ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

MUSIC

What Happens When Your Orchestra Goes All In On Images In Performance And It Doesn’t Work

"I eventually stopped looking at the video, or tried to, as did my guest, but was then faced with the initial problem, that is, listening to a complete ballet, with its many discursions and tangents, in concert, without dancers." - Classical Life

Popular Streaming ‘Singer’ Sienna Rose Probably Isn’t Real

One huge tell: If you listen to a few of “Rose’s” tracks, “you'll hear a telltale hiss. … That's a common trait of music generated on apps like Suno and Udio - partly because of the way they start with white noise and gradually refine it until it resembles music.” - BBC

The Best Use Of AI In Music Is For Surveillance

But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. “AI music is here to stay, and rather than fighting it, we should understand its benefits as a tool for artists—either to amplify existing production processes or to introduce new ways of designing music.” - Fast Company

The Washington National Opera, Which Had A Donor Renewal After Leaving The Kennedy Center, Finds A Temporary Home

The opera, which "received an influx of donations, from more than 500 donors, after its announcement last Friday that it would seek a new home … will host two operas this spring season at George Washington University, where the organization got its start nearly 70 years ago.” - The New York Times

Spotify Bans #1 Song In Sweden After Discovering It Was AI

Called I know, You're Not Mine - Jag vet, du är inte min - it is currently top of the Spotify playlist of Sweden's most popular songs. But the singer is a digital creation and the country's music industry body has blocked the track from its official chart listings. - BBC

Spotify Is Being Flooded With AI Music. Subscribers Are Pushing Back

Paying Spotify subscribers have been flagging the platform’s push of AI music for a while, but now they’re drawing a line, with many calling on the streaming giant to roll out filters to identify which songs have been generated by AI. - TechRadar

Making Opera From The Most Bizarre Of New York’s Avant-Garde Playwrights

Composer Michael Gordon on the late Richard Foreman’s script for What to Wear: “It’s a piece with four Madeline Xs. They’re trying to find things to wear, they are undergoing analysis, experts are confused about them and there’s a duck. … And that’s really what the piece is about.” - The New York Times

There’s A New Generation In Charge At London’s Royal Opera

Following on Antonio Pappano’s widely-praised 22-year reign as the company’s music director, 44-year-old Jakub Hrůša has taken the baton, with Speranza Scappucci joining as the Royal Opera’s first principal guest conductor in three decades. - AP

Why The National Symphony Can’t Leave The Kennedy Center

The reason the Washington National Opera can leave, while the National Symphony Orchestra would find it extraordinarily difficult to do so under ordinary conditions, has little to do with repertoire, prestige, or audience relevance. - William Ford

Musician Site Bandcamp Prohibits Music Created With AI

 "We believe that the human connection found through music is a vital part of our society and culture, and that music is much more than a product to be consumed," the company wrote. - Engadget

Can This Man Save America’s Last High-Level Oboe-Maker?

Just playing the instrument is difficult enough; making top-quality oboes is fiendishly complicated, and breaking even while doing it is challenging enough that Laubin Oboes was essentially bankrupt when Jim Phelan bought the firm in 2022. He has made some very promising changes. - The New York Times

How Do You Sustain Success As A Musician?

Unlike creators, a performer does not have the benefit of a personal product (or several) that persist over time like a symphony or novel or painting. - Nightingale Sonata

Composer John Luther Adams Writes About Why He Has Emigrated To Australia

“The real reason I’ve left (the U.S.) is deeper than politics: it’s the culture. The culture creates the politics. … The relentless commercialisation, rising tides of xenophobia, the strident acrimony of social discourse, the violence, and the increasingly hysterical tenor of life in the USA have simply worn us down.” - The Saturday Paper (Australia)

I’m A Musician. I created An Album Using AI To See If It Worked

We have gone from clapping to drumming, and from using drum machines in recording studios to generating “new” sounds with AI. Yet now that I have completed these experiments, I realise that one thing remains the same. - The Conversation

Why It’s Good For The Washington National Opera To Part Ways With The Kennedy Center

Financially, it’s likely to be good for the Opera. “The news of the split could inspire a groundswell of support from longtime patrons who pumped the brakes on their operagoing in 2025 amid the Trump takeover. It may even serve to restore projects that were thought lost.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)

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