From 2010 until its sudden termination by DOGE last April, I directed Music Unwound, an NEH-funded national consortium of orchestras and universities. A letter from Michael McDonald, the acting NEH chairman, informed me that the demise of Music Unwound represented “an urgent priority for the administration.” It was ended “to safeguard the interests of the federal … [Read more...] about How AI Terminated 1,477 NEH Grants: A Naive Exercise in Casuistry
Trump and the Arts — Take Three
Having written a book – The Propaganda of Freedom – exploring the relationship between JFK and the arts, and having finished in manuscript a subsequent study of Leonard Bernstein and cultural leadership, I find myself responding to the Trump-Kennedy Center and kindred developments by looking backward at what might have been. Trump uses his bully pulpit to go after nations, … [Read more...] about Trump and the Arts — Take Three
An Early Review of My New Wagner Novel
An early review of my forthcoming novel "The Disciple: A Wagnerian Tale from the Gilded Age," by Hans Rudolf Vaget, appears in the current issue of "Wagner Notes" -- the journal of the Wagner Society of New York (pp. 11-12). The book is already available for purchase (with a discount) here. Vaget writes in part: For several decades, Joseph Horowitz has been our foremost … [Read more...] about An Early Review of My New Wagner Novel
Klaus Makela Again
I wasn’t initially planning to write anything about Wednesday night’s Carnegie Hall concert by the Chicago Symphony under Klaus Makela, their 30-year-old impending music director. I’ve written about Makela quite enough. I have no doubt that he is immensely gifted. I have seen him ignite an orchestra with a rare exercise of spontaneous authority. But he seems to me too young for … [Read more...] about Klaus Makela Again
Ivan Fischer’s Mahler, Manfred Honeck’s “Elektra,” and What Happens When an Orchestra “Feels It”
"As the repertoire ages, as the world changes, we will have ever fewer Fischers and Honecks, and ever more Dueñasas, Lims, and Chos. The outcome seems to me unpredictable. It could be a refreshment and it could be a dilution." A dozen years ago, Ivan Fischer came to Carnegie Hall with his Budapest Festival Orchestra for a Dvorak program. So revelatory was their performance … [Read more...] about Ivan Fischer’s Mahler, Manfred Honeck’s “Elektra,” and What Happens When an Orchestra “Feels It”