Music has a variety of “jobs,” as the other arts do. It can calm, soothe, and delight. It can also provoke, disturb, bite. No one expects the other arts to be beautiful and soothing, only. (Think of theater!) But some people have that expectation of music. - Plough
A recent report from NielsenIQ found that trade nonfiction sales have slipped sharply. In volume terms, the category is down 8.4% between last summer and the same period this year – nearly double the decline in paperback fiction – and down 4.7% in value. - The Guardian
The June event, formerly the 96-Hour Opera festival, is being expanded and rechristened as the NOW Festival (New Opera Works), with well-known librettist and director Tazewell Thompson as artistic advisor. - EarRelevant
Unity, cohesion, and a sense of epic narrative have been lost. Freedom, pluralism, sensitivity, and a respect for difference have been gained, and, overall, I am glad. - History Today
Behavioral economics has identified dozens of cognitive biases that stop us from acting ‘rationally’. But instead of building up a messier and messier picture of human behavior, we need a new model. - Works in Progress
Jaime Castañeda, a freelance director who has worked extensively with the top regional companies in California and with New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, will assume his role next July. He succeeds interim artistic director and resident director Jonathan Norton as well as former artistic director Kevin Moriarty, now DTC’s executive director. - KERA (Dallas)
Behind the walkout are not only frayed labor relations, but a building itself under strain, with crumbling parts of the aging former palace now deemed unsafe. At the heart of the crisis lies a deeper rupture: a $102 million jewel heist that exposed security failures. - APNews
“It was such a surprise to me when they said we’re going to rename it,” she recounted in a phone interview. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and pushed my button. But then I was muted.” - The New York Times
Rather than serve the public’s curiosities, he said, he wants to serve artists—to give them “a place for them to learn a little bit more about themselves.” - The Atlantic
“Inside the kingdom’s gilded palaces, industry players are mingling with princes and executives, while celebrities stroll red carpets at festivals, concerts and sporting events from Riyadh to Jeddah. ... The willingness to re-engage with the Saudis has been driven by several forces, (especially) Hollywood's insatiable need for new funding sources.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
“Estimates of the size of the video game industry range from $200 to $300 billion — larger than film, television and music combined, by some calculations — and Saudi Arabia, in its relentless, top-down drive to diversify from oil, is taking a big slice.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
“The Japanese conglomerate has bought 41% of Peanuts Holdings, which owns the intellectual property Schulz created, from the Canadian children’s entertainment company WildBrain (for C$630 million/US$458 million). The deal raises Sony’s total stake, which it began building in 2018, to 80%. The Schulz family owns the remaining 20%.” - The Guardian
“(Library executives’) stated ‘values’ included a roll call of abstract nouns: openness, honesty, compassion, equality and fairness. Yet staff tell a story of gross mismanagement, woeful pay and an executive board who are completely out of touch with the day-to-day running of the library.” - The Standard (London)
In 2023, when he was ballet director at Germany's Hannover State Opera, Marco Goecke did this and was promptly fired. Now he’s been given another chance: he’s artistic director of Ballet Basel in Switzerland. Critics have set aside any grievances, but Goecke’s big mouth has nevertheless gotten him into trouble. - The New York Times
