ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

MUSIC

At Cambridge, Changing 350 Years Of Tradition

Outwardly and proudly sexist tradition, that is, as the Boys' Choir of St. John's College becomes simply "The Choir of St. John's College" — and as girls take their official places in the ranks. - The New York Times

The Unintended Side Effect Of A Grammy Nomination

For those who don't win, it kills creativity and experimentation. - BBC

A Jukebox Opera Makes Its Debut

"Francesca Zambello, the artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival, came up with a novel idea. 'I just said, ‘Let’s do a Rossini comedy that doesn’t exist yet.’'" Hence Tenor Overboard. - The New York Times

Charlotte Church Says Her Worst Job Ever Was Being On A Major Label

The singer, who became famous at 11, says, "It was a double-edged sword, but being a major-label artist, I felt like a commodity, a thing to be sold." - The Guardian (UK)

Rhiannon Giddens Picks Out And Reweaves The Threads Of The Silkroad Ensemble

Former leader Yo-Yo Ma "saw the classical footing he brought to Silkroad as 'a starting point,' and classical music itself as 'a form of literacy.' In Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory, he sees a similar capability: the ability to employ difference as a binding agent." - Washington Post

The San Francisco Symphony Has Hired Its First New Principal Cellist In 45 Years

"Rainer Eudeikis, currently the principal cellist with the Atlanta Symphony, ... will succeed the late Michael Grebanier, who led the cello section from 1977 until his death in 2019." - San Francisco Chronicle

How To Keep A Music Festival’s Sound Pristine

Hire engineer/producer Da-Hong Seetoo, whose dad "fostered a second career for his son by letting him tinker with a 1947 General Electric tube radio and a reel-to-reel Telefunken tape recorder, with which he could preserve the sounds of borrowed classical music LPs." - San Francisco Classical Voice

Angel Blue Withdraws From Verona Opera Festival Because Anna Netrebko Is Singing Aïda In Blackface There

The American soprano was going to make her Arena di Verona debut as Violetta in La Traviata — until a furor arose over Netrebko's photos of herself in dark makeup and her Aïda costume and Arena di Verona management defended the makeup as part of a historical staging. - Classic FM (UK)

Apparently, There’s A Rampant Violin Playing Scam In The United States

Scammers ruin everything, including violin skills: "At its most basic, it’s someone who is busking with a violin, apparently playing, while they’re actually faking it — the music comes from a hidden recording." - Ludwig Van

Winning A Professional Orchestra Audition Is Very Difficult.  Then Comes The Trial Year.

Jeffrey Arlo Brown writes about the tricky, nerve-wracking process that two young trumpeters went through. One passed his trial, the other failed hers — which turned out to be a very lucky thing. - Van

Spotify Bought Heardle, But Some Fans Aren’t On Board

Is this a little like The New York Times buying Wordle? Yes, and the outrage is not dissimilar. For instance: "I lost my game history, and the link to get it back only exists for a microsecond. Also the skip function is now super glitchy, making the game unplayable." - BBC

The Refugee Orchestra Of Glasgow

In a heavily refugee and immigrant area of Glasgow, "Musicians in Exile a way of helping to give musician asylum seekers and refugees in the area a chance to gather every Tuesday evening to sing, play and share their talents, experiences, stories and songs." - Time Out

Music Students Who Fled Afghanistan Remake Their School In Portugal

The school's leader, before the Taliban and now in exile: "We can show the world a different Afghanistan. ... We will show how we can raise the voices of our people. We will show where we stand." - The New York Times

As The Russian Invasion Rages, At Odesa Opera The Show Must Go On

Mary Harris interviews Katarina Tsymbalyuk, a mezzo and a member of the Odesa Opera's resident ensemble, about the love, and the fear, she and her colleagues have for the opera house and their city, as well as how they're continuing to perform. (podcast; includes transcript) - Slate

On Turning Benjamin Britten’s And Peter Pears’s Love Letters Into A Song Cycle

Composer Conor Mitchell: "How come these two men, so buttoned up and alien to empowered, liberated me, felt they could write passionate love letters to each other in a pre-Wolfenden world, knowing that each word could be used against them in court?" - The Guardian

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