Music

The 52nd Annual Grammy Award nominees have been announced, and here are a few of the classical nominees: for best album: Bernstein’s Mass performed by the Baltimore Symphony with conductor Marin Alsop and baritone Jubilant Sykes; Mahler’s 8th Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony; Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloë featuring James Levine and the Boston Symphony; and The Nose by Shostakovich, performed by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre led by Valery Gergiev. Classical composers are in their own category, awarded for a work composed within the last 25 years and released for the first time during the eligibility period. This year’s nominees are George Crumb, Arvo Pärt, Jennifer Higdon, Roberto Sierra, and Yehudi Wyner. Other Grammy nominees include Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Stile Antico, Sharon Isbin, Ursula Oppens, the Emerson String Quartet, Yolanda Kondonassis, and recordings of operas by John Musto and Tan Dun.

Orchestra members at Lyric Opera of Chicago have ended a strike threat by approving a new three-year contract with the opera company. According to an orchestra committee representative, Friday's union vote was 70-1 in favor of the new contract. The musicians had been playing without a contract since Lyric's current season opened in September…they threatened to go on strike if no agreement was reached by yesterday's opening night of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. The new contract guarantees 26 weeks of employment this season, with the weekly wage remaining at current levels until a four percent increase next season.

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