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MUSIC

Exit Interview: Antonio Pappano On His 22 Years As Music Director Of London’s Royal Opera

"I believe that an opera performance should be something unified — so that what’s going on in the orchestra pit and onstage make complete sense together. … The love for opera is very strong — the desire to create something that’s dramaturgically interesting, where the music is jumping off the page." - The New York Times

Big Shift In Popularity Of Giant Music Festivals

Events like Lovers & Friends, with big R&B names from decades past, sell out immediately while Coachella sales plummet. - The Guardian

Is Queen’s Song Catalog Really Worth $1 Billion?

If the group achieve the $1 billion price tag, it will be the biggest deal of its kind, surpassing the $500 million (£393 million) that Sony paid to acquire Bruce Springsteen’s catalogue in late 2021. - BBC

The Orchestra Messiah?

His Decca recordings of Sibelius and Stravinsky are unconvincing — ceviche in patches, if not totally raw. His live concerts are perhaps more exciting, but the potential is priced above the tangible product. How four fine orchestras put their future in such soft hands is a mystery, unless they all bought into the same brand. - The Critic

Even More Trouble For The Philly Pops: A Lawsuit By Its Former Jazz Director

"In the latest in a string of financial and legal battles, the Philly Pops is being sued in a federal racketeering lawsuit by its former artistic director of jazz, Terell Stafford, who alleges he wrongfully lost his job and is owed money under his contract." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Ruth Reinhardt Named Music Director Of Rhode Island Philharmonic

A former assistant conductor at the Dallas Symphony and Dudamel Fellow at the L.A. Philharmonic, the 36-year-old German takes up her position in the fall of 2025. Robert Spano will remain Principal Conductor through this coming season and then become Principal Guest Conductor. - Pizzicato

Massive Copyright Lawsuit Over 1000 Reggaeton Songs Moves Forward

A federal judge has denied the motion to dismiss a massive copyright lawsuit targeting over a 1,000 reggaeton songs from such globally recognized acts as Bad Bunny and J Balvin. - Variety

Granddaughter Brings To Life The Songs Of A Musician Silenced By The Holocaust

“Throughout the 1930s, Stephen composed feverishly, performing in hotels, bars and theatres across Hungary and Switzerland, as well as scoring music for Hungarian films. It was all going so well until his career – his life – was brought to a screeching halt by war.” - The Observer (UK)

Our Culture Needs More Contrarians

Music writers of 2024 have achieved a remarkable synchrony with consumers, such that, for the first time in living memory, the most popular musicians in the world also happen to be making the best music. And this consensus is doing bad things to the psychology of the otherwise intensely normal people who love them. - Defector

Getting British Orchestral Musicians To Play Pakistani Sufi Music Is Easier Than You’d Think

Rushil Ranjan of Orchestral Qawwali Project: "I find it astounding how much (they) can draw from 90 minutes of repertoire with just a three-hour rehearsal. Further, Indian Classical musicians in this country play at the highest standard. The wonderful thing is these musicians have grown up in each other’s orbit." - Classical Music (UK)

Opera, Careers, And Jealousy

I am a jealous opera singer. When I’m in the audience of any opera production, at least once I’ll think to myself, “It could be me up there.” This statement is true: the opera industry is unjust and random. - Van

Audience Member Sues Madonna And Live Nation For Ambushing Him With “Pornography”

While he's also angry that the concert started late, the arena was hot, and Madonna was lip-synching, his legal complaint says, "During the performance plaintiff was forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex acts. Plaintiff felt like he was watching a pornographic film being made." - The Guardian

Songs For Working

"When was the last time you passed a worksite and heard their radio playing music that had something to do with their work, or with the rhythm and tempo of their work? Music has become detached—or, to use a Marxist term, alienated—from work and from the worker." - Nautilus

Why San Francisco Opera Is Getting Trauma Counselors For Kaija Saariaho’s “Innocence”

"(The company) has developed trauma trainings, a symposium, and post-performance discussions to help guide people through the heavy subject matter" — a mass shooting at a high school and the unexpected effect the atrocity has on a wedding ten years later. Counselors are available for the cast as well. - San Francisco Classical Voice

Kaija Saariaho’s Harrowing Final Opera Arrives In The U.S., Where It Will Be Even More Fraught

Innocence, as the work is called, has been hugely impressing (and depressing) audiences and critics in Europe since its 2021 premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Why will it be even more loaded in the States? Because it's about a school shooting — and its aftereffects 10 years later. - AP

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