Melvyn Krauss is a professional economist who often writes about music. He has published on music in the Wall Street Journal, Harper's, and Opera News. In his early years, he mostly spent his time in opera houses. But with the decline of great singers and production values, Mr. Krauss abandoned the opera house in favor of the concert hall where he found the standard of performing to be on a much higher level. He resides in Portola Valley, California with his wife Irene, two Irish setters, and two cats. He considers himself to be a New Yorker-in-exile.
"Let’s Set The Record straight: The relevant question when contemplating the recently announced appointment of Yannick Nezet-Seguin (henceforth called Yannick) as the new music director of the Metropolitan Opera is not whether the Met made the right choice but what was Yannick thinking --or smoking--when he agreed to take on the Met post."
"Music@Menlo, a 3-week summer festival of chamber music in Silicon Valley, has been [David Finckel and Wu Han's] most successful venture outside of Lincoln Center. Until [they] came along, Menlo Park was a sleepy well-healed cultural wasteland during the summer months."
"The new appointment of Wu Han and David Finckel as joint artistic directors of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center makes this husband-and-wife team America's power couple of chamber music."
"The Met blames its bad box office on a drop-off in international tourism. But the crisis goes much deeper than implied by this superficial explanation."
"[San Francisco Symphony's] music director, Michael Tilson Thomas, says San Franciscans are proud of their city's cultural institutions. Even in a tough economy, their ambitions for their city make them willing to back what they perceive as a winner."
"It is a critical time for the revered Lucerne classical music festival in Switzerland."
