Following steep drops in donations and especially government funding, the company has called off all performances of Puccini’s Girl of the Golden West this fall. It was to be the only traditionally presented staging of the coming season; the remaining productions are of unconventional repertoire. - Detroit Free Press
Nicholas McCarthy, a 35-year-old Briton who was born without a right hand, has not only conquered the well-known works such as the Ravel concerto, he has commissioned new pieces for piano one-hand and revived little-known pieces from a repertoire that number more than 3,000 scores. - The New York Times
As the project rises on global charts and dominates Viral 50 playlists, artists and industry professionals are asking urgent questions about authenticity, consent and the future of music creation. - ArtsHub
In the past 18 months, the Punta Gorda Symphony and the Fort Myers-based Southwest Florida Symphony have gone under. Meanwhile, the Sarasota Orchestra and Naples Philharmonic are doing rather well — and there are reasons for the difference. - Naples (Fla.) Daily News
Slatkin held the post — in this particular case, a sort of interim music director position — twenty years ago, from 2006 to 2009, between the tenures of music directors Kenneth Schermerhorn and Giancarlo Guerrero. With Guerrero having stepped down, Slatkin is returning for another three-year term. - WZTY (Nashville)
“The ascent from one method (purely mechanical recording on a horn) to the other (electrical recording with a microphone) was more significant even than the later leaps from wax cylinder to flat disc, shellac to vinyl, mono to stereo, analogue to digital or CD to streaming.” - Gramophone
What is original, real, and distinctive about black Southern culture is still often distorted or dismissed as primitive. And that is true not only in the South but in the wider American culture. - Hedgehog Review
“The theft of the materials, stored on five thumb drives, … along with footage, show plans and concert set lists, … happened on July 8, two days before Beyoncé began a four-day residency at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.” - AP
One of the highlights of this season has fallen victim to a baffling Venezuela travel ban. Gustavo Dudamel can no longer bring his Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in August. That now means that Dudamel will spend only a single week at the Bowl during his penultimate summer as L.A. Phil music director. - Los Angeles Times
The National Restaurant Assn. said its members pay an average of $4,500 per year to license music, or 0.5% of the average U.S. small restaurant’s total annual sales. “This may not seem like a large amount, but for an industry that runs on an average pre-tax margin of 3%-5%, this cost is significant." - Los Angeles Times
The venue is stepping up the enforcement of its dress code this summer, reminding patrons via signs in the foyer to dress “in keeping with the decorum of the theater.” The underdressed will not be allowed inside, according to its policy, which is also printed on tickets, nor will they be reimbursed. - The New York Times
It’s not great: Subscriptions are down 36 percent. But “complicating things for a number of NSO supporters … is the energy surrounding the orchestra itself, which remains infectiously high, ascendant and alive with promise, especially following last season’s extension of music director Gianandrea Noseda’s contract.” - Washington Post (MSN)
Musicians dealing not only with tiny streaming payments but now software-created “musicians” that steal even that limited option say they need some legal support. - CBC
“Rising fees for performers, a punishing U.S. exchange rate, reduced consumer spending and higher insurance charges have combined to pose existential threats to Canadian non-profit music festivals.” But Winnipeg is hopping. - CBC
