subsidies amounted to 1.4 million francs. The investments in the festival were worthwhile for the economy as well as for the canton and the city, is the conclusion of the Lucerne Festival.


If the Lucerne Festival were to expand its program, as planned with the Salle Modulable, the economic benefits could be further increased. There is considerable potential for growth, says the study. A reduction in subsidies, as reflected in Lucerne, would clearly be counterproductive.

Dillon Francis Drops Spanish-Language 'Say Less' Remix 'No Diga Mas': Listen

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have had so much success with their English-language remix of “Despacito” -- shout out to Justin Bieber -- that Dillon Francisfigured it might work in reverse for his tune “Say Less.”

That actually might have nothing to do with it, but it doesn't change the fact that Francis just released a Spanish-language version of the song called “No Diga Mas.” It features vocals from Mexican rapper Serko Fu and it's pretty damn spicy. It also follows a bogus threat by Francis to stop using social media for the rest of the year, which is pretty funny, given the theme at hand.
The lyrics here are not a straight translation from the English version, but the spirit of the song is essentially the same. It doesn't matter who you are. When it's 2 in the morning, you're either going home with someone or you're going home alone.

Summer Classical Music Preview

Operatic productions, given their ambitions and expense, are always planned at least a year in advance. But, in making their selections for this summer, the region’s major players uncannily reflected our moment of deep political unease. One of the two productions that Francesca Zambello, who runs Glimmerglass Opera, in Cooperstown, is directing herself is the Donizetti rarity "The Siege of Calais" (July 16-Aug. 19), which takes place during the Hundred Years’ War. Zambello has moved the setting to the present day, the better to reflect on the refugee crisis in which all of Europe is currently embroiled. (Zambello will also direct "Porgy and Bess," an opera whose political dimensions are a permanent part of the American experience.) Those who prefer their bel canto straight up can always head to Caramoor, where Angela Meade, one of the Westchester festival’s artists-in-residence, will be featured in a semi-staged presentation of Bellini’s "Il Pirata"
Dvořák’s "Dimitrij," which will be mounted at Bard Summerscape (July 28-Aug. 6), also has a political thrust. The Bard Music Festival’s focus this year will be on Chopin (Aug. 11-20), a composer whose fierce love of his native Poland was wrapped in layers of personal and aesthetic contradiction. But without a Chopin opera to stage, Dvořák’s potent work, which plunges gamely into the ancient intra-Slavic conflict between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russia which flared up after the death of the tsar Boris Godunov, makes a fine substitute.

Back in New York, Mostly Mozart has shown wisdom in bringing back the thrillingly radical production of "Don Giovanni" (Aug. 17 and Aug. 19) by the conductor Iván Fischer, one of several prominent Hungarian artists who have spoken out against that country’s increasing tolerance of anti-Semitism and homophobia. The festival’s other theatrical presentation is "The Dark Mirror," a staging of Schubert’s "Winterreise," featuring the captivating tenor Ian Bostridge (Aug. 12-13), which continues New York’s near-obsession with this most personal of composers. (Tanglewood also presents a series of Schubert concerts this summer.) Seeming to float above it all is Morton Subotnick, the electronic-music pioneer whom the Lincoln Center Festival is hosting at the Kaplan Penthouse (July 20-22). "Silver Apples of the Moon," created, in 1967, specifically for a recording on Nonesuch Records, will provide a fix of analog-era high-tech bliss. But its new companion work, "Crowds and Power," is based on Elias Canetti’s disturbing book from 1960, a volume that, sadly, remains just as relevant as ever.

Classical Music Channel

THE SCHUMANN ENCOUNTER: Robert's Rescue
Simon Callow Stars as two of Robert Schumann's alter egos, Florestan and Eusebius, in this highly imaginative film by Andy Sommer, about Schumann’s fevered creative process; the film is presented along with a performance of Schumann's Symphony No. 2, conducted by Roger Norrington-- who also appears in the film(!)

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Soldier Songs
Baritone David Adam Moore performs Part II ("Warrior") of composer David T. Little’s riveting evening-length multimedia event Soldier Songs, which combines elements of theater, opera, rock-infused-concert music, and animation; PLUS a probing interview with the creators of Prototype, a festival now being organized to showcase “opera-theater now”

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Ramon Vargas Recital
Felice Picano selects an exquisite recital by tenor Ramon Vargas, recorded at Wigmore Hall in London, from Classical TV's extensive library of free videos. The recital features Schumann's Dichterliebe and Donizetti's "Una Furtiva Lagrima."

Classical Music Review

To be honest, it is not the best work by Glass (below) I have ever heard, even though it dates from 2002 and is mature Glass that has its appeal. But because the opera has never been recorded or put on DVD or film, it is a terrific choice to stage to mark the composer’s 75thbirthday, which happens to be today—coincidentally, the same day as the hotly contested Florida Republican primary.
Plus, it is the Madison Opera’s first foray into Glass, or into minimalist Opera for that matter – a brave move that deserves to be praised and repeated perhaps with other Glass works or maybe something by John Adams.
But that is just one way in which this production of “Galileo,” which I saw Sunday afternoon, has proved timely.

It also was a success in that it marked four successive years of sold-out mid-winter performances for operas done in smaller venues of the Overture Center like The Playhouse and Promenade Hall. Previously, the Madison Opera staged Aaron Copland’s “The Tender Land,” Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” (below) andKurt Weill‘s “Threepenny Opera.”
Clearly, there is a market for the smaller, less common works. It would seem these smaller and more experimental winter productions are here to stay, and I applaud that heartily. I can’t wait to see what the next season brings.

Do Classical Music Linked to High Intelligence

Is a preference for classical music a sign of superior intelligence? Newly published research suggests the answer is yes, but — cue an ominous minor chord — not for the reason you might think.
Like Mozart or Mahler, researcher Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Political Science takes a few imaginative leaps to arrive at his conclusion. His latest paper, just published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, may prove as controversial as his last one, which suggested highly intelligent people are more likely to be atheists and political liberals.
Using theories of evolutionary psychology, he argues smart people populate concert halls and jazz clubs because they’re more likely to respond to purely instrumental works. In contrast, pretty much everyone enjoys vocal music.
His reasoning is based on what he calls the Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, which suggests intelligent people are more apt than their less-brainy peers to adopt evolutionary novel preferences and values. Pretty much everyone is driven to some degree by the basic behavior patterns that developed early in our evolutionary history. But more intelligent people are better able to comprehend, and thus more likely to enjoy, novel stimuli.
Novel, in this context, is a relative term. From an evolutionary viewpoint, novel behavior includes everything from being a night owl (since our prehistoric ancestors, lacking light sources, tended to operate exclusively in the daylight) to using recreational drugs.
Songs predated sonatas by many millennia. So in evolutionary terms, purely instrumental music is a novelty — which, by Kanazawa’s reckoning, means intelligent people are more likely to appreciate and enjoy it.
Such a thesis is virtually impossible to prove, but he does offer two pieces of evidence to back up his assertion. The first uses data from the 1993 General Sociology Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The 1,500 respondents were asked to rate 18 genres of music on a scale of 1 (strongly dislike) to 5 (strongly like).
Their verbal intelligence was measured by a test in which they selected a synonym for a word out of five candidates. “Verbal intelligence is known to be highly correlated with general intelligence,” Kanazawa writes.
He found that “net of age, race, sex, education, family income, religion, current and past marital status and number of children, more intelligent Americans are more likely to prefer instrumental music such as big band, classical and easy listening than less-intelligent Americans.” In contrast, they were no more likely to enjoy the other, vocal-heavy genres than those with lower intelligence scores.
A similar survey was given as part of the British Cohort Study, which includes all babies born in the U.K. the week of April 5, 1970. In 1986, when the participants were 16 years old, they were asked to rate their preference for 12 musical genres. They also took the same verbal intelligence test.
Like the Americans, the British teens who scored high marks for intelligence were more likely than their peers to prefer instrumental music, but no more likely to enjoy vocal selections.
Now, Beethoven symphonies are far more complex than pop songs, so an obvious explanation for these findings is that smarter people crave more complicated music. But Kanazawa doesn’t think that’s right. His crunching of the data suggests that preference for big-band music “is even more positively correlated” with high intelligence than classical compositions.
“It would be difficult to make the case that big-band music is more cognitively complex than classical music,” he writes. “On the other extreme, as suspected, preference for rap music is significantly negatively correlated with intelligence. However, preference for gospel music is even more strongly negatively correlated with it. It would be difficult to make the case that gospel is less cognitively complex than rap.”
His final piece of evidence involves Wagner and Verdi. “Preference for opera, another highly cognitively complex form of music, is not significantly correlated with intelligence,” he writes. This finding suggests the human voice has wide appeal, even when the music is intellectually challenging.
Kanazawa’s thesis is certainly debatable. For one thing, it implies highly intelligent people are more likely to appreciate such banal instrumental genres as smooth jazz and musak. Kenny G does not, as a rule, perform at Mensa meetings.
But the findings could serve as a marketing tool for an art form that is struggling in an era of pop dominance. If you want to entice people to sample the symphony, there are worse slogans than Brainiacs Prefer Brahms.

The Benefits Of Listening To Classic Music

Classical music has become very popular in the last few years. Concerts held all over the world are packed to capacity. Statistics reveals that only a handful of audience truly appreciate the classical music with any degree of knowledge. This book aims to lift the rest to total enjoyment at par with the handful circle.There are many books in the market that explore Hindustani music from different angles, sometimes focussing on just one part such as Khayal. Refreshingly, Hema Hirlekar has produced a unique blend that is at once easy for a raw listener yet comprehensive for highly initiated. It is organised for extremely easy understanding of the musical terms, the music, the genres, the gharanas, and the concerts.

Studies have shown that classical music can also help children with special needs through a variety of significant improvements including reduced stress, increased IQ, and improved ability to concentrate. Further, music can make children feel more positive and improve their creative thinking. The bottom line is that classical music can make a huge difference in the lives of those with disorders like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, ADD and ADHD and mental retardation.A wide variety of experts theorize that listening to Mozart can actually boost intelligence too. Don Campbell who wrote The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit has declared that the Mozart Effect is "an inclusive term signifying the transformational powers of music in health, education, and well-being."

Studies have also shown that those even with Alzheimer's disease do better on spatial IQ tests after listening to Mozart. One of the reasons that classical music is so powerful in contrast to other forms of music is that it has sequences that repeat throughout a musical piece. Often these sequences appear about every 20 or 30 seconds.The Mozart Effect has very real implications for those with learning disorders. Listening to classical music will not only boost IQ, but it will also help children concentrate better and memorize new information. When a child hears classical music, it can create the ideal conditions for learning and creativity.There is an entire field of psychology called Music Therapy where therapists improve the health of their clients through using music. Professionals like teachers, physicians and psychologists regularly refer children for music therapy. Music Therapists can even help rehabilitate people who have had strokes through the power of music.