What we are witnessing is a pandemic of reformist box-ticking that places policy above pulling power. Forget about a box office that is running one-third below capacity. Forget about the music, too. The new curators have higher priorities. - The Critic
Toradze had been feeling ill most of last weekend and needed assistance to walk onstage Saturday night to play Stravinsky and Shostakovich with the Vancouver (Wash.) Symphony. He performed fluently but was rushed immediately afterward to a local hospital, where he is currently recovering. - The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)
Over her five-year tenure, Elisa Citterio appointed new artistic directors, explored repertoire from the 17th through 19th centuries, commissioned new works, and encouraged international collaborations. - Ludwig Van
Oddly, the linguist/op-ed pundit, who's demonstrated genuine musical sophistication in previous columns, cites Korngold (d. 1957), Rozsa (d. 1995), and William Bolcom, but, besides John Williams, he doesn't mention living composers who actually attract crowds: Reich, Glass, the John Adamses, the Bang-on-a-Can troika, and, above all, Arvo Pärt. - The New York Times
KUSC in Los Angeles and KDFC in San Francisco, both now part of the KUSC Radio Group, have rebranded as Classical California, with simulcast programming outside of morning and evening drive time (which will remain local), new online streams, and beefed-up YouTube offerings. - San Francisco Classical Voice
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, a 75-member ensemble assembled with the support of the Metropolitan Opera and Polish National Opera, will visit nine European cities, New York, and Washington in July and August under conductor (and Ukrainian-Canadian) Keri-Lynn Wilson (wife of Met general manager Peter Gelb). - The New York Times
The musicians’ response, recorded April 4, 2022, at the Imperial Theatre in St. John, New Brunswick, proves that age isn’t a barrier to playing the iconic work well. It also gets in a dig at the auto company with its title, “An INFINITY of Young Talent.” - Your Classical
Ticket prices increased 11% in 2021 relative to 2019, and 14% in North America, according to Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest concert promoter. And demand remains strong, the company says, with concert ticket sales up 45% through mid-February compared with 2019. - The Wall Street Journal
Mark Swed: "The consequence of the current loss is enormous and hard to process because little of their music is part of the regular performing, recording or broadcasting diet. ... Nor has there been, outside of local memorials, widespread acknowledgment of, let alone tribute to, their significance." - Los Angeles Times
That is, battling climate change. "If the result is more mystical than activist, DiDonato’s aim remains, as her liner notes say, a prompt for her listeners 'to build a paradise for today.'" - The New York Times
The composer, who has accrued reputational capital on the open market, exchanges some of it for an ever-dwindling share of institutional security. The institution in exchange acquires not so much her music or her services as a teacher—though these come in the bargain—as a stake in her brand. - The Baffler
Premiered by the Rome Opera in 2019 and soon to open at the Barbican in London, Waiting for the Sibyl is a 40-minute chamber opera with a scenario (you couldn't really call it a libretto) by Kentridge and music by composers Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd. - The New York Times
His idea, spelled out in a new book, is that the natural heirs of Mahler and Richard Strauss were the "degenerate" composers (e.g., Korngold, Weill) chased out of Europe by the Nazis and ended up composing film and theater music that wasn't thought to count as "classical." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The police said they were just following orders, and they obviously didn't know the music or why they had these orders. ... Anyway, they were late, because we'd already played Silvestrov's music. So Schubert ended up sacrificing himself for Silvestrov and Ukraine." - Van
Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Dave Brubeck, and Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh are alumni. John Cage, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Roscoe Mitchell, and Morton Subotnick taught there — not to mention former department head Robert Ashley, who would get stoned before lectures. - The Guardian
