When the librettist obtained a copy of the score, in early 1743, he didn’t like it. “His Messiah has disappointed me,” he wrote to a friend, “being set in great haste … . I shall put no more Sacred Words into his hands, to be thus abus’d.” - The Wall Street Journal
The venue is in the city's top conference center/shopping mall; the cast includes Asmik Grigorian and Brian Jagde; José Cura is conducting; top tickets cost nearly $700. But hours before curtain time, director Davide Livermore stormed away and producers reconfigured the hall to remove 2,800 seats. - The Korea Herald
Some — London Heathrow, Nashville, Phoenix, Seattle-Tacoma, both Chicago airports — have stages with live musicians. Others — Detroit, Austin — have specially curated playlists. Singapore-Changi even commissioned piano music for its famous waterfall. - AP
We still don’t quite know how to sell Schoenberg. There is the scary modernist Schoenberg — inventor of the 12-tone system, replacing traditional harmony with the democratic notion that all notes are equal — who reputedly drives audiences away. But there is also the Schoenberg who carried on from the 19th century Romantic tradition. - Los Angeles Times
Whether it’s chestnuts roasting on an open fire or a white Christmas, many of our classic Christmas images are drawn from songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Why are so many great artists drawn to making art about a holiday that isn’t theirs? - The New York Times
Spotify, the rumor had it, was filling its most popular playlists with stock music attributed to pseudonymous musicians—variously called ghost or fake artists—presumably in an effort to reduce its royalty payouts. Some even speculated that Spotify might be making the tracks itself. - Harper's
“Sound directs our passage through time. It shapes our orientation to the future moment and also to the moment when the future stops.” - The Wall Street Journal
“It is going to be a space you can choose where to be and how to listen,” Fisk said. “We want people to lose themselves in this music and to be swallowed up by the experience of being part of nature.” - Charlotte Observer (MSN)
"Every Christmas, I ask myself this question, because accidentally I — a Jewish composer — have also written something of a Christmas classic: the little match girl passion. Cynics may think that these artists make Christmas music because they’re chasing the market. I believe there is something deeper at work." - The New York Times
The organ in the old Wanamaker's department store, right across from City Hall, is a Philadelphia icon. Yet the store, currently a Macy's, is shrinking just like other department stores; the building is in receivership as upper-floor office space remains vacant post-COVID; and Macy's lease expires in 2027. - The Conversation
These creators are opting not to play in the traditional music business lane (largely because they would struggle to get the rights cleared). So, instead they are operating in the music business’ ‘grey market’ – not quite a black market but not the formal market either. - Music Industry Blog
The 73-year-old California native, currently finishing his term as general music director of the Hamburg State Opera, will succeed David Afkham as chief conductor and artistic director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España in September of 2026. - La Vanguardia (Barcelona) (via Google Translate)
"Since 2022, the chain’s last two stores were located in the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and the Rogue Valley Mall in Medford, Oregon. According to reports, both are now set to close early next year." - Rolling Stone (Yahoo!)
While the practice currently seems to be most common in Europe, it's been documented from the US to India to Australia as well. Groups use pop idioms from hip-hop to Eurovision-Song-Contest style and won't hesitate to use the voices of stars such as Céline Dion and politicians such as Narendra Modi. - ArtsHub
Preliminary injunction, obtained on Monday by AFP, orders Sony and Universal to stop “immediately and globally, from using, reproducing, editing, distributing or commercializing the song Million Years Ago, by any modality, means, physical or digital support, streaming or sharing platform”. - The Guardian
