Speaking of his own experiences as a child in 1970s Trinidad as well as conducting children's concerts at the BBC Proms in London and in North Carolina in the 2020s, Ryan says the secret is the same. - The Guardian
"Audience members had long complained about lousy acoustics under the balcony overhang and bad views from many seats. … Musicians coped with a backstage area that felt like a cramped obstacle course. … Guest performers had to walk out to steel catwalk stairs and down four floors from the artist entrance." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
"At the core of the dispute is what the union identifies as an unacceptable wage gap between NSO musicians and their peers in orchestras of similar size and stature, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic." - The Washington Post (MSN)
Jaeden Izik-Dzurko took home the top prize, along with a cash award of roughly $54,000, following his final performance at St. George's Hall in Bradford, about 325 kilometres northwest of London, on Saturday. - CBC
“There could be no sweeter-sounding bird on the wire that leads back to Cohen’s 50-year legacy in music than Batalla, who along with Julie Christensen formed the duo that accompanied Cohen during his incredibly fruitful ‘I’m Your Man’ and ‘The Future' period.” - Variety
Sophie, who died in 2021, started young, going to music festivals with her dad and brother as a child. "One day, a friend of their dad gave Sophie an old synth, and she began experimenting, sampling sounds around the house and recording music." - The Guardian (UK)
"The opera’s three-and-a-half-hour running time has been cut to ... ninety minutes, and the exquisite Italian libretto is being projected in internet-speak English subtitles accented with the occasional emoji. The show promises to be art in line with that great contemporary ideal: frictionlessness.” - Paris Review
The chorus struck for three days last week, canceling the season opener. “An earlier proposal would cut choristers’ compensation by 65% and reduced their programs to five per year.” Now there’s a compromise proposal, but will that be enough? - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The piece dates to the mid to late 1760s and consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting about 12 minutes, the Leipzig municipal libraries said in a statement on Thursday. - The Guardian
"I continue to be struck by the fact that the current leadership of the San Francisco Symphony really has no defenders in any press: local, national, or international. They are getting hammered by all quarters, by all media. And if they were hoping to win over ABC7, that clearly didn’t go well." - Song of the Lark
The streaming boom that lifted the music industry’s fortunes in the mid-2010s after years of decline has leveled off, — with the recorded-music industry posting just 4% growth in the first half of 2024 after many years of double-digit increases — and all three major companies have been laying off staff. - Variety
"More than 150 musicians and patrons joined the Symphony Chorus, which formed a picket … in front of Davies Symphony Hall an hour and a half before the Verdi Requiem concert was scheduled to begin. Among the signs held by strikers, one read, 'No contract = No Chorus.'" - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"The deal with Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians calls for raises of about 15% in 2024-25, and 7.5% each in 2025-26 and 2026-27. Base pay will rise to $205,000 by the deal’s final season." - AP
