Wagner's Nightmare Daniel Orsen and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat

What is media? What is its impact on classical music? How did Wagner affect media/how has he been affected by media over the last century-and-a-half?
We are joined by Babette Babich, Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, for a conversation about the philosophy of media and technology and, of course, Richard Wagner. We were especially excited for this conversation because of Dr. Babich's work on Theodor Adorno, Günther Anders, the philosphy of media and technology, and aesthetics.
Wagner had a massive impact on media and the people who fashioned media studies (Adorno, Anders). But we at Wagner's Nightmare are also approaching this from the other end because we released our album as an NFT. For business reasons we think NFTs will serve us better than streaming, but as artists we recognize it is a (potentially) new form of media to grapple with. (That being said, streaming is a very different medium than CDs or even digital downloads, which classical musicians never properly reckoned with.) And NFTs are of course associated with Web3, Virtual Reality, and the “metaverse” - which will shake up the media landscape yet again. What exactly that means for classical music, we don’t know. But we are excited to think about it and pragmatically wade into those waters. 
Purchase the Wagner's Nightmare Limited Digital Album: https://wagnersnightmare.netlify.app/
 
 

Daniel Orsen and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat chat with Nashville based composer and trailblazer Cristina Spinei about NFTs (or lack thereof) in the classical music scene. With such a controversial and hot-button issue, the Wagner's Nightmare crew greatly enjoyed the chance to discuss with Cristina about her personal experience and what problems she believes this new media can address.
More about Cristina: https://www.cristinaspinei.com/
Timestamps:
00:00 Wagner’s Nightmare Update 2:15 About Cristina 3:52 Groupmuse 5:15 What Do You Love About Classical Music And What Would You Like To Change? 10:50 WN Experimenting With The Parameters Of An Album 12:00 How WN Got Interested Web3 for Album Release 12:57 How Cristina Got Interested In Web3 17:57 Cristina’s Current Projects And ASYNC 25:27 Tendencies Of Classical Music Community 28:30 Challenges Bring Fans From IRL And Web2 to Web3 29:30 Classical Music Is 1% Of Streaming and 1% of Web3 Music 31:40 How Cristina Built An Audience/Fans In Web3 32:43 Looking Laterally 35:24 The Ethos Of The “New Music” World 38:20 Taking Advantage Of The Next Big Medium 40:54 First Steps For A Musician Interested In Web3 46:08 The WN Thesis 49:55 Cristina’s Thoughts on Wagner
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👍 SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, AND CLICK ON THAT 🔔
Check out our website to learn more about the project, listen to recordings, watch videos, read essays, and listen to our podcast.
📲 WEBSITE - https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/
 We're on social!
📲 INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/wagnernight...
📲 TWITTER - https://twitter.com/wagnernightmare
📲 FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/wagnernightmare
📩 EMAIL US - colombatorsen@wagnersnightmare.com
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Wagner’s Nightmare is a cultural exploration and recording project led by Daniel Orsen (violist) and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat (pianist). Daniel’s website: https://www.danielorsen.com/ Pierre-Nicolas’s website: http://pierrenicolascolombat.com/
 
Logo and design: https://beckandstone.com/

Gruzi! After a moderately long hiatus, we are back with a fun and interesting one!
Julian Manresa joined us back in August for a conversation about the differences between Austria/Habsburg Empire and Germany, and the Salzburg Festival - which was founded as an anti-Bayreuth. We cover a lot of ground, from the Napoleonic Wars to the Anschluss. It's important stuff, and lamentably isn't taught much in the States, particularly in regards to music history. So sit back, crack open a beer, and be edified. 
Julian Manresa is currently studying Theology and Philosophy of Religion at Clare College, Cambridge, fully-funded by a prestiguos Paul Mellon Fellowship. He is also a Choral Scholar at Clare College!
Prior to Cambridge, Julian studied Compartive Literature at Yale, where he graduate Cum Laude and was the reciptient of numberous prizes from the German and Compartive Literature Departments. His dissertation, Bezaubernde Schauspiele - The Making of the Salzburg Totenreich, is excellent, and after reading it we had to have Julian on the podcast. 
 
Wagner’s Nightmare is a cultural exploration and recording project led by Daniel Orsen (violist) and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat (pianist). 
Daniel’s website: https://www.danielorsen.com/
Pierre-Nicolas’s website: http://pierrenicolascolombat.com/
 
Branding and design: https://beckandstone.com/
 

We come to you delirious, raw, and unedited from the end of our recording session for the Wagner's Nightmare Album! We recap the past month of concerts, the recordings sessions, and what's in store for Wagner's Nightmare. 
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Check out our website to learn more about the project, listen to recordings, watch videos, read essays, and listen to our podcast.
 
📲 WEBSITE - https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/
 
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We're on social!
 
📲 INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/wagnernightmare/
📲 TWITTER - https://twitter.com/wagnernightmare
📲 FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/wagnernightmare
 
📩 EMAIL US - colombatorsen@wagnersnightmare.com
 
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Wagner’s Nightmare is a cultural exploration and recording project led by Daniel Orsen (violist) and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat (pianist). 
 
Daniel’s website: https://www.danielorsen.com/
Pierre-Nicolas’s website: http://pierrenicolascolombat.com/
Branding and design: https://beckandstone.com/

WAGNER's NIGHTMARE ON TOUR -
Baltimore - August 14
Brooklyn - August 16
Boston - August 20, 21 and 24
https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/concerts
MERCH ALERT: We have merch! Wagner's Nightmare T-shirts can now be purchased in our online store.
https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/store
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We were delighted to have conductor Benjamin Manis join the podcast. Ben is an extremely accomplished young condutor, particularly in opera, which is a rarity among American. He will be conducting Tosca at the Houston Grand Opera in the 22-23 season. And he loves Wagner. We discussed what it's like being a conductor, the challenges of leading 4+ hour long operas with countless moving parts, working vicariously through singers and orchestras, and Ben's Wagnerian origin story.
Conductor Benjamin Manis will join the Utah Symphony as Associate Conductor in September, 2022, where he will conduct a tour of Utah and concerts in and around Salt Lake. Mr. Manis is currently in his third season as Resident Conductor of the Houston Grand Opera, and returns to Houston to conduct Tosca and El Milagro del Recuerdo in the 22-23 season. He made his HGO debut with Verdi’s Rigoletto, and this season conducts Carmen, Romeo et Juliette, and The Snowy Day. Mr. Manis was winner of the 2019 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award, as well as the Richard S. Weinert Award from Concert Artists Guild. He has served as cover conductor for the St. Louis, Dallas, and National Symphonies, working with conductors David Robertson, Stéphane Denève, and Gianandrea Noseda. After three years in the Aspen Conducting Academy, Mr. Manis returned to Aspen in the summer of 2021 as Assistant Conductor, where he conducted two programs with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Mr. Manis studied cello and conducting at the Colburn School, and in 2019 he completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
https://www.benmanisconductor.com/
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👍 SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, AND CLICK ON THAT 🔔
 
Check out our website to learn more about the project, listen to recordings, watch videos, read essays, and listen to our podcast.
 
📲 WEBSITE - https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/
 
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We're on social!
 
📲 INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/wagnernightmare/
📲 TWITTER - https://twitter.com/wagnernightmare
📲 FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/wagnernightmare
 
📩 EMAIL US - colombatorsen@wagnersnightmare.com
 
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Wagner’s Nightmare is a cultural exploration and recording project led by Daniel Orsen (violist) and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat (pianist). 
 
Daniel’s website: https://www.danielorsen.com/
Pierre-Nicolas’s website: http://pierrenicolascolombat.com/

Branding and design: https://beckandstone.com/

The fifth in a series on NFTs and Classical Music, and how we will be using them with Wagner's Nightmare.
This episode addresses the issue of consumer psychology with digital scarcity, and more importantly, when it has been compromised.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES for learning about NFTs and blockchain technology:
NFTs for Newbies (excellent podcast!): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Ledger Academy: https://www.ledger.com/academy
 
Our thesis: NFTs are the future of the recording industry, and musicians stand to make more money from NFTs than streaming. This is because NFTs introduce scarcity into the digital market place, decentralize distribution so that a handful of major streaming platforms do not have all the leverage over millions of un-organized musicians, and NFTs also solve some of the problems that consumers have with buying digital downloads, CDs, and Vinyl. —————————————————————— 👍 SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, AND CLICK ON THAT 🔔 Check out our website to learn more about the project, listen to recordings, watch videos, read essays, and listen to our podcast. 📲 WEBSITE - https://www.wagnersnightmare.com/ —————————————————————— We're on social! 📲 INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/wagnernight... 📲 TWITTER - https://twitter.com/wagnernightmare 📲 FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/wagnernightmare 📩 EMAIL US - colombatorsen@wagnersnightmare.com —————————————————————— Wagner’s Nightmare is a cultural exploration and recording project led by Daniel Orsen (violist) and Pierre-Nicolas Colombat (pianist). Daniel’s website: https://www.danielorsen.com/ Pierre-Nicolas’s website: http://pierrenicolascolombat.com/ Branding and design: https://beckandstone.com/