Researchers looked at data spanning a decade and involving more than 10,000 relatively healthy people, aged 70 and older, in Australia. People who listened to music most days slashed their risk of developing dementia by 39 percent compared with those who did not regularly listen to music, the study found. - Washington Post
There has already been a clear increase in the number of Japanese-style listening bars across the UK, but the visual arts trend is also harnessing sound system culture, which originated in Jamaica in the 1950s and was initially a cheap, democratic way for neighbourhoods to listen to the latest releases. - The Guardian
Grigorian and Brownlee took male and female singer of the year honors; Theater an der Wien is company of the year; Agnes Baltsa was recognized for lifetime achievement. The Dallas Opera’s women conductors’ institute was awarded for equal opportunity; Glimmerglass took the musical theatre category for Sunday in the Park with George. - Opera Now
Is there a unifying theme around the kinds of music being written in the classical world that could indicate an “American style?” (And, as an aside, can we take pride or ownership as a nation in something if we can’t define it?) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The 32-acre campus, designed by William Rawn Associates of Boston and HKS Architects of Orlando, will include an 1,800-seat concert hall, a 700-seat recital hall, and education center, rehearsal facilities, courtyards, and parkland with wetlands and water features. - Observer (Sarasota)
A staggering 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between artificial intelligence-generated and human-composed songs, a Deezer–Ipsos survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring growing concerns that AI could upend how music is created, consumed and monetized. - Reuters
The court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI should have acquired licenses for German song lyrics in GEMA’s repertoire before using them to train and operate ChatGPT. The verdict marks the first time a European court has legally examined and ruled in favor of creators whose works have been used by generative AI systems. - Music Business Worldwide
Continuing one of the more surprising comebacks of the digital age, vinyl album sales in the United States increased for the 18th consecutive year in 2024." While CD sales are on the decline, “Cassette tape sales jumped by 204.7% in the first quarter of 2025, hitting 63,288 units. - ToneArm
“(The house) is selling tickets for Siegfried, the third instalment of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, for up to £415 ($546). This is the priciest known ticket offered for sale in Britain by any publicly subsidised performing arts organisation. RBO receives a state subsidy of over £22 million each year.” - The Times (UK)
“On Monday, musicians, singers and stagehands (from Teatro La Fenice) marched through Venice with workers from other Italian opera houses. … They were joined by season-ticket holders, music students and Venetians worried about the future of artistic independence at La Fenice — and across Italy.” - AP
“The day before a fall show, Minnesota Orchestra musicians rushed through the stage door for rehearsal. At the bottom of the stairs was the orchestra’s social media manager with an iPhone … to record their most anxiety-inducing performance stories.” - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)
"For the past year and a half, I’ve been trying to figure out the easiest way to uncover new music. Not new releases, not new songs like the ones I already like, but music that’s new to me, by artists I haven’t encountered before." - The New York Times
We live in an age of unprecedented connectivity, and yet this very connectedness has led to something paradoxical: uniformity. In our quest to standardise, streamline, and compare ourselves globally, we risk erasing the very differences that make human creativity, and particularly music, so rich. - The Strad
Mackerras had a major impact on British musical life, whether as Music Director of English National Opera and Welsh National Opera, working with major symphony orchestras, or conducting smaller groups such as the English Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. - Gramophone
Leaving the Kennedy Center is a possible scenario after a collapse in box office revenue and “shattered” donor confidence in the wake of Trump’s takeover, said Francesca Zambello. - The Guardian
