Reaching a Worldwide Audience

A few of us here were just looking over the stats for Wolf Trap Radio, the internet radio station that we started this summer, and we're now reaching 5,000 listeners on average per month. What I find very interesting is the number of countries we're being listened to in. Here are the stats on that, just for the last 30 days:

Country, # of Listeners in Last 30 Days
United States, 2851
Canada, 276
Japan, 183
United Kingdom, 164
Germany, 247
France, 192
Poland, 43
Netherlands, 50
Australia, 33
Spain, 62
Italy, 43
Taiwan, 15
Russia, 59
Belgium, 34
Portugal, 16
Mexico, 36
Sweden, 22
Switzerland, 62
Turkey, 11
Chile, 7
Bahamas, 2
Estonia, 13
Bolivia, 1
Brazil, 32
Slovak Republic, 3
Bulgaria, 10
Ireland, 9
Colombia, 12
Denmark, 20
Finland, 20
Morocco, 3
United Arab Emirates, 3
Hungary, 21
Austria, 23
New Zealand, 5
Norway, 10
Greece, 11
Peru, 2
Ecuador, 2
Uruguay, 2
Argentina, 10
People's Republic of China, 7
Republic of Korea, 7
India, 5
Kuwait, 2
Singapore, 3
Puerto Rico, 5
Venezuela, 8
Guatemala, 4
Latvia, 4
Egypt, 4
Romania, 9
Croatia/Hrvatska, 5
Czech Republic, 6
Panama, 3
Lithuania, 6
Slovenia, 6
Monaco, 2
Costa Rica, 4
South Africa, 1
Israel, 2
Ukraine, 4
Kazakhstan, 2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 1
Philippines, 1
Thailand, 2
Aruba, 1
Iceland, 1
New Caledonia, 1
Luxembourg, 2
Antigua and Barbuda, 1
Faroe Islands, 1
Cyprus, 1
Dominican Republic, 1
Hong Kong, 1

Radio Alert

Tune into 88.5 WAMU-FM's Metro Connection this Friday, November 24 at 1pm to hear the Grandson's, who will be in-studio to talk about their 20th anniversary as a band and their show that night at The Barns at Wolf Trap. The November 21 issue of The Connection Newspapers includes an article on the Grandsons. A review of the group's new CD, which was recorded during a show here at The Barns last year, will run in this Friday's Washington Post Weekend section.

Later that afternoon, at 3:50pm, tune into Washington Post Radio at 1500 AM, 107.7 FM, or online to hear Wolf Trap Foundation's Senior Vice President of Performing Arts & Education, Ann McKee, as she discusses Wolf Trap's upcoming Holiday Sing-A-Long. The Sing-A-Long takes place on Sunday, December 3 here at the Filene Center from 4-5:30pm (gates open at 3pm). It's free and we'll also be collecting new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots. This will be Ann's 32nd Wolf Trap Holiday Sing-A-Long, so there's no one better than her to provide insight into the event.

"Coachella Country"

While on Del McCoury Band's MySpace page yesterday, the May 6, 2007 Coachella date that have on their calendar jumped out at me. I didn't see anything on the Coachella website about next year's line-up being announced but then I got my answer today in a Pollstar article titled "Coachella Country." According to the article:

Goldenvoice is ready to apply its successful Coachella formula to a new country music festival next year.

Promoter Paul Tollett said the currently unnamed fest will take place May 5 - 6 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio. It follows the established Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which runs April 27 - 29."

Tollett said the country music event will include Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs, Nickel Creek, Garrison Keillor and Riders In The Sky. But that's just a sample of what's to come.

Apparently, Del McCoury Band will be part of that line-up too. They'll be here at The Barns for two shows next week and another "Couchella Country" band, Riders in the Sky, come to The Barns on Saturday, February 3. We'll have to keep an eye out to see if other '06-'07 Barns artists end up being added to the event.

Del McCoury Band Plays a Sidewalk via UPS

You may not be able to get them to come play on the sidewalk outside your house as they did for this guy, but you can catch the Del McCoury Band next week at The Barns on Wednesday, November 29 and Thursday, November 30.

In Today's Washington Post and Other News

Mike Joyce reviews the new Willy Porter release "Available Light" in today's Washington Post Weekend section. He calls the disc "a solid addition to Porter's catalogue, but it's no substitute for catching him in concert." When can you catch him live? How's tonight look for you? Willy Porter plays The Barns at Wolf Trap at 8pm. Get your tickets online, by calling 877-WOLFTRAP, or here at The Barns box office. As of this posting, there are still tickets left. You can call 703-255-1868 to check on last minute availability.

>>>Over on washingtonpost.com, the November 29 & 30 Del McCoury Band shows here at The Barns at Wolf Trap are an Editor's Pick. As of this posting, you can still get tickets to see the Grammy-winning bluegrass legends either of those two nights. Get tickets online (11/29 tickets, 11/30 tickets), by calling 877-WOLFTRAP, or here at The Barns box office

>>>Tickets to several new Barns shows go on sale this morning at 10am: John McEuen, John Scofield Jazz Trio, Guy Clark, Frank Morgan & George Cables. Click on any of those links for more details on those shows, including ticket information.

Interns and Other News

We're looking for a few good interns for the spring, including some here in our Communications & Marketing Department. Wolf Trap internships were ranked as "One of America's Top 100 Internships" by The Princeton Review and anyone who's interested in the C&M intern positions can find the details online or give me a ring here at 703-255-1917 if you'd like to know a little more about what we do in the C&M department. All of the C&M internship are listed here and only the ones marked as "Spring" are being filled right now.

In other news...
>>>Kim has landed in San Francisco on her opera audition tour and hopefully her night got a little quieter. From the Wolf Trap Opera blog: "My intention was to stay on Eastern Standard Time during the whole trip and get to bed by 9pm, but there's a very impassioned, very loud peace protest/rally going on outside my window. Ah, San Francisco."

>>>The annual Holiday Sing-A-Long is only a little over two weeks away.

>>>The Barns are dark tonight, but we've got Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver tomorrow night and Willy Porter on Friday. Tickets are still available for both as of this posting. You can get those at wolftrap.org, by calling 877-WOLFTRAP or here at The Barns box office (hours and other information are listed in the tickets section of wolftrap.org).

$8 Tickets And Other News

As I mentioned yesterday, all of our summer 2007 musical and dance performances were announced yesterday morning and tickets for those go on sale Saturday, December 2 at 10 a.m.

I'm blown away by the fact that lawn tickets for all of the dance performances are only eight bucks. As a Wolf Trap employee I'm probably a little biased but, regardless, I think the fact that people can throw down a blanket, enjoy their own food and drinks, and catch world class performers like Paul Taylor Dance Company, Doug Varone & Dancers, Trey McIntyre Project, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for that price is pretty amazing. You could stop by our box office and buy two tickets for $16 total (no service charges if you come get them in person!), get a bottle of wine for even less than that, pack up your dinner, and you've got a less-than-$50 evening out (with dinner, drinks, and a show included) for two people in a great outdoor setting.

In other news...
>>>FishBowl DC linked to my post from last week about how I'd like to see The Washington Post start an arts-related blog that would focus on music, dance, film, theatre, etc.

>>>We announced several more Barns shows on Monday morning: John McEuen with his sons, Jonathan & Nathan, Wednesday, January 24 at 8 PM; John Scofield Jazz Trio, Wednesday, April 11 at 8 PM; Guy Clark, Sunday, April 22 at 7:30 PM; Frank Morgan alto sax & George Cables, piano, Wednesday, April 25 at 8 PM. Tickets for all of these new Barns performances go on sale this Friday, November 17 at 10 a.m. through wolftrap.org, 877-WOLFTRAP, or here at The Barns at Wolf Trap box office.

>>>Wolf Trap Radio is currently broadcasting music to highlight shows taking place at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Tune in using your media player of choice from the list on our site.

>>>Kim Witman, Wolf Trap's Director of Opera and Classical Programming, is still out on the road for the opera audition tour and she's blogging throughout her trip on the Wolf Trap Opera blog. She's hit Philadelphia, New York, and Houston so far. San Francisco is up next for Kim, followed by Cincinnati, Chicago, and then right here in Vienna, Virginia.

Summer 2007 Musicals and Dance Performances Announced

This morning we announced the musical and dance performance schedule for summer 2007 at the Filene Center.

MUSICALS
Musicals for summer 2007 include the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players The Mikado, Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2; Jesus Christ Superstar staring Ted Neeley and featuring Corey Glover, Friday, June 8 through Sunday, June 10; Riverdance, back for its 10th visit to Wolf Trap, Thursday, June 14 through Sunday, June 17; and Camelot staring Michael York, Tuesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 15.

DANCE
Dance performances for summer 2007 include Paul Taylor Dance Company, Tuesday, June 26; Doug Varone & Dancers, performing the world premiere of a Wolf Trap commissioned piece, Tuesday, July 24; Trey McIntyre Project, who will perform to the music of Beck and two artists to be announced, Tuesday, August 7; and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre performing Nine Sinatra Songs, Tuesday, August 21.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for all of these shows go on sale Saturday, December 2 at Noon at wolftrap.org or by calling 877-WOLFTRAP. You can save 20% on the dance performances when you purchase tickets to all 4 performances with a Dance Pass Discount.

Washington Post Arts Blog(s)?

The Washington Post has made huge strides into the world of blogging over the last year or two, adding multiple blogs on washingtonpost.com that cover topics from politics to sports to the happenings in various parts of the region. But they've yet to add a blog that covers the arts.

The Going Out Gurus blog sometimes touches on various arts-related events, but it's overall focus is on various forms of entertainment and things to do, not all of which involve the arts.

So, I've added a Post blog that focuses solely on music, dance, film, theatre, and other art forms to my wish list. Each of these categories could provide enough material for its own blog, but just one washingtonpost.com blog covering the Washington arts world would be a nice first step.

Opera Audition Tour

Kim Witman, Wolf Trap's Director of Opera and Classical Programming, is off on a two and half week audition tour that will help determine which young singers will make up the 2007 Wolf Trap Opera Company. Here's how Kim described her trip in on her blog:

"Daily posts for the next 2.5 weeks. The audition tour starts tomorrow in Philadelphia. Then New York, Houston, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Vienna VA. 375 singers over 13 days of singing. More airplanes, rental cars, trains, taxis and hotels than I want to consider at this moment."

Kim will be blogging everyday while she's on the road for the next two and half weeks. Check it out at www.wolftrapopera2006.blogspot.com.

WashPost Review of Friday's Show

Mark Estren's review of Friday night's Discovery Series performance by Zuill Bailey and Awadagin Pratt appears in today's Washington Post on page C05.

New Release from Wolf Trap Recordings Now on iTunes

The newest release from Wolf Trap Recordings, John Eaton Presents the American Popular Song: Richard Rodgers - One Man and His Lyricists, is now available on iTunes.

Kid-Friendly Show at The Barns, Nov. 12 at 2pm

Ticket information available on wolftrap.org

Vienna Teng on YouTube

Tickets are on sale now for Vienna Teng's April 4, 2007 show at The Barns at Wolf Trap and you can check out "The Making Of Dreaming Through The Noise" on YouTube. The video focuses on the recording of her newest CD.