For centuries, the spruces of Val di Fiemme have been used in the greatest instruments Italy produces, from Stradivari violins to Fazioli pianos. Here's why these evergreens are so good for their purpose — and what threats they face, from bark beetles to wind storms. - Atlas Obscura
That's how Joshua Barone of The New York Times categorizes Robert Carsen: "His work is by no means repetitive, cautious or dull. But in more than 125 productions over three decades in the field, he has been peerlessly dependable." - The New York Times
Heather MacDonald's Part 2: "The biggest victim in the racial attack on classical music is the music itself. Once the poison of identity politics is injected into a field, it can never recover its prelapsarian innocence." - City Journal
Live music, of course: "By activating these spaces in ways that shed the Met’s stuffiness, the museum is broadening what performance can be." - Hyperallergic
While the music promoter Live Nation said that artists or bands themselves could set masking and vaccination requirements, some venues in places like L.A. are requiring proof of vaccination along with the county's mask mandate. - Los Angeles Times
If mainstream pop is designed to make people feel as if they’re on common ground with all of humanity, this music made listeners feel like they were in on a very specific joke. - The New Yorker
"Too often, those who fund our programs are, in effect, asking our team members to do more with less. There is a combined scarcity/charity mindset that permeates the entirety of our programs, forcing teachers and staff to make difficult choices about their livelihoods and quality of life." - Ensemble News
"Seventy percent of India's musicians practice folk, but they earn only 2% of the industry's revenues. … Many listeners today only hear the genre through movies, or adapted by indie bands," something the nonprofit Anahad Foundation is working to change. - The Christian Science Monitor
"We knew all this in January," says the CEO of the musicians' trade body. "The idea that the government has done something fantastic or that it has won some concessions is not correct. The announcement is not new information to the music industry." - The Guardian
"The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it had negotiated with 19 EU member state countries to allow British musicians and performers to conduct short tours visa-free." The only major markets not included so far are Spain, Portugal, and Greece. - The Guardian (PA Media)
"Making a mess is central to creativity and certainly to composition. … (With music software,) I think that sometimes young composers can be misled. Because it looks perfect on the screen and it looks perfect when it's printed out, and it's not done." (podcast with transcription) - Slate
CEO Peter Kjome said in a statement, "Ms. Skala has had discipline imposed upon her over these past few months; unfortunately, she has repeated the conduct for which she had been previously disciplined, and dismissal was the necessary and appropriate reaction to this behavior." - The Baltimore Sun
In the face of (the) modernist revolution, Saint-Saëns (kept) churning out tasteful, perfectly formed, self-consciously harmonious music. - The Guardian
