"At Curtis, it’s just the music, but we tell you you’ll know something about how the music business works and we think you should know something about risk-taking. … And now we’ve expanded to say you should think about how performance experiences will be successful in the future.” - San Francisco Classical Voice
The self-organized group of musicians playing under the No Name Pops banner is negotiating with the family of late pianist and conductor Peter Nero to acquire the Philly Pops name. - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Anthony Roth Costanzo, 41, has a history with Philadelphia going back almost 30 years. His first appearance at the Academy of Music was in 1996 at the tender age of 14, performing the Shepherd Boy in Puccini’s “Tosca,” in a traveling production created by Luciano Pavarotti. - WHYY
"On May 1, the Washington National Opera will recognize transgender singer Katherine Goforth as the inaugural recipient of" the True Voice Award, to be given triennially and "intended to help support the training of transgender and nonbinary opera singers, as well as increase their visibility in the industry." - The Washington Post (MSN)
For people familiar with Cage’s work, McWhorter’s argument appeared antithetical to the spirit of “4’33.” Cage’s conception of silence, though heavily and often debated, went beyond the idea of serene nothingness. See, for example, his explanation of listening to traffic. - Mother Jones
Romanian conductor Christian Macelaru, who holds prestigious posts in Europe, leading both the Orchestre National de France and the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, will succeed the veteran conductor Louis Langrée, the ensemble’s leader since 2013. - The New York Times
"It’s a basic instinct, ... the urge to figure out what you thought of it and why. It’s an impulse I believe I share with just about anyone reading this. … Did you find the music exciting, boring, incomprehensible, familiar? Can you say why? Congratulations — you’re a music critic." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The SA Phil is the fledgling orchestra founded by members of the San Antonio Symphony (which had been a Tobin resident) after that group's board shut it down. The other group is called The Orchestra San Antonio (TOSA), and only 10 of its 60 members live locally. - San Antonio Report
Much of the publication obviously focuses on UMG’s extraordinarily successful 2023: A year in which it posted USD $12 billion in total revenues, with annual adjusted EBITDA just north of USD $2.5 billion. But there’s a bundle of other interesting facts and figures revealed within the report. - Music Business Worldwide
It is well known many musicians work simultaneously in arts and non-arts roles, often to create some income security. Less understood is just how well the extensive skillset developed in music transfers to a non-arts, professional workplace. - The Conversation
We have entered a culturally risk-adverse period. Our present age of anxiety — which includes post-pandemic economic challenges to the arts, diminished attention spans and audiences seeking escape from all but virtual reality — has ushered in an atmosphere of caution in just about everything presented to the public. - Los Angeles Times
To Zev Feldman, “solving a case means discovering a concert recording that has been gathering dust in an archive for decades, or studio sessions that were once thought to be lost and gone forever.” - El País English
The Japanese bamboo flute is familiar to audiences who play video games and watch Japanese movies. "It is the sound of the earth. … The sound of the wind passing through a bamboo forest. It’s a sound that is constantly shifting tone colors, like light passing in the sky." - Boston Globe
Portugal's song tied for last, but coup planners needed a signal on the radio. The first song suggested was censored, and too obvious. So the coup organizer "suggested that the announcer choose ... 'some banality' that would not raise any eyebrows. That choice was 'E Depois do Adeus.’” - The Observer (UK)
