Percussionist Sam Wilson of Riot Ensemble writes about Georg Friedrich Haas's Solstices, in which he has the hardest job: "A pianist can feel where their keys are even if the music is extremely complex; a violinist has a constant physical connection with their instrument; a trumpet player always knows where the valves are. For me, holding up four sticks...
With no dance floors or concert halls to fill, many listeners turned toward gentler, unobtrusive music to help quiet their restless minds. In response, artists who might not have publicly ventured into this sometimes esotericterrain now feel emboldened to do so. - The New York Times
Northeast Indiana Public Radio purchased the license for 94.1 FM in 2002 for $1.8 million and has been operating it since then as Classical 94.1 WBNI. But NIPR never raised enough money to cover both running costs and debt service from acquiring the frequency, so the broadcaster is now selling 94.1 FM — for $350,000 — to a licensee...
The Symphony’s shift to a customer-centric approach is also reflected in their departure from sending the industry standard “killer offer” coupons to first-time audiences in an attempt to bring them back. It seems simple on the surface, but offering a cash voucher instead of a discount coupon is a dramatic shift in messaging from the egocentric “Please come back!”...
"The upcoming season will be more modest than usual: about 90 concerts, compared with a typical slate of 150, though more may be added depending on the state of the pandemic. With the virus still raging in many parts of the world and variants circulating, Carnegie said it planned to require concertgoers to show proof of vaccination. It has...
"The problems have built up over at least the last half century and they cannot be solved overnight. But there are a host of strategies—many already being implemented successfully by some of the more forward-looking organizations." - Nightingale Sonata
The revelation of “Circus Days and Nights” is existentially simple and direct. Cut through a thin layer of tawdriness and cheap tinsel that may be on its surface, and you discover that a circus can exist only thanks to absolute trust. The life of every acrobat lies in unerring balance. Balance is the religion of circus life. Trust and...
It argues that streaming via services such as Spotify and Apple Music be legislated more like radio. “The law has not kept up with the pace of technological change and, as a result, performers and songwriters do not enjoy the same protections as they do in radio,” the letter states. “Today’s musicians receive very little income from their performances...
Seeking a grand symbol of New York’s revitalization after a brutal pandemic year, Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning a large-scale performance by multiple acts and has called on Clive Davis, the 89-year-old producer and music-industry eminence, to pull it together. - The New York Times
Another creative moment borne from boredom during the pandemic: "Dan Tepfer plays the first of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. The piano is a Disklavier, which can record and play back. When he finishes, Tepfer taps a button on his iPad, triggering the piano to play back what he's just recorded with the notes inverted, as if the score were turned upside...
See: Bartlett Sher's Oslo and his Elisir."It’s rare that history colors a human experience without applying a layer—even a thin layer—to the whole surface." - Van Magazine
Admirers and critics alike may say, "At last!" This is a strong about-face. "He proudly played Bach on modern pianos; referred to fortepianists with an interest in Schubert as mere 'specialists'; and told a New York Times interviewer in 1983, 'I’ve heard some ghastly things done in the name of authenticity.' Time and experience, though, have brought about a wholesale change in...
Universal, Hipgnosis, Primary Wave, and others have paid multiple hundreds of millions for music catalogs ranging from Bob Dylan's to that of Stevie Nicks. But "music publishing and related intellectual-property management and exploitation is not a business one enters lightly. Famously called 'a business of pennies,' it requires attentive nurturing and development in order to maximize the value. ......
Zachary Woolfe: "There are more of them than ever, and they go by a variety of titles: assistant, associate, fellow, resident. Almost every major orchestra has at least one, … a far more diverse group in which women and musicians of color have found success in recent years. … The question now is how soon they will enter...
Three members of the national company's governing body (reportedly the three with the most experience with and connections within the industry) stepped down in May. One of them has since spoken up to refute speculation about specific reasons for their departure, but his explanation is less than entirely clear: "What I saw was a huge upswelling of discontent and...
