“The union says more than 97 per cent of its members voted in July in favour of job action after its last offer to the employer.” Then there are some accusations of a “communications breakdown.” - Vancouver Sun
This week the management of Teatro La Fenice, evidently at short notice, named as music director the 35-year-old conductor Beatrice Venezi, reportedly an associate of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. In response, the musicians and staffers have refused to recognize Venezi and demanded withdrawal of her appointment. - ANSA English (Italy)
Yasmin Williams, whose email to new Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell got a notoriously vicious response, performed there last week. Shortly before curtain, she and staffers learned that Grenell’s office had reserved 50 tickets for members of the gay Republican group; they booed and hackled for 15 minutes before moving elsewhere. - Washingtonian
The situation wasn’t good for the orchestra in the ‘00s and ‘10s: the messy opening of the Kimmel Center, difficulties with its conductors, musician contract disputes, a financial crisis which made the Philadelphians the first major U.S. orchestra to file for bankruptcy. How different everything looks now … - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Of the symphony’s 20 classical subscription concerts, only two of them feature American works in those all-important, major-work slots. Both of those concerts will take place in June of next year. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The 49-year-old Slovak conductor, previously chief conductor of Italy’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, took up the position in Houston in 2022. This latest agreement extends his term through the 2027-28 season. - OperaWire
“Some clubs are charging £5 for a ticket, you get to the bar and it’s £12 for a double,” meaning cash-strapped students will stay in or pre-drink heavily to spend less later. By raising ticket prices to £10-£15 but allowing BYOB, students come out, knowing they can then drink at supermarket prices. - The Guardian
“A post on the singer’s Instagram on Friday said the U.S. leg of the tour ‘is in serious jeopardy due to significant delay in U.S. immigration processing. Despite our team’s exhaustive efforts, the required performance visas for Yusuf and his band have not yet been issued.’” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The superstar Chinese-American pianist, who herself studied at Curtis, won’t be a professor of piano giving weekly lessons. Her title, as of September next year, will be Artistic Collaborator; her duties, while not yet defined, will likely include master classes and chamber music, a favorite activity of hers. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
The complaint suggests that Suno may have ‘stream-ripped’ millions of copyrighted sound recordings to train its model. The timing of the new allegations appears directly connected to Anthropic’s recent USD $1.5 billion settlement with authors, who claimed the service obtained pirated books to train its AI models. - Music Business Worldwide
The organ was brought to Bethlehem sometime after the Crusaders’ conquest in 1099, and it was buried for safekeeping shortly before Saladin’s army reconquered the town around 1187. The instrument was excavated in 1908; restorers began work in 2019 and discovered that about half of the 222 surviving pipes were still playable. - AP
For IA—which strove to digitize 3 million recordings to help historians document recording history—the lawsuit from music publishers could have meant financial ruin. Initially, record labels alleged that damages amounted to $400 million, claiming they lost streams when IA visitors played Great 78 recordings. - Ars Technica
William Christie, who is turning 80 this year, “is venerated in France, where he played a key role in the revival of French baroque music and the reputations of composers like Lully, Charpentier, Couperin and Rameau.” - The New York Times
“The defendant claimed that the comments were aimed at the fictional characters and not the real people behind them. But the court rejected the argument.” - BBC
“Most of the group's lyrics are not explicitly political and are marked by goofy, satirical humour, while its concerts are high-energy affairs with a party-like atmosphere” - but the group fiercely opposes Israel’s actions in Gaza, and Canada claimed they support Hamas. - CBC
