Welcome to Classical Voice North America (CVNA), an online journal of classical music criticism and commentary. Written by some of the continent’s most experienced critics and journalists, with occasional guest contributors, the site was launched by the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) on Sept. 19, 2013. We aim to convey the richness of musical life in the U.S. and Canada at a time when classical music coverage in traditional print media is shrinking, as well as capitalize upon web technologies that enable us to bring classical music alive via digital images, audio samples, video and more.
Our critics have sounded off on events or trends around the globe of potential interest to classical music lovers everywhere. As you browse the site, check out Susan Elliott’s review of the unorthodox Sellars/Rattle St. Matthew Passion; John Fleming’s report on classical music radio, an industry in flux; Susan Brodie’s reflections on “Women in Opera: Ever Torn, Lusty and Constrained;” John Rockwell’s ruminations about the rudderless Salzburg Festival; and Colin Eatock’s take on a program by Esprit, Toronto’s new music orchestra. There are also excellent pieces from our alpha and beta test phases, including Wynne Delacoma’s piece on off-beat Chicago venues for classical music and our ongoing Wagner Fest.
Are you a music writer? Please join us. CVNA is writer-run, writer-written, and writer-friendly: There are no “rights grabs” or “work for hire” agreements – we buy first-time rights only and they revert to the author 24 hours after publication.
The idea for the web journal was first suggested to Donald Rosenberg, my predecessor as MCANA president, by Robert Commanday, former music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, founder of San Francisco Classical Voice and a past president of MCANA.
Project leaders include Nancy Malitz, publisher of Chicago on the Aisle, who has developed websites for Gannett Publications and is a past president of the MCANA; John Lambert, co-founder of CVNC (Classical Voice North Carolina); and Donald Rosenberg, former critic of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and author of The Cleveland Orchestra Story: “Second to None.”
The editorial production team includes Mike Greenberg, former managing editor of Chicago Magazine and now San Antonio based, John Fleming, former performing arts critic of the Tampa Bay Times, Toronto-based composer and critic Colin Eatock, and Lawrence B. Johnson, former music critic of the Detroit News and the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Send us your feedback at CVNA.editor@gmail.com. Tell us what kinds of coverage you’re most interested in seeing. And if you like what you see, become one of our sponsors. No contribution is too small!
