“The State and Cathedral Choir of Berlin, founded in 1465 by the ruler of Brandenburg, Fredrick II, promotes ‘free musical education for boys.’ … Since then, the choir, now part of Berlin’s University of the Arts, has grown into a public institution that includes more than 250 singers in 11 ensembles who undergo rigorous [musical] training and perform around the globe.” The family of a nine-year-old girl who was rejected three times has sued, and a ruling is expected on Friday. – The New York Times

“Americans have made a political investment in a myth of racial separateness, the idea that art forms can be either ‘white’ or ‘black’ in character … This country’s music is an advertisement for 400 years of the opposite: centuries of ‘amalgamation’ and ‘miscegenation’ as they long ago called it, of all manner of interracial collaboration conducted with dismaying ranges of consent.” An essay for The 1619 Project by Wesley Morris. – The New York Times Magazine

Joshua Kosman: “Here’s my request for today to creators of contemporary opera: How would it be if we had a new work that did not turn on a female character sacrificing herself to redeem a man? … The Bay Area’s operatic stages this month have been weirdly rife with women eager to throw themselves overboard for a man’s sake, and honestly my patience is starting to wear a little thin.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Lidiya Yankovskaya (a fine example of the phenomenon herself): “In addition to their traditional duties within established institutions, an increasing number of conductors run independent organizations, launch musical and civic initiatives, serve as catalysts for the development of new work, and use their positions to cross disciplinary boundaries. In bypassing institutional gatekeepers, these conductors have brought relevance, vitality, and an expanding number of previously unrepresented voices into the field. Indeed, the dynamic new ‘catalyst-conductor’ could help bring the revitalization that the classical music industry so desperately seeks.” – NewMusicBox

“More and more, critics are going beyond reviews that focus on musicality and technique to report on problems concerning diversity, politics, and workplace culture. Independent publications such as I Care If You Listen, NewMusicBox, and National Sawdust’s The Log reflect a more diverse creative landscape and a more politically-conscious audience. There’s an increasing drive, [Jennifer] Gersten tells CJR, ‘to ask what a given concert is doing for the reputation of an institution and for the field at large … Can we use this concert, this particular piece, as a sign that there are better things to come?’” – Columbia Journalism Review

“From art to science and beyond, the work of historically marginalised groups is being gloriously shared. Except within classical music, that is. And to compound matters, the errors of the past are being repeated today.” – The Guardian

“What we have here, in other words, is the painful and all-too-familiar story of two creative dynamos in the same house, only one of whom was allowed to give full rein to their artistic impulses. Yet the music that Clara did produce is astonishingly fine.” Joshua Kosman fills us in on what most of us have been missing. – San Francisco Chronicle

The African American and Black musicians who make up the Re-Collective Orchestra recorded a chamber-music version of Black Panther‘s “All the Stars Are Open.” Hans Zimmer heard it, and then he asked the musicians to record the score for the Disney behemoth’s live-action version of its massive 1994 hit. For bassoonist Lecolion Washington, the experience “felt like an acknowledgement that who makes art, and the stories they bring, holds as much value as the art itself.” – WBUR (Boston)

Brin Solomon: “In casting a trans man to play a trans woman, the Stonewall creative team have botched things so spectacularly … It’s difficult to convey how bizarre this casting choice is. It’s like writing a character who’s a lesbian, casting a gay man to play her, and then boasting of writing a homosexual character for a homosexual actor.” – I Care If You Listen

“Some … found new voices, either with the help of hormones or through retraining. Others kept the voices they had built their careers on — even if it meant continuing to perform in the gender they had left behind. Now some are getting higher-profile roles — and upending preconceptions about voice and gender. … We spent time with four of the artists at the forefront of this new wave.” – The New York Times

It received funding from Arts Council England’s Change Makers initiative to become more accessible and inclusive. Alongside organisational changes like disability awareness training, BSO created a disabled-led ensemble, BSO Resound, and supported a training placement for its Director, conductor James Rose. – Arts Professional

“When our society is having to confront the murder of women, how can we dare to applaud the killing of a woman?” said Cristiano Chiarot, the head of the opera house, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. – Sydney Morning Herald

Lyndon Terracini was responding to a call from Australian composers, directors, musicians, and vocalists, who have called for a ”revolution” to remove what they describe as gender bias, sexism, and dramatised acts of violence against women in opera. – Sydney Morning Herald

More than 60 organisations, including some of the UK’s highest-funded companies and prominent performing arts conservatoires, have promised to take positive action towards equality. The Keychange project is the brainchild of charitable funding body the PRS Foundation. It was launched in 2018, when 180 music festivals committed to programming gender-balanced line-ups by 2022. – The Stage

Jeremy Dutcher incorporates in his live and recorded music an unusual and affecting act of legacy, playing transcribed wax recordings from 1911 by an early anthropologist of a tribal elder singing and speaking, and following the melodies with his own heldentenor voice and mellifluous keyboard compositions.  – San Francisco Classical Voice

“I had never done an opera with five protagonists before. I had to figure out how to do that. I was fascinated by group singing. Then I began thinking about that period in time, Take 6 and a lot of the boy groups that were popular in that time. I started looking at what I could do with close harmony for five voices.” – The Washington Post

Anne Midgette: “Preparing young musicians for a career in music looks different now than it did in 1988, when NOI began. A big part of instrumentalists’ training has always been learning to play orchestral excerpts as best they can, to land a job in an orchestra. But in today’s world, orchestra jobs are ever harder to come by, and orchestras are struggling with their identities, trying to figure out ways to become more diverse in their personnel and their programming. Institutions like NOI can play an active role in that kind of shift.” – The Washington Post

The diva posted a photo of herself in her dressing room at the Mariinsky, all done up as Verdi’s enslaved Ethiopian princess, and one commenter wrote, “Beautiful singing! But is the blackface really necessary?” Netrebko replied, “Black Face and Black Body for Ethiopien [sic] princess, for Verdi[‘s] greatest opera! YES!” And, of course, all hell broke loose. (It didn’t help when Netrebko called her critics “low class jerks.”) Olivia Giovetti considers why, in the opera world, there still has to be an argument over blackface. – Van