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MUSIC

Cleveland Orchestra Finds Its New Concertmaster In The Dover Quartet

Joel Link, the quartet’s first violinist, starts in Cleveland this fall. What’s more, the quartet’s violist, Julianne Lee, is returning to her previous job as assistant principal second violin at the Boston Symphony. Yet the Dover Quartet will stay together as is, scheduling its performances around members’ other commitments. - The Strad

Tallahassee Symphony Names A New Music Director

The choice is Yaniv Dinur, currently music director of the New Bedford Symphony in Massachusetts (a job he’ll keep) and formerly resident conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony (2015-2023). - Tallahassee Democrat

How The All In The Family Theme Song Broke The Mold And Remade The Modern Sitcom

“So it was that an old Broadway hand changed television forever by injecting a bit of kitchen-sink realism into the opening credits of a sitcom, of all things. You were solidly hooked.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)

A Trump Backer Donates Money For Beethoven At The Kennedy Center

“Flynn’s gift is somewhat unusual for the Kennedy Center. While the center has long taken in donations from individuals, as well as corporations, military contractors and even foreign governments, it has rarely received such large gifts from politicians.” - The New York Times

Austria’s Opera Singer Wins Tense Final Vote In Eurovision

JJ, a countertenor, "sings in the choir at the Opera School of the Vienna State Opera, and in recent months has appeared onstage in the company’s productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd.” - The New York Times

Why Did Director David Fincher Turn A Classic Alt-Rock Band Into String Puppets?

“Fincher and a crew of animators from Culver City’s Blur Studio spent about 13 months working on ‘Can’t Stop.’ Fincher said the hard part was giving the marionettes a feeling of suspension.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

Opera Australia Posts Dismal $10M Deficit

Australia’s largest performing arts company confirmed its Sydney winter season and its much-hyped run of Sunset Boulevard failed to meet box office forecasts but it had sold out its summer season off the back of La Traviata and The Magic Flute. - Sydney Morning Herald

The Case For Salonen To Return To The LA Philharmonic

In L.A. he has a venue like no other in Disney Hall. The L.A. Phil is an orchestra more flexible than any other, and in L.A. Salonen has benefited from daring administrations able to afford Salonen’s effort to create an orchestra for a new era — a promise the San Francisco Symphony couldn’t, or wouldn’t, deliver. - Los Angeles...

The Eurovision Song Contest’s Real Heroes: The Crew That Does Complete Set Changes In 35 Seconds

While viewers watch the introductory videos known as postcards, dozens of people swarm the stage. Thirty-five seconds to get one set of performers off and put the next ones in the right place, make sure everyone has the right microphones and earpieces and the props are in place and tightly secured. - BBC

A Growing Number Of Foreign Musicians Are Canceling Performances In The US

A growing wave of performers — like German pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati and Canadian folk singer Bells Larsen — have canceled shows in the States, either in protest of President Donald Trump’s policies or due to fear that they could be stopped or detained at the border amid confusing changes to immigration and visa practices. - WBEZ

Music Director Of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra Will Depart After Next Season

Alexander Shelley, who was just 35 when he succeeded Pinchas Zukerman in 2015, will leave Ottawa in the summer of 2026 and begin his next job, music director of the Pacific Symphony in Orange County, California. He is also artistic director of the arts center and orchestra in Naples, Florida. - Ottawa Citizen

English National Opera Names André De Ridder Music Director

The German conductor, currently Generalmusikdirektor of the Theater Freiburg, succeeds Martyn Brabbins, who resigned in 2023 to protest ENO management’s proposed elimination of 19 orchestral positions. While he starts immediately as Music Director Designate, de Ridder fully assumes the job in September 2027. - Opera Now

La Scala’s Next Music Director Will Be Myung-Whun Chung

The 72-year-old South Korean-born, US-trained conductor has appeared at the Milan opera house more often than any other guest conductor, going back to 1989. He succeeds Riccardo Chailly in the fall of 2026, and his initial term runs to 2030. - Bachtrack

Dance Music Is Having (Another) Moment. Here’s What’s Different

Festival lineups are jam-packed with D.J.s, while some of the biggest names in pop music (including Beyoncé, Drake and Charli XCX) have made dance music-inspired or adjacent albums. It’s usually at this point — when a newspaper sees fit to write about it — that the comedown starts. - The New York Times

Has Asia’s Classical Music Boom Busted?

New piano sales fell from a pre-Covid peak of 400,000 in 2019 to 200,000 in 2022. China’s imports of pianos—mainly high-end instruments for conservatory and professional use–fell from a 2021 peak of US$272 million to $197 million in 2023. - Asia Times

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