Through year after year and decade after decade of turmoil, Fairuz’s “Bahebak Ya Lebnan” (“I Love You, Lebanon”) inspired hope and pride in the nation’s resilience. Now many Lebanese associate the song with tragedy, and younger people see the lyrics’ promises as a hollow fantasy. - The Guardian
During the opera’s final minutes, rather than simply having the titular lovers embrace death, director Yuval Sharon has Isolde birth a child. Thus, writes Philip Kennicott, “one of the darkest and most disturbing operas in the canon … is given a ray of light, almost a happy ending.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
Many of the tracks resemble fragments or sketches, with bits of singing and rapping that sound unusually tentative, as if Ye isn’t quite sure how, or how much, to give his listeners what they want. - The New Yorker
“In his time, many composers were preoccupied with structural rigor. His quietly sensual works were humanist, exploring the common yet profound experiences of distorted memory, wonder and loss. His influence on music has arguably outstripped that of his mentor, the great downtown philosopher-composer John Cage.” - The New York Times
The Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, with finals scheduled for November in Bangkok, has confirmed at least 10 countries as contestants: Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. More are expected to join in coming months. - AP
“Our strong balance sheet and cash generation gives us the flexibility to repurchase shares, while preserving ample capacity to invest in our growth strategy, and reconfirming our commitment to maintaining our credit ratings and our dividend policy.” - Music Business Worldwide
Sitting in the orchestra, the principals sound wonderful. But elsewhere, thanks to onstage tunnels: “Few lines of the libretto could be made out over the playing, which from the Balcony was often so loud it reduced the singers to textures, like instruments in the ensemble.” - The New York Times
It’s foundational: "Over the past three decades, music originating from Black genres has generated £24.5bn of the UK music industry’s £30bn recorded music market.” - The Guardian (UK)
Nominations for the Ivor Novello songwriting awards: “reveal the gender disparity in British and Irish music: there are more than twice as many male nominees (40) than female (19), with two non-binary artists making up the 61 songwriters and composers recognised.” - The Guardian (UK)
“One thing that could help turn things around is if opera companies offered audiences works in the language they speak (and) a musical language they can readily recognize and enjoy. … Too often composers and producers reject music that audiences can easily appreciate as insufficiently sophisticated or original.” - The New York Times
“The BLO has been something of a nomad after ending its relationship with the Shubert Theatre a decade ago. ... While the company steadily performs at historic Boston venues like the Emerson Colonial, preparing for their big productions has scattered the company around the city, and beyond, for years” — until now. - WBUR (Boston)
“An Austrian pianist who turns 68 on Monday, Hinterhäuser became artistic director on Oct. 1, 2016. The festival announced in April 2024 that he had been given a third five-year term from 2026-31, but his relationship with management became strained.” - AP
“The study sessions were first organized during the COVID-19 pandemic by Entree, the youth association of (Amsterdam’s) Concertgebouw, to help students improve their concentration and introduce them to the charms of classical music. They have been a hit ever since.” - AP
All we have to do is keep kids and families watching Bluey, and they will playfully and profoundly enjoy more classical tunes than the children of almost any previous generation. - The Guardian
