Addressing high school students in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a few weeks ago, former US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle said that the US State Department faces “an existential crisis.” Speaking on my latest NPR “More than Music” feature, “What’s an Orchestra For?,” he further comments: “Soft power” – the use of music and education as an instrument of foreign policy – … [Read more...] about What’s an Orchestra For? — and The Crisis in “Soft Power” Diplomacy
Finding a Mahler Message for Today
My review of Karol Berger’s Mahler’s Symphonic World: Music for the Age of Uncertainty – “Finding a Mahler Message for Today” – was today published online by The American Scholar. You can read it here. One starting point of Berger’s terrific new book is Theodor Adorno’s 1960 contention that Mahler’s gift was essentially pessimistic, that he did not succeed as an ostensible … [Read more...] about Finding a Mahler Message for Today
Stravinsky, Elmer Fudd, and the South Dakota Symphony
The final NEH-funded, multi-media “Music Unwound” concert featuring the South Dakota Symphony took place last Saturday night. I cast myself in a cameo role, playing the Soldier in three excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. I modelled my impersonation on Elmer Fudd. The main events, however, were Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and … [Read more...] about Stravinsky, Elmer Fudd, and the South Dakota Symphony
The Erosion of the American Arts
The new issue of the online New American Studies Journal is devoted to the challenged fate of the arts. I append an overview of my contribution on “The Erosion of the American Arts.” To read the whole article, click here. To see the whole issue, click here. The gripping cover story of the 2024 December issue of The Atlantic is “How the Ivy League Broke … [Read more...] about The Erosion of the American Arts
The Tangled Legacy of JFK and the Cultural Cold War: America Needs a New Public Policy for the Arts
Today’s online Persuasion magazine carries my thoughts on “The Tangled Legacy of JFK and the Cultural Cold War: America Needs a New Public Policy for the Arts.” You can read it here. Bottom-line, I write: “If, logically, American arts policy today should focus on greatly increasing government support at every level, never has this prospect seemed less likely. Now, too, is … [Read more...] about The Tangled Legacy of JFK and the Cultural Cold War: America Needs a New Public Policy for the Arts