She began her initial term in 2022, and it was set to expire at the end of this year. With her contract ending in 2026 (at the earliest), she will get to see through the SSO's four-year project performing Wagner's Ring cycle in concert. - Limelight (Australia)
Before she took on roles in Italian operas at the Met, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen "soft-launched the Italian side of her voice” in recitals and with the Norwegian Opera. - The New York Times
The musicians’ union calls it “a major win” and “a watershed moment.” Next up: The “below the line” workers - that is to say, the Hollywood crew members in IATSE and the Teamsters - start to bargain. - MSN (Los Angeles Times)
"The RSNO (has been) told it will lose all of its local authority support over the next three years. It is expected to cut back its performances at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, (its) permanent base, as well as events in schools and communities across the city." - The Scotsman (MSN)
"Prometheus: The Poem of Fire … has an element of synesthesia in its score, which calls for a color organ along with a full orchestra, a piano soloist and a choir. But in October at Davies Symphony Hall, … the piece was being prepared with an additional sense in mind." - The New York Times
Implementing a paywall would have given Pitchfork’s readers an opportunity to support it while liberating its staff from having to conjure money out of thin air. Instead, Condé Nast bought it, failed to set it up for success, then cut it up as soon as it became a burden. - The Walrus
"(The company) will present 18 productions in 2024-25, matching the current season and pandemic-curtailed 2019-20 for the fewest since 14 in strike-shortened 1980-81." There's only one completely new production (Michael Mayer directing Aïda), plus five which are new-to-the-Met, four of those being contemporary works. - AP
What if I showed up as a human experimenting with classical music? Would that make classical music more human? This was a long time ago, but now everybody does it, so I guess it works. - San Francisco Classical Voice
"A Danish man has gone on trial in the city of Aarhus over accusations that he fraudulently made 4.38m kroner (more than $635,000) in royalties on music-streaming sites. ... Prosecutors allege … the huge numbers of streams required to generate that amount of money could not have (come from) genuine users." - The Guardian
"(It's) a finely tuned and precisely orchestrated operation, requiring months of advance planning and permitting, a crew of nearly a dozen workers and an all-hands effort by the musicians themselves." Michael Andor Brodeur watches as DC's National Symphony prepares and sets off. - The Washington Post (MSN)
AI is already changing how musicians compose and play music in ways hard to imagine only a few years ago, opening up new horizons for creative expression and challenging traditional conceptions of musicianship. - San Francisco Chronicle
Hervé Boissière, a former senior executive at Naïve Records who went on to found Medici.TV, where he is CEO, and who's also executive director of the European classical cable TV channel Mezzo, will join Verbier Festival founder Martin Engstroem as the helm of the summer event in the Swiss Alps. - Gramophone
Rhapsody in Blue opened up a wider set of debates about the relationship between “high art” and popular art, about racism and cultural differences, about black music and black identity, debates that continue to shape contemporary culture. - The Guardian
Prison authorities see a threat to security in a staggering array of literature, art and music. Connecticut has banned 334 individual books, magazines and pieces of music as security risks. Besides “La bohème,” Puccini’s opera “Manon Lescaut” is also banned. - Operawire
