By now he can do anything he likes, and he got the first of many job offers five minutes after announcing his departure from the San Francisco Symphony. Salonen says he doesn't want to run another orchestra — but he said that when he left the Los Angeles Philharmonic, too. - The New York Times
Ilya Ram, a 33-year-old Israeli-American, is currently music director of the Akademische Philharmonie Heidelberg, a position he will keep. He begins his tenure in Tennessee this coming season. - Chattanooga Times Free Press
The Royal Opera House's renaming as the Royal Ballet & Opera and concert venue St. John's Smith Square's rechristening as Sinfonia Smith Square — they weren't just a way for some marketing consultant to earn next month's mortgage payment. Here's a look into their considered reasons for making the change. - Classical Music (UK)
It’s more than two years into Russia’s war with Ukraine, and Teodor Currentzis’ “continued presence is frustrating to many, raising uncomfortable questions about what is acceptable in service of music.” - The New York Times
The EP-1320 comes “pre-loaded with a selection of playable musical instruments from the Middle Ages, from frame drums, battle toms, and coconut horse hooves to bagpipes, bowed harps, and, yes, hurdy-gurdies.” - Open Culture
She played in the orchestra, somehow survived, and later helped found the English Chamber Orchestra. And at nearly 100 years old, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch has forgotten nothing. - The New Yorker
“Music appears so much earlier in human history than money, let alone the music industry. We’ve found all sorts of other reasons to make music anyway.” - Vox
No, this doesn't mean the piano etudes of Philip Glass. Ludovico Einaudi is the most famous of a school of keyboard composers such as Joep Breving, Nils Frahm, Lubomyr Melnyk, Riopy, and Sophie Hutchings. They draw far more streaming listeners than even Yuja Wang. Beving actually records for DG. - The Guardian
“The goal of LOUD Weekend is to imagine the world that’s yet to exist — one where composers and musicians work on equal footing, where programming is collaborative and challenging, where creation builds community, where audiences appreciate risk.” - Washington Post (MSN)
The main suspect is a 19-year-old, who “had confessed to the plans shortly after being arrested, giving the police a detailed insight into his intended acts, which included using explosives and weapons to kill as many concert attendees as possible.” - The New York Times
Christopher Wu has some ideas to make symphony-going seem less of a chore to newbies. “Culture is always shifting. Everyone is into TikTok now. ... So maybe we need to be open to reimagining the presentation of this music we love, not the music itself.” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"With South African stars shining on the international stage, opera has boomed since racial barriers were scrapped in 1994, drawing in talent from the country's great choral traditions to carve out an important place in (the) cultural landscape. Much of the change has been driven by the 25-year-old Cape Town Opera." - AFP (Yahoo!)
"Robinson, who has been artistic director at the opera company in Missouri since 2008, will join Seattle Opera on Sept. 4. … He succeeds Christina Scheppelmann, who (is) leaving after the end of the 2023-24 season to become general and artistic director of Brussels’s La Monnaie/De Munt." - The Seattle Times
For instance, the Alliance of Black Orchestral Percussionists “provides students with equipment like mallets and cymbals, allowing proteges to master more quickly the dizzying array of instruments for which an orchestral percussionist is responsible.” - San Francisco Classical Voice
