Damien Geter, a 45-year-old conductor, composer (Loving v. Virginia, premiered earlier this year), and bass-baritone who was already working as interim music director and artistic advisor alongside artistic director Alfrelynn Roberts, has been given the music director position on a permanent basis. - Pizzicato
“There are many ways in which Brooklyn Rider isn’t a typical string quartet: its joyous disregard of traditional genre boundaries, its effortless cool in a centuries-old art form, its engagement with the broader world and politics. Even its calendar is extremely unusual.” - The New York Times
The lawsuit cited four licensing agreements that allowed Napster to stream Sony Music’s catalog of recordings. According to the 17-page court document, Napster accumulated $6.79 million in overdue payments by March 5, 2025 across three of the contracts. - Music Business Worldwide
The War Memorial Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall will implement what they’re describing as “frictionless patron screening” — that is, a system using extremely low frequency radio waves, sensors, and AI to detect threats. The system, by Evolv Technologies, is already in place at venues such as Lincoln Center. - San Francisco Classical Voice
Many listeners know it as the label which introduced the Western world to Arvo Pärt, though its catalog ranges from Keith Jarrett playing Bach on harpsichord to Meredith Monk to the Danish String Quartet playing Beethoven and Schnittke to saxophonist Jan Garbarek improvising along with Renaissance sacred music. - The New York Times
The internal announcement by the RBO chief executive, Alex Beard, was made after almost 200 Royal Opera and Ballet members signed an open letter criticising the organisation’s stance on Gaza. - The Guardian
Users enter a prompt in plain English, such as “create a smooth jazz song with a ‘60s vibe and powerful lyrics, but relaxing for a Friday afternoon,” and the startup’s AI model generates a tune within minutes, complete with vocals and instrumentals. - The Wall Street Journal
Said the former music director of Chicago Opera Theater, “I want to be sure that my children grow up feeling like they can always express themselves freely. I want my children to live in a society that really takes care of its people, ... that really values things like the arts (and) education.” - WBEZ (Chicago)
Constantine Orbelian, now both Music Director and Executive Director: “The main thing for me at this point is getting a home. ... I believe that without a home, it’s hard to put stuff here and there. And once we find it, one of my big focuses will be doing operas for children.” - OperaWire
“The chandeliers are wood-and-metal spheres that have been called ‘sputniks’ ever since the Met opened in 1966. Legend has it that a prototype was constructed with toothpicks and a potato.” - The New York Times
“When I was sixteen or seventeen, and getting into the adult category, I started trying to play different repertoire,” she said. “I’d get instantly shut down, or at least comments like ‘Oh, you might get a prize if you play better tunes.’ ” - The New Yorker
“It didn’t take us long to decide as a band that if Daniel Ek is going harder on AI warfare, we should get off Spotify. It’s not even that big of a sacrifice in our case.” - Los Angeles Times
“The new management has not entered into our artistic planning. They support it and the same way they support the National Symphony …, and we are looking to them for more help in terms of fundraising and marketing.” - Opera Now
Under Valentine’s direction, the Symphony has earned 14 Grammys and 27 nominations, produced more than 40 recordings, commissioned and premiered dozens of innovative works. - Music Row
“A federal judge says Russian soprano Anna Netrebko can move forward with her case claiming national origin discrimination by the Metropolitan Opera, which dropped her after she refused to repudiate President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s campaign against Ukraine.” - AP
