The composer had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Now he was engaging the world’s best soloists to perform his music—compositions that some musicians and critics found amateurish at best and soulless at worst. - Van
This decision harms libraries. It locks them into an e-book ecosystem designed to extract as much money as possible while harvesting (and reselling) reader data en masse. It leaves local communities’ reading habits at the mercy of curatorial decisions made by four dominant publishing companies thousands of miles away. - MIT Technology Review
The organization argued that AI helps disabled or marginalized writers who don't have industry connections. As one of many now-former members put it, "It’s pretty insulting to imply that the only way members of marginalized communities can get their foot in the door is through the use of a plagiarism machine." - Slate (MSN)
Bates — who said she'll retire after finishing the title role in the reboot of the TV series Matlock — was having a very rough day (and didn't cancel) when she met reporter Alexis Soloski, who wrote frankly about what she saw and the pain the beloved actress was in. - The New York Times
In July, the board of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras broke ties with the conductor, 11 months after he punched a singer in the face. Now Gardiner is launching the Constellation Choir and Orchestra, which in December will tour with the same program his former groups are performing without him. - The Guardian
He was the longtime general manager of the Marlboro Music Festival, Vermont's great summer school for music students, and founding artistic director of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, which he developed into one of the busiest and most prestigious chamber music series in the country. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Internet Archive “is the only keeper of the internet’s first days, via the Wayback Machine. ... The archive is a huge source for Wikipedia citations, and makes a stand against publisher monopolies. Most of all? If it’s destroyed, millions and millions of cultural items could be lost to history.” - LitHub
Check the map. “Florida and Texas have the most bans in place, with 2647 and 1469 in place respectively. Thankfully the number of Little Free Libraries is higher in both states: Florida has 2886, and Texas has 2373.” - LitHub
The Grammy winner stumbled across 17th-century music by accident. “Much of this Baroque music was written by women who sang about the pain of lost loves who went off to sea. They sang of nostalgia, melancholy and passion. Many of them are also … long forgotten.” - El Pais
Turns out that punting on the use of generative AI to “win” a contest of writing 50,000 words in a month, while having a sponsor that encourages the use of AI, while claiming those who question generative AI are “classist” and “ableist” isn’t going so well. - The New York Times
Las Vegas is the largest city in the US without a major art museum; casino magnate Elaine Wynn and LACMA director Michael Govan intend to change that. The Las Vegas Museum of Art won't start out with a collection; artworks, curation, and exhibitions will come from Los Angeles. - The New York Times
"Xian Zhang was hired Thursday as music director of the Seattle Symphony, becoming the first woman conductor to head a major West Coast orchestra and filling a post that had been vacant since Thomas Dausgaard quit abruptly in January 2022. Zhang agreed to a five-year contract starting in 2025-26." - AP
"The Crown Prosecution Service said on Thursday that it decided to discontinue proceedings against Weinstein because there is 'no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.' … The CPS had previously authorized police to file the charges against Weinstein in relation to an alleged indecent assault that occurred in London in 1996." - AP
"You pay a monthly membership fee ... that entitles you to attend however much you’d like. As with a gym or a streaming service, some people may go often; some, not at all. Regardless, the orchestra receives steady revenue, and you have full control of your calendar." - The New York Times
"The Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, which contributed about half of UArts’ $62 million endowment, is not in favor of that money going to Temple as part of the deal, which largely appears to be sinking it. … Temple did not want to engage in a legal battle with a charitable trust." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
New company director Anthony Roth Costanzo has raised over $7 million since he took over on June 1, and he says, "That fundraising is not only subsidizing this ticketing model, but a lot of it is inspired by this ticketing model." (Patrons who can afford more have a pay-what-you-wish option.) - WHYY (Philadelphia)
But some ballet dancers, or more likely companies, refuse to use them. Says one consultant, “The classical ballet world has a resistance to change that can be a huge obstacle.” - Wall Street Journal (MSN)
“Amanda Jones is a Louisiana middle-school librarian who sleeps with a shotgun under her bed and carries a pistol when she travels the back roads” thanks to right-wing attacks on books - and now her. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Is something going right for a beloved media product? This doesn’t sound like 2024 - and yet. The Onion, which many people had long given up for dead, has been bought, revived, stripped of terrible ad content, given a new platform - and a print subscription. - The Verge
The DNC balloon designer was fighting for his life at the hospital, but “a team of 55 balloon artists from 18 states — and five from Canada — gathered in Chicago last week on their own dime, blowing up and tying thousands of balloons in DeLorenzo’s honor.” - Washington Post (MSN)
