MUSIC

Recording Music In Analog

“So this machine that we have here is the only machine currently in service for two-inch, 24-track — it's a Studer 827 from, I believe, the late ‘90s,” Healey said as he guided the media across magnetic heads.  - WBUR

Frank Gehry’s Final Concert Hall Is Taking Shape In Los Angeles

Just two blocks from Gehry’s most famous performance venue, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kohl Hall at the Colburn School will be a 1,000-seat auditorium with an in-the-round layout, a full-size stage and an orchestra pit so that it can host both concerts and operas. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Montpellier’s Main Concert Hall Closed Following Storm Damage

The Corum, a conference center-cum-arts complex with three performance spaces, suffered major water damage from heavy rains last week and has been shuttered out of safety concerns. There’s not yet any target date for reopening, and events are being moved to other venues in the city. - Pizzicato

Music Fraudster Jailed For Using Thousands Of Bots To Fake Stream Music Tracks

He had created “hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs,” then dispersed billions of automated streams among them so that the bots could avoid raising any red flags by all targeting the same song at once. All together, the fake songs generated substantially more streams than some of the most popular artists today. - Ars Technica

Trump Administration Says Kennedy Center Is Too Dangerous For Public But Safe Enough For National Symphony To Rehearse There

“So far, none of the musicians have encountered collapsing concrete garage decks, falling 2,500-pound roof sections or ‘electrical explosions’ — risks the center’s management says lurk everywhere.” - The New York Times

Gramophone’s Record Of The Year Is A 10-Disc Set Of 17th-Century Chamber Music

An Erato release, headed up by harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, of the complete works of Louis Couperin has won the top prize at the 2026 Gramophone Awards. Among other honorees were Imogen Cooper (Lifetime Achievement), the Bamberg Symphony (Orchestra of the Year), and violinist Isabelle Faust (Artist of the Year). - Gramophone

Marin Alsop Takes Another Conducting Job

She is now artistic director of the Webern Kammerphilharmonie, the training orchestra of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. Currently, she is also artistic director of the Polish National Radio Symphony, chief conductor of the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, and principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. - Gramophone

Who Owns An Orchestra When It Goes Away?

Harmonium, founded by pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane after he stepped down as the Philharmonic’s music director earlier this year, begins its orchestral life Friday at the Lila Cockrell Theatre. Its emergence poses an unusual question: when an orchestra disappears, who — if anyone — inherits it? - San Antonio Current

San Antonio’s Newest Orchestra Makes A Crowd-Pleasing Debut

Harmonium of Texas — made up largely of musicians from the long-defunct San Antonio Symphony and the now-probably-defunct San Antonio Philharmonic, and co-founded by former SA Phil music director Jeffrey Kahane — gave its first performance on Friday, three days after what’s left of the Philharmonic sued Harmonium. - San Antonio Express-News (Yahoo!)

Oracle Gives $10M To Help Save The Nashville Symphony

The gift will allow the symphony to resume the season, which runs through June 2027, and to retain staff, Mark Tillinger, Nashville Symphony’s president and chief executive, said in a news release on Sunday. - The New York Times

Musical Instruments Are Getting More Expensive

The consequences have reverberated across the country. Higher instrument prices are a particular threat to lower-income districts where enrollment and budgets are shrinking. - The New York Times

The Radio Wasn’t A Live Music Killer

Instead, it brought classical music to much wider audiences, especially during and just after WWII. - Classical Music (BBC)

Sadly, It’s Rational For Musicians To Fear, And Worry About, The Music Biz

For Liz Harris, "an elevated digital profile comes with a range of new concerns – like fake remixes and songs posted with the same titles as hers by bad actors trying to skim whatever royalties they can." - The Guardian (UK)

Why The Back Of The House Shouldn’t Choose The Dining Music

Screamo isn't it. "Music can manipulate consumer moods. It’s why soothing, well-known songs for the local demo play in the grocery store (so you feel comfortable and familiar), why fancy restaurants play jazz, classical, or piano music (to create a sense of elevated place, influencing a higher spend)." - Ravenous

NPR Goes Back In Time To Talk To A Younger Steve Reich

As the composer turns 90, Fresh Air mines the archives - and it's worth a listen. "I don't work as a scientist. That's not an intellectual - it's not an emotionally rewarding way to work. I was just following my intuition, just following my nose, so to speak." - NPR

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss