If you wanted to hear the world's hottest, most hyped orchestra play live, would you A: prepare yourself to shell out on a ticket, or B: log onto the internet?
A few years ago, A would have been the only viable answer for music lovers, but as classical performance moves increasingly into cyberspace, the internet is becoming one of the world's major venues for new performances, with the number of classical fans listening to music online rising monthly. At the vanguard of this remarkable shift is 2009's number one classical music talking point: the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
This brand new ensemble is a grouping who not only have their largest audience online (there's a clue in the name) but who were actually auditioned via posts on the now ubiquitous internet clip site. From the thousands of brief entries uploaded by hopeful musicians, 90 players were selected this winter to create what has proved to be a genuinely vibrant and impressively professional orchestra, if internet clips (yes, them again) of their debut performance at New York's Carnegie Hall are anything to go by.
But while this online phenomenon's staying power as an ensemble remains to be tested, it is without question that they are showing what increasingly looks like an important future direction for classical music. With the market for CDs of almost any type very unsteady, classical musicians are increasingly targeting internet users as a way of enlarging their audiences, reducing their performances to an intricate code of ones and zeros and being electronically accessible almost everywhere in the world. What, we can only wonder, would Mozart have made of it?
It's possible he would have been pleased - it's hard, after all, not to be swept away by the sheer cleverness of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra concept. To have a chance of joining, aspiring musicians simply had to record themselves playing two prearranged pieces - a part from Beethoven's third Eroica symphony, and one solo piece appropriate for their instrument - and upload them to the orchestra's channel on YouTube.
Of course, getting a note-perfect recording of a complex piece in a single take must be a nerve-racking experience, but it's surely less stressful than a single chance audition in front of critical observers. Even more appealing, however, is the effortless access this type of audition gives musicians from across the world: among the 90 successful applicants, there are members from as far afield as Korea and Transylvania, none of whom would have had much chance of auditioning for a New York-based ensemble without the now widespread accessibility of broadband internet.
But then, this diversity is pretty much the point, as the project seems to be as interested in revealing the classical world's heterogeneity as it is in creating a regular, viable ensemble. It's led by Michael Tilson Thomas, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, who has already masterminded such populist moves as his orchestra recording an album with Metallica, which reached number two on the Billboard Chart in 1999.
In a similar spirit of genre-busting inclusiveness, musicians for the YouTube orchestra were encouraged to audition even if their specialist instrument isn't normally found in a classical ensemble. True to their word, the orchestra has accepted musicians who play such atypically classical instruments as the marimba, and even the birbyne, an obscure oboe-like double-reeded pipe from Lithuania.
The project has stirred up an incredible level of online traffic - the orchestra's YouTube channel has had over 15 million hits already, and the ensemble is soon to be the subject of a documentary following various members on their figurative and literal journeys from their homes to Carnegie Hall.
While all this is a great way to inspire internet-savvy youngsters with a taste for classical music, some questions still hang over the project: will the orchestra ever manage to be more than publicity for the medium that made it possible, a sort of highly skilled musical Benetton advertisement made flesh? With players scattered all over the world, isn't developing the sort of close, non-virtual artistic community that makes excellent playing in unison possible going to be nigh on impossible to foster? It has generated huge amounts of traffic for its website hosts, but the sheer expense of amassing the players regularly means they are likely to congregate only rarely. And will these meetings be like their Carnegie Hall performance, one-off galas that might arguably be more about celebrating the fact that the orchestra exists than about creating nuanced world-class performances?
Looking at excerpts from the concert online, it was indeed a remarkably vibrant, electric occasion, heavily punctuated though it was with video clips (what else?) telling the audience what a remarkable concept they were witnessing. Including works by composers as diverse as the baroque master Gabrieli and the contemporary Chinese film score maestro Tan Dun, the orchestra played with an impressive amount of energy and finesse, despite just a few days of rehearsal.
Undeniably, the project has mustered together an impressive amount of talent, much of which might otherwise have gone unnoticed. As for becoming a genuine, durable musical force, the jury is still out. As Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times's classical music critic has pointed out, the wide selection of single movements chosen for the concert is an excellent showcase for virtuosity, but is not the bread and butter of a successful orchestra, whose success is gauged by its interpretation of a piece's mood and shifts in its complex, variable entirety.
But to highlight the practical obstacles the YouTube orchestra has between it and consistent excellence is rather to miss the point. What it will be remembered for, I suspect, is celebrating the moment when the internet first started to suggest what the future would hold for classical music - a future that the genre has been struggling to find for some time. For while classical music's broad popularity remains, many performers are currently stuck in an impasse, finding it extremely difficult to gain attention and success through CD sales.
Of course, illegal downloading and CD burners have punctured music sales across the genres, but while popular music fans have taken up iTunes downloading rapidly, classical fans still have a very limited choice. More gravely, many music companies lost faith in the public's appetite for new classical recordings in the late Nineties and the number of recordings released since has dwindled.
Instead, companies like Decca and EMI have started remastering and releasing historic classical recordings, often from famous conductors and orchestras, which are packaged as "definitive" versions of the works they presented. These were successful, but seriously damaged the market for new classical recordings. Not only has it promoted an archival obsession with creating a music library made up of single famous (and usually old) recordings from the likes of Karajan and Toscanini, but its commercial viability has made the expense of producing new recordings seem less interesting to the masters of the music industry.
This has led to many musicians relying exclusively on live performance for their money as recording opportunities dwindle. Often locked into multi-album deals with music companies, these performers find to their dismay that, despite selling out large halls around the world, their musical masters sit on their hands rather than allowing them to release new material. So how are these people supposed to reach out to audiences that can't or don't visit major concert halls?
The internet is clearly a possible way forward. Personally, whenever I want to hear a piece or performer I'm unfamiliar with nowadays, I go straight to YouTube and search. Their archive of clips is impressively varied, but extremely patchy, with pieces often segmented into random lengths and sound quality highly variable.
As if to compensate for this randomness, a new breed of internet sites is springing up that offers clips of far more consistent quality. Among the best is the excellent www.plushmusic.tv, a site that hosts channels devoted to a still small but choice roster of performers, including a whole channel devoted to excerpts of operas performed at Glyndebourne. While the site generates no income for the artists, it does permit some cross-fertilisation between different classical music audiences. The site has in fact proved such a success that London's Wigmore Hall - which has its own plushmusic channel - is now converting its auditorium so that it can stream its concerts live online, jumping on a bandwagon already set rolling by New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Of course, online clips can never replace the thrill and intensity of a live performance. Even with the better sites, there's something frustratingly bitty about the snippets made available to the surfing public. But as a way of keeping live music healthy and alive, of introducing music aficionados to new performers and pieces, music online is immensely valuable - all the more so now that classical music on television is an increasingly rare occurrence.
Breaking out of the confines (and timetable) of the concert hall, it's quite possible that the stars of tomorrow will not be discovered in final year shows at music academies, but online. While classical music's fan base tends to be older and not always that quick to take up new technology, it's possible that the next Rostropovich, Menuhin or Callas is already out there to be discovered, without anyone even needing to leave their own home.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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Transmission: 10-speed automatic
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THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
The specs
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How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
AL%20BOOM
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Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
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TYPES%20OF%20ONLINE%20GIG%20WORK
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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Top 10 most polluted cities
- Bhiwadi, India
- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Noida, India
- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
The specs
Engine: 1.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 3,00rpm
Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
Price: From Dh139,995
On sale: now
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs%20
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Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
