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vancouver symphony refuses to mime

Good for them! The Vancouver Symphony has pulled out of plans to record music for the 2010 Winter Olympics for other musicians to “play sync” to outdoors.

VSO conductor Bramwell Tovey was asked to conduct the recording session, but was told another conductor would perform his actions at the ceremonies.

“My participation at the opening ceremonies was dependent upon my agreeing that music I recorded would be mimed by another individual and I regarded that as fraudulent and withdrew,” Tovey told The Vancouver Sun.

The audience will at times hear more musicians playing than appear on stage, according to David Atkins, the executive producer of the opening and closing ceremonies.

VSO president and CEO Jeff Alexander said the VSO was asked to record a piece of music for the ceremonies, but was not asked to appear in the show.

Although Vanoc offered to credit Tovey and the VSO, Alexander said “it wouldn’t have made sense to allow the VSO name to be used.”

What was the Vancouver Olympic Committee thinking? Why use another ensemble – is the VSO full of ugly, un-photogenic people? Were they going to hire a bunch of twenty-something actors to mime the performance?  At least in Salt Lake City, the Utah Symphony was miming to itself. What a fiasco. And somehow, I’m sure someone will find a way to make the symphony’s musicians the villains of this piece.  I’m sure they were probably fine with miming to themselves – who wouldn’t want to be on the world stage –  but I’m totally sympathetic to the notion that having a random group of musicians calling themselves the VSO be featured is unpalatable to them.

Read the whole story here.

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