For those blessedly anchored in the real world, here is a brief summary of a case that began as a passionate-yet-niche dispute between scholars and has reverberated—or been manufactured—into a broader referendum on academic and free speech in the United States. - Van
"Indiana University for the last 40 years has been trumpeting early performance practice. Now there are maybe 20 or so extraordinary pockets of incredible culture, from Texas up to Seattle and from Maine down to Miami. I think Juilliard is now the cutting edge, standing like a beacon." - Early Music America
Historically, songs were employed by labor unions to create a sense of solidarity and move labor rights forward against overwhelming odds. If music can be a salve and a rallying cry, is the opposite true? - 3 Quarks Daily
Sources also say that both sides were eager to avoid another protracted, distracting and brutally expensive legal battle, to put it mildly: The fight over the previous, 2018-22 rate period went on for more than three years and cost many millions of dollars in legal and other fees. - Variety
"He is an artist for whom Americanness truly matters, as much as the tradition of Western classical music — both heritages treated not with nostalgia, but with awareness and affection." Joshua Barone profiles Adams ahead of the world premiere of his Antony and Cleopatra in San Francisco. - The New York Times
One aspect of Rachmaninoff’s legacy that deserves greater scrutiny is his peculiar resonance with early-twentieth-century American pop music. George Gershwin, the son of Russian immigrants, could not have composed “Rhapsody in Blue” without the example of the Rachmaninoff concertos. - The New Yorker
There seem to be several currents in European composition: the heirs of Pierre Boulez, post-serial, and neotonal. Among the younger composers, however, there is a yearning for the freedom of being decompartmentalized. And many look to the U.S. for new models. - Strings
"I am still struggling with the consequences of the vasculitis I was diagnosed with in the spring," said the conductor in a statement. For this new Dmitri Tcherniakov staging at the Berlin State Opera, Barenboim will be replaced by Christian Thielemann for two cycles and Thomas Guggeis for one. - OperaWire
A piano has more than 8,000 individual parts. The building process begins with curing the wood, leaving large sheets of maple, beech and mahogany to dry for a year and a half. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"People with more experience of playing a musical instrument showed greater lifetime improvement on a test of cognitive ability than those with less or no experience. ... This was the case even when accounting for socio-economic status, years of education, childhood cognitive ability, and health in older age." - The Guardian
Patrons will no longer have to wait in line to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 before entering the building, though masks will still be required except when eating or drinking. - AP
That word “historic” is interesting. You may find that you heard these performances, as they happened. Or reviewed them. Or played them. Which may make you gulp a little. - New Criterion
Pianist Igor Levit "described Bolcom as one of 'the very essential composers of our time,' and also recounted with delight the way in which this composer, now 84, participated in the rehearsal process: by video conference, from his home in Ann Arbor, Mich." - The New York Times
And don't forget the influence of K-Pop. "By blending music with comedy, pop music and other relatable content, Gen Zs who are not born into musical tradition or classical cultural capital are invited to enjoy without fear of not 'getting it.'" - The Line of Best Fit
Composer Henech Kon, who went on to success writing scores to Yiddish films such as The Dybbuk, premiered his Bas Sheve (Bathsheba) in Warsaw in 1924. It was thought lost until a score turned up at Yale in 2017 — with 16 pages at the opera's climax missing. - Forward
