This guy did. Video footage surfaced this week from a Vijay Iyer show at John Zorn’s LES club The Stone, which shows some dude totally ripping off Vijay’s watch. [fig. 1.] Renée Fleming gets an indie makeover. The New Statesman is sponsoring a Young Critics Competition. Some UK classical taste-makers weigh in on how to sell classical music to the masses. And gays should be able to marry because of all the beautiful music they’d give birth to. Relax and take it all in: your weekly starred items.
• The best part about this Vijay Iyer watch heist video is what you might imagine this guy was thinking as he carried out the act. Like, he’s standing there text messaging something at first. Maybe his txt was like, “I m gonna jack this watch. TTYL.” And then he’s all, “Hey, yeah, I’m gonna check this piano out. Oh cool, I love playing chords in the really low register.” Then the quick glance around the room before snagging the watch and then gesturing that like “this is totally mine. I left it here before Vijay started playing. He asked me to.” when he realizes he might have been spotted. The little finger point is classic. But then! But then he’s like, oh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom and the door is already open because some girl was coming out when he was grabbing the watch. I love the little fumble as he tries to pocket the watch when he realizes this happened. What do you think he did when he got into the bathroom? Did he txt his friend again and say, “Just stole VIs watch. I m the man”? [Mind The Gap]
• The Peoples’ Diva Renée Fleming will release a new indie album called Dark Hope this summer featuring the music of Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie, and The Mars Volta, among others. This has raised many important questions about the ‘burgeoning’ indie classical movement, including is it all over now? No word on what the album cover is going to look like yet though you are encouraged to speculate openly. [Guardian]
• The New Statesman, in association with the Royal Academy of Music, launched a brand new Young Music Critics competition this week. The competition is open to kids under 30 with an equal passion for music and the written word and hopes to cultivate a new generation of classical music critics who aren’t smug musicologists bent on telling you how much smarter they are than you. Among the members of the star-studded jury are BBC Radio 3 presenter Suzy Klein, tenor Ian Bostridge, and “America’s Own” Alex Ross. [New Statesman]
• Twelve British classical taste-makers were asked by The Times Online what they would do to start selling classical music to the masses. The responses ranged from the practical (make concerts later (10 p.m.) and/or earlier on the weekends) to the strange (keep the lights low so they can focus on the stage. N.B. that one was from Nicola Benedetti). My personal favorite, however, came courtesy of Marcus Davey, chief executive of the Roundhouse: “Authenticity is essential. If you’re doing Mahler’s First Symphony don’t put a rock band in the first 20 minutes just because you think it would engage a younger audience.” Glad to hear somebody else thinks that’s pretty much the dumbest idea ever. [Times Online]
• In the midst of California’s Prop 8 trial, there’s been a call for Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears to become the unofficial mascots of the same-sex marriage movement. Although same-sex couples can’t reproduce together biologically, their chemistry can result in the birth of lots of really beautiful music. There’s definitely not anything wrong with that. [SFist]
Figure 1.
