"We say we need new audiences, but the reality is we're really churning through the new audiences we do get." In the arts world, this problem is severe: Ninety percent of first-time orchestra attendees at the largest orchestras in the U.S. never return. - Inc
Both Southern Methodist University and the University of North Texas have long and notable histories of training organists who’ve gone on to major church, academic and concert careers. This fall, both universities have major organ projects underway, or recently completed. - Dallas Morning News
“I think the greatest challenge for us as interpreters today is to find authenticity of spirit in the music we interpret, and that's a cultural thing. There are two ways to do it. One is as a tourist and the other one is a native. - BachTrack
At the Ambronay Festival in France, Alejandro Meerapfel, a 54-year-old Argentine, was performing in an oratorio called Il Dono della vita eterna (The Gift of Eternal Life). The concert was being telecast live on France TV's Culturebox. (And that's not the strangest part of all this.) - Classical Music (UK)
"A plan is being formulated to reconstruct Davies and some of its environment (such as the large outdoor parking lot on Franklin Street), including reducing the number of seats to 2,100 and adding new facilities to venue, as if the three Zellerbach Rehearsal Halls in the building were not enough." - San Francisco Classical Voice
"The 2025-26 season marks the Madison orchestra's 100th anniversary. The symphony will conduct a search for a new leader, and DeMain intends to depart after that season" — his 32nd with the orchestra — "ends," at which point he will be 82. - The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.)
A large part of the archives of the historic company, which was founded in 1830, was destroyed in the blaze at the facility just outside Vienna. Firefighters were able to control the fire before it spread to the manufacturing floor. - Classic FM (UK)
While music was always important to him, Carlos Miguel Prieto majored in electrical engineering at Princeton University and got an MBA at Harvard. He was working for Pepsi Foods International in Mexico City when he had what he calls a “vocational crisis” and realized conducting was his calling. - Charlotte News & Observer
But now Disney is trying to wipe away the famous name. "A new official short story collection ... asserts that this style of music is actually called jatz." - Vulture
Julie Andrews has a new book out about the time (not so long ago!) when musicians came together in an orchestral hall and played ... for houseplants. - NPR
Instead, "bring play back into the classroom by instructing students how to hear a melody on the radio and learn to play it back by ear, and encouraging students to write their own simple songs." - The New York Times
“Speaking broadly, I think both traditions value virtuosity and virtuosic display. Both traditions value advanced musicianship and instrumental ability, and don't mind openly showcasing those abilities.” - Van
