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English National Opera Chief Leaves To Run Roundhouse

Jenny Mollica will step down from her current role in summer 2026 to become CEO of London music and arts venue Roundhouse. Mollica will succeed Marcus Davey CBE who steps down after 27 years at the helm of the Camden venue, while the process to appoint ENO’s next CEO is now underway. - Classical Music UK

Warning: Florida’s New Education Dictates Are A Return To McCarthyism

 “History should never be rewritten to match the politics of the day, as history has valuable lessons to teach.” - APNews

We Live In An Age Of Self-Optimization. Where Did This Notion Come From?

This culture of self-quantification in the pursuit of self-improvement long predates social media, algorithms and targeted advertising. In fact, we can trace its roots back into the daily lives and preoccupations of the Victorian middle classes. - Aeon

India Could Be Poised To Develop Its Own Musical Theatre

“If authentically delivered, the potential is colossal. India’s population of 1.4 billion includes a fast-growing urban middle class … (with) a rising appetite for theatre that blends storytelling, music and spectacle. The real question is whether India can find its own mainstream musical theatre voice, and cinema may offer some clues.” - The Stage (UK)

Education Is Flapping Around Trying To Figure Out AI’s Role In Teaching, Learning

Even as a significant proportion of their students are submitting AI-generated work, they proudly reassure each other that their courses are too demanding or too humanistic for any machine to understand them. - Persuasion

Michael Andor Brodeur Analyzes The 2026 Classical Grammy Nominees

Most notably, composer Gabriela Ortiz, who won three Grammys last time, could do it again, as she’s a triple nominee this year. Overall, in fact, the list of nominees is (as has been the case for a number of years now) largely dominated by contemporary music, most of it American. - The Washington Post (MSN)

Here Are The Classical Grammy Nominations For 2026 (In Case You Missed Them)

And, unfortunately, they’re easy to miss, since they’re always stuck all the way down at the end of a very long list of categories. - Moto Perpetuo

New Emphasis On Dancers’ Mental Health

Dancers began to question their careers and who they were apart from being dancers. Some saw their bodies change. Some decided to have children. And many started paying closer attention to their mental well-being. - The New York Times

What Does News Independence Mean After BBC Mess?

The resignations come as the BBC enters a decisive period. The renewal of its royal charter in 2027 will define the corporation’s funding model and public purpose for the next decade. At the same time, the BBC faces a hostile political climate, sustained financial pressure, and a rapidly fragmenting audience. - NiemanLab

Corporation For Public Broadcasting Resolves Suit By NPR Following Trump Cuts

The arrangement resolves litigation filed by NPR accusing the corporation of illegally yielding to Trump's demands that the network be financially punished for its news coverage. - NPR

Taylor Sheridan’s TV Series Have Earned An Astonishing Amount Of Money For Paramount+

“Since the first of his Paramount+ originals premiered in 2021, Sheridan's titles have generated more than $800 million in global streaming revenue for the platform.” And that’s without domestic revenue from his cornerstone show, Yellowstone, whose US streaming rights are held by Peacock. - TheWrap (MSN)

Two Early Organ Works By Bach Performed For First Time In 300 Years

“Researchers discovered the anonymous, undated works in Belgium's Royal Library in 1992, but it wasn’t until recently that they were able to authenticate Bach as their author. … Entitled Chaconne in D minor BWV 1178 and Chaconne in G minor BWV 1179, the pieces were … (premiered at) Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church.” - The Guardian

Bill Ivey, Who Calmed Conservative Fury At The NEA, Has Died At 81

He was a guitar-playing folklorist who had run the Country Music Foundation in Nashville for 26 years, when President Clinton nominated him to chair the NEA in 1998. Congressional Republicans had repeatedly cut the agency’s budget following controversies over grantees; Ivey won the lawmakers over, and the NEA grew again. - The New York Times

How The Ushers At New York’s Top Performing Arts Venues Shoo The Audience Back Into The Hall From Intermission

First, they repeatedly play a little melody on a glockenspiel or dinner chime or marimba as they stroll through the lobbies. Then, says one longtime usher at the Metropolitan Opera, “We have to push them, kind of like moving cattle.” - The New York Times

“Parasocial” Is Cambridge Dictionary’s 2025 Word Of The Year

Taylor and Travis, podcast hosts, even chatbots — this has been a year full of intense but one-sided relationships between some ordinary individuals and celebrities (or pieces of code) they’ve never actually met. - Cambridge University Press

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