The music industry was questioning whether the show would continue with its scheduled date, despite the fact that the Los Angeles wildfires have devastated many communities in the area in the past week. - Variety
The Pacific Palisades fire destroyed the headquarters of Belmont Music Publishers, the sole publisher of Schoenberg's works. Lost were the complete inventory of sales materials and rental collections, some manuscripts, and decades' worth of printed works. - Ludwig Van
Last week, 13 staff members received an email containing screenshots of WhatsApp messages, including images "pornographic in nature," between an unnamed individual and Executive Director Seth Ducey, who evidently took those images in the SFGC building while nobody else was there. Ducey claims he's been blackmailed. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“Members of the chorus staff received an email containing screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation containing images that were 'pornographic in nature,’ according to Chorus spokesperson Sam Singer.” Leaders say that none of the chorus members were involved, or in the Kanbar Performing Arts Center, at the time. - San Francisco Chronicle
Kyleen King wants to protect the “sacred catharsis” that audiences feel when they listen to music - and one way to do that, she thinks, is to "preserve what music is for listeners and also care for the people who make that music so their work is sustainable.” - Oregon ArtsWatch
And why not? "Composer Ellen Fishman t”The musicians play traditional quartet instruments - two violins, a viola and a cello - but Fishman wanted one more instrument” - the double-bass, so yoga students could feel it through the floor. - NPR
"All of this is sadly familiar, as both the 2021 and 2022 Grammy Awards — executive producer Ben Winston’s first shows at the helm — had a similar charitable focus due to the coronavirus pandemic.” - Variety
That’s mere months after his surprise departure from the NY Phil. The Houston Symphony board president: "No one wants to work in an environment where they feel like they either can’t be successful, or they’re not trusted or they’ve got somebody looking over their shoulder.” - Associated Press
The department store chain has definitively decided to close its historic Philadelphia location, making the future of the world's largest fully-functioning musical instrument uncertain. But the store's Grand Court, including the organ, has protected landmark status. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
In the audio-visual world, they have a name for the phenomenon depicted above – where rival platforms repeatedly increase their prices, inspiring their competitors to do the same. They call it streamflation. - Music Business Worldwide
"How can we reconcile the apparently gung-ho socialist sentiments expressed in Symphonies No. 3 and 4 with the bitter disillusionment and sarcasm that explode in Symphonies No. 13 and 14? Should the issue of Shostakovich’s political convictions (or lack thereof) change the way we listen to his music anyway?" - San Francisco Classical Voice
He has an explanation: “People feel trapped. If you go to an art gallery and there is a picture you don’t like, you can just move away, but if you are in a concert and sitting in the middle of a row, people are polite and won’t walk out.” - The Guardian
Certainly the story is operatic: two people with traumatic childhoods meet on a cruise ship, fall in love, develop a successful magic act, and become the biggest act in Las Vegas until one of them is killed by their favorite tiger. Luke Di Somma's opera premieres this week in Sydney. - The Guardian
