Song has always been a part of storytelling in our country. And perhaps, in remote towns, opera finally sheds the elitism that has followed it for decades. Out there, it becomes what it was always meant to be: a connection between people and place. - ArtsHub
Jeremy Rothman, who for 18 seasons has been artistic administrator at the Philadelphia Orchestra, will begin in Seattle as of September 1. He succeeds Krishna Thiagarajan, who departed last year after a stormy tenure. - The Seattle Times
When I tell people that I missed what I was trying to do on Kind of Blue, that I missed getting the exact sound of the African finger piano up in that sound, they just look at me like I’m crazy. - The Conversation
Spotify’s chief executive has defended the company’s move into AI-generated music, claiming it offers users and creators a better alternative to piracy and unregulated AI slop. - The Guardian
After posting an operating loss of $10.6 million (US$7.6 million) in 2024, the company — boosted by a 29% increase in ticket sales — posted a small net operating deficit and, after a contribution from the Opera Australia Capital Fund, broke even for 2025. - Limelight (Australia)
The city's most respected chamber music venue has seen a 25% increase year-on-year in ticket sales since it left the funding portfolio of Arts Council England, artistic director John Gilhooly said. - The Stage
The 50-year-old British conductor and part-time Air France pilot is currently chief conductor at Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and has held similar positions at the Orchestre de Paris, Swedish Radio Symphony, and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He begins his initial six-year term in 2027. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
When he became general director in 2024, he had to raise $4 million in 12 weeks just to keep the company from closing; that entire season was, as he put it, “three weeks away from stopping payroll.” Now, notwithstanding the $11-or-pay-what-you-wish tickets, Opera Philadelphia has a cash surplus. - The New York Times
The cascading cancellations were devastating for the orchestra and its 61 professional musicians. Their annual salary is paid by performance and the lack of work has been demoralizing. The whole ensemble last played together in the Kennedy Center with the American Ballet Theater in February. - The New York Times
Something has happened since the pandemic. I don't know if it was greed accumulated during the closure years, if it was inflation, if it was the lack of competition on platforms like Ticketmaster. But ticket prices have skyrocketed to levels that are, plainly and simply, obscene. - Armando Barrera Barrios
In 2019, Howard Reich, longtime jazz critic of the Chicago Tribune, published The Art of Inventing Hope, based on conversations with Elie Wiesel and Reich's mother’s experiences in WWII Poland. He has now adapted that book into an opera libretto, The Dialogue of Memories, with music by Tom Cipullo. - WTTW (Chicago)
The evening was championed by baritone Christian Pursell, better known in the fandom as Chester the Geroo, who plays Escamillo in Carmen. As far as anyone can tell, this was the first official Furry Night at the opera in history, a genuinely historic moment for the fandom and the city of Seattle. - The Stranger
Joshua Kosman: “In appointing Elim Chan as its next music director, the San Francisco Symphony has tapped the most inexperienced, unproven new artistic leader the organization has had in more than 40 years. The choice could not have been wiser or more opportune.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The new tool will launch as a paid add-on for Spotify Premium users, the companies said on Thursday (May 21), creating what they described as an additional revenue stream for artists and songwriters on top of existing Spotify royalties. - MusicBusinessWorldwide
The appointment is a historic one. Chan will be the first woman to lead one of the so-called “Big 7” symphony orchestras in the United States, encompassing New York, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia. - KQED
