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Unanswered Question

Joe Horowitz on music

Bernstein, Balanchine, Ellington and the Waning of “Soft Power”

April 15, 2025 by Joe Horowitz 2 Comments

Today’s online Persuasion/The American Purpose runs an essay of mine building on the growing awareness that “soft power” diplomacy, long vital to American foreign policy, seems suddenly in abeyance. Referencing the three most potent cultural ambassadors to the USSR during the Cold War, I write in part:  If American diplomacy cannot today deploy a Leonard Bernstein, George … [Read more...] about Bernstein, Balanchine, Ellington and the Waning of “Soft Power”

“An Urgent Priority” — R. I. P.: NEH (1965-2025) — A Postscript

April 10, 2025 by Joe Horowitz 1 Comment

Here's a postscript to my obituary for the National Endowment of the Humanities, and for my own Music Unwound national consortium: I am now apprised – via a form letter -- that the cancellation of Music Unwound (a 15-year-old national consortium of orchestras and universities) “represents an urgent priority for the administration.”  Music Unwound has also been … [Read more...] about “An Urgent Priority” — R. I. P.: NEH (1965-2025) — A Postscript

Schubert and the Music of Exhaustion

April 7, 2025 by Joe Horowitz 1 Comment

The supreme string quartet, for me, has long been Schubert’s last, in G major -- memorably performed last Friday night by the Danish Quartet at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall.  As one of the quartet’s violinists, Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, was on parental leave, his place was taken by Yura Lee – introduced by violist Asbjorn Norgaard as a Korean-American musician from Los … [Read more...] about Schubert and the Music of Exhaustion

R. I. P. : The National Endowment for the Humanities (1965-2025)

April 5, 2025 by Joe Horowitz 1 Comment

Since 2010 I have administered Music Unwound, a national consortium of orchestras and educational institutions funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I assume that Music Unwound no longer exists – nor does more than $150,000 in Congressionally approved MU funding as yet unspent. To my knowledge, there has been no formal notification. The forces in play are … [Read more...] about R. I. P. : The National Endowment for the Humanities (1965-2025)

What’s an Orchestra For? — and The Crisis in “Soft Power” Diplomacy

April 1, 2025 by Joe Horowitz 1 Comment

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

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About Joe Horowitz

Joseph Horowitz is an award-winning author, concert producer, film-maker, broadcaster, and pianist/composer. He is one of the most prominent and widely published writers on topics in American music. As an orchestral administrator and advisor, he has been a pioneering force in the development of … [more] about Joseph Horowitz

About Unanswered Question

When a few years ago Doug McLennan invited me to write an ArtsJournal blog, I thought about it and said no. Having been born as long ago as 1948, I remain somewhat a stranger to the internet. And, as I am always writing a book (a form of therapy) when I am not producing concerts, I felt I didn't … [more] about The Unanswered Question

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