"For decades, Barenboim and the Staatskapelle shared common interests. Now, 'til death do us part' has become a burden. Complicating the dynamics of this stagnant marriage is a third party: Berlin's Culture Department, … (seemingly) unable to intervene in the quagmire at the Staatsoper." - Van
The exodus of two-thirds of both administrative staff and board members — culminating in the resignation of music director Thomas Dausgaard — since the arrival of CEO Krishna Thiagarajan just over three years ago indicates a problem. What's happening now is not how a healthy organization would handle things. - Post Alley (Seattle)
The “immersive entertainment” industry, which includes nondigital experiences such as escape rooms and other content in which the participant feels a sense of presence in an artificial environment, is large and growing, spanning contexts such as live events, arts performances, and museums. - Jacobin
The Orquesta Sinfónica Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho in Caracas is already the country's least conventional symphonic ensemble: they frequently perform in the barrios and regularly explore fusion with Afro-Caribbean music. Their most recent project, Sinfonía Desordenada (Disorderly Symphony), turned out to be, er, aptly named. - National Geographic
A digital drug for anyone with a phone, and especially young people, the TikTok app uses random reinforcement — similar to a slot machine on the Las Vegas strip — to keep users scrolling. It has changed the way Americans tell and view stories. - Salon
Says dancer/choreographer JaQuel Knight, who founded Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc. to address the issue, "Over the past year and a half, so many of the biggest records were directly tied to TikTok dances. Those songs made millions. And the creators of the dances received zero." - Dance Magazine
Today, barring the newish Halifax and Calgary central libraries (which opened in 2014 and 2018, respectively), one wonders whether the average Canadian could name a building constructed in the past thirty years the country could be proud of. - The Walrus
Or, at least, that worked for Costa prize winner Caleb Azumah Nelson, who had been working at an Apple Store before an agent bit on his writing. - The Guardian (UK)
The not-too-distant future, at that. "Film festivals have always struggled with accessibility issues that can be mitigated by allowing people to attend from home. So perhaps hybrid festivals are the future even in the best of times." - Wired
"It has been unsettling, if not entirely unwelcome, to find herself courted in recent months by art world pundits and curiosity seekers. … 'I am not going to make a big deal of being more than what I am,' she said. 'Or less.'" - The New York Times
"For him, conservatism signaled a commitment to tradition, to persevering and building on past achievement. It was a conservatism of memory, not of grievance and spite. … With his death, this strain of conservatism seems not only rare but perhaps even extinct." - The Nation
The licence fee announcement needs to be seen as part of a wider legacy in which the government has questioned the relevance of the whole idea of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) and its role in the 21st century. - The Conversation
According to MRC Data, old songs now represent 70% of the US music market. Those who make a living from new music—especially that endangered species known as the working musician—have to look on these figures with fear and trembling. - Ted Gioia
Following a full lockdown over Christmas, salons, gyms, and brothels were allowed to reopen this week while arts venues had to remain shuttered. So the Van Gogh Museum offered manicures, the Mauritshuis held fitness classes, and the Concertgebouw gave haircuts as Susanna Mälkki conducted Ives's Second Symphony. - France 24
We had to learn to insert ourselves into social media conversations, and that will continue to be a series of moving goalposts. Facebook, for instance, was still free when we started, but they now actively shut down any attempts to spread word if you aren’t paying for it. - LitHub
"She achieved literary celebrity but called herself a 'literary failure,' was supported in a marriage that ultimately collapsed, resisted her family but didn't denounce it, became an icon of the civil-rights movement she relentlessly criticized, and wrote a masterpiece only to watch as it was widely misunderstood." - The New Yorker
By the time the concert hall opened in 2017, it was six years late and had cost €866 million, ten times the initial budget. Five years on, concert audiences have tripled, subscriptions have quadrupled, and the "Elphi" is a beloved symbol of the entire city. - The Guardian
Besides the fact that "the NFT market is essentially a game of hot potato: Ditch it before the music stops, or you're stuck with some lines of code and a hefty financial loss. … The question is whether NFTs are the right medium to encourage connections" between artists and audiences. - Van
