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Boynton Beach High School is hoping to improve it’s “D” score from the state by partnering with the arts. Donald Trump recently donated $10,000 to the school after its chorus performed at his mansion, and the school is building new dance, drama, and chorus classrooms. They will also be partnering with Ballet Florida to bring daily dance instruction to the school.

University of Miami School of Music Dean William Hipp has announced that he will retire after the 2006-7 school year. He has been Dean for 24 years, and has overseen the founding of Festival Miami, the opening of the Weeks Music Library and Technology Center, and the receipt of a $33 million donation from Phillip and Patricia Frost.

The Miami Herald reports that the Miami Performing Arts Center is scrambling to find parking for patrons prior to the center’s opening in October. It will be three to five years before nearby parking garages are completed, and some patrons may have to park as many as five blocks from the new center.

Osvaldo Golijov’s masterwork oratorio, La Pasión Seguin San Marcos, which tells the gospel of St. Mark in Latin and Spanish folk idioms, will come to the Miami Performing Arts Center in January of 2007. The work was commissioned by the International Bach Academy and will use local musicians for its string orchestra.

Recording

WXDJ Miami (El Zol 95) has made radio history as the first Hispanic-formatted radio station to become a top biller in a major market. El Zol 95 had revenues of over 23.3 million, which topped the number 2 station in Miami by over 2.5 million.

Musicland, the parent company of several music retailing chains including Sam Goody, has filed for bankruptcy and has announced the closure of more than 340 stores. This follows news that in 2005, more than 350 million songs were downloaded (a150 percent jump over 2004) and digital albums sales soared by 194 percent.

Univision Communications announced that it may put itself up for sale in a transaction worth more than $10 billion.

Warner Music Group, home to artists including Madonna, Green Day and James Blunt, said quarterly income rose by 91 percent, or $69 million, during the holiday season, driven by stronger sales of higher-margin digital songs.

Challenging the dominance of Apple’s iTunes, Amazon is talking to the four global music companies about a digital-music service which would include Amazon-branded portable music players preloaded with songs, and a deeply discounted subscription service, to be launched possibly this summer. 

Music Choice reached a deal to provide Cingular Wireless customers music videos from Warner Music. Music Choice will offer streaming music video-on-demand subscriptions for $.99 per day.

Digital downloads of classical albums grew by almost 94 percent in 2005. According to Nielsen Soundscan, Digital downloads are responsible for almost 20 percent of sales for violinist Hilary Hahn’s recent album of Mozart sonatas and over 10 percent of sales for Yo-yo- Ma’s “Silk Road Journeys” album.

Several of our members were involved in recordings that recently won “Premio Lo Nuestro” Latin Music Awards, including Rene Toledo, Fernando Tobon, Leonardo Quintero, Richard Bravo, Camilo Valencia, and Milton Salcedo, for albums by Olga Tanon, Juanes, and Shakira. Congratulations!

According to Nielsen Media Research, Spanish-language television advertising revenues grew nearly 17% in 2005. Advertising revenue from all sources grew 4.2% last year, with only growth in Internet advertising beating Spanish-language TV.

Symphony

The Proposed merger of Concert Association of Florida and the Miami Performing Arts Center has been postponed, with talks to resume in the spring of 2007.

The New York Philharmonic has signed  a deal with Deutsche Grammophon where four concerts a year will be made available for digital download, possibly through iTunes and other websites. The orchestra will also be releasing two CD’s a year through New World Records, which will also be available by download.

New Jersey dance companies have received $168,250 this season to support live musical accompaniment, as a part of American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance program. The program, begun in 1986, has distributed $4.75 million to 150 New York City dance companies since its inception.

Mary Henderson Buckley, wife of Fort Lauderdale Symphony conductor Emerson Buckley and mother of frequent Florida Grand Opera guest conductor Richard Buckley, passed away on February 6.

The Boca Symphonia has announced that for its 2006-7 season it will be moving to the more acoustically flattering Roberts Theater at the St. Andrews School in Boca Raton.

The Miami City Ballet has announced a rescue plan where the city of Miami Beach will buy their newly renovated building and lift the debt associated with it, wiping out the Ballet’s long-term debt as well as creating a long-term reserve fund of $2 million.

Atlantic Classical Orchestra music director Stewart Robertson states, in conversation with the Palm Beach Post, that he hopes within the next five years to make the ACO into an orchestra of “international significance”. He also notes that he would like to record contemporary and neglected repertoire on a major label.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has hired Carol Jantsch as the youngest member of the orchestra and the only female tuba player in a major American Orchestra.

The Cleveland Institute of Music has entered the second year of its Concertmaster Academy, where select individuals (one per year) are taught leadership skills and are mentored one-on-one by Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster William Preucil.

The Jacksonville Symphony has received a challenge grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. BCBSF will match, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 to the orchestra.

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