"The chair of the OA board, Rod Sims, said that Davies’s contract was prematurely severed by mutual agreement … due to 'differences of opinion about how Opera Australia should successfully balance artistic innovation, audience development and commercial imperatives moving forward'." Sources say a mediator had to be brought in. - The Guardian
After a worrisome dip in attendance in 2023 (to 97%), ticket sales to the summer Wagner mecca were up to a total of 58,000 this year. The festival's 2026 sesquicentennial will feature a special performance of the Ring tetralogy, the first Bayreuth production of Rienzi, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. - AP
"Together with the members of Abba, we have discovered that videos have been released where Abba's music has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately removed and taken down." - BBC
78rpm discs were the way we learned about each other and entertained the world. It was a time when the world became a much smaller place. - Internet Archive
"Although the outside of Jacobs Music Center appears much the same as it did in March 2020, when the orchestra played its last concert there before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown" and it was still Copley Symphony Hall, "the inside’s myriad top-to-bottom changes seem transformative and then some." - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
Two miles of HVAC piping, two miles of plumbing, three tuning chambers, five miles of lifting cable, 300 cable pulleys, 85,000 pounds of rigging equipment, up to 150 workers a day, … - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
"Under the agreement, reached with (AFM) Local 342, the minimum salary for CSO musicians will increase from $45,861 to $53,709 over the course of the (three-year) contract. Beginning in year two of the deal, the number of working weeks will increase from 38 to 39." - QCity Metro (Charlotte)
No show charts the streaming industry’s decline in inspiration quite like “Emily in Paris,” or the rush to capture the maximum amount of attention with the minimum investment of capital. - The New Yorker
“Where My Bus At” highlights the budget cuts made to school bus routes. In April 2024, the county board of education voted to remove most school bus routes. - Blavity
"Brent Assink, former executive director of the San Francisco Symphony and past president of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, … takes over for Michelle Miller Burns, who is leaving in September to lead the Dallas Symphony Orchestra." - The Minnesota Star Tribune
Errollyn Wallen succeeds Dame Judith Weir, the first woman to hold the role, who was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2014. In recent years the role has a fixed term of 10 years, and is comparable to the position of poet laureate. - BBC
For every composer affirming authority in their work, opera’s history offers counterexamples: creators so committed to establishing a new world order in sound that they resisted all conventions and invented their own instruments, their own ensembles or their own theaters. - The New York Times
The turmoil began after the MSO canceled a concerto appearance by a pianist who made a statement about Gaza from the stage. Musicians objected to that move but also called for the resignation of managing director Sophie Galaise for more general "poor communication, a lack of accountability and declining morale." - Limelight (Australia)
New company director Anthony Roth Costanzo has raised over $7 million since he took over on June 1, and he says, "That fundraising is not only subsidizing this ticketing model, but a lot of it is inspired by this ticketing model." (Patrons who can afford more have a pay-what-you-wish option.) - WHYY (Philadelphia)
Last summer, the Russian soprano sued the company for cancelling all her engagements after she refused to denounce Putin following his invasion of Ukraine. A Federal judge has tossed out her claims for breach of contract, defamation, and discrimination due to national origin, permitting only her gender claim. - AP
