Salonen’s anticipated departure casts a long shadow over the Symphony amidst a furor of concerns about leadership, transparency and board decisions. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
According to the Boston Symphony, the orchestra gave 146 world premieres during his tenure, as well as another 86 U.S. premieres and many, many more performances of recent pieces he thought deserving of an audience. He led more than 300 works written by Americans. To those in his favor, he was a hero. - The New York Times
"'The Taliban tried to silence us,' said Ahmad Sarmast, the director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, in his new office in Braga," where he and his students were eventually settled after escaping the radical fundamentalist takeover of their homeland. "'But we’re much stronger and much louder than yesterday.'" - The Guardian
"Barely a decade has passed since (Rieko) Hirosawa started learning goze uta (blind women’s songs) – a genre of music spanning four centuries that most Japanese people have probably never heard. That she now plays with the composure of a veteran is remarkable …: not a single goze uta musical score exists." - The Guardian
I want to suggest some parallels between this 18th-century musical lingua franca and a familiar device from another medium: modern realist prose, which emerged through the 17th and 18th centuries – just when these musical conventions took shape. - Aeon
"Consider it the orchestral equivalent of someone who's ready to give up on romance suddenly finding the perfect partner. After claiming for several seasons that it is transitioning toward becoming a conductor-less orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has named its newest artistic partner, and he's a conductor." - The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Publicly backing charity causes on both an intermittent and regular basis earned musicians more likes, shares and comments. These artists also increased music sales, whether they sent these messages occasionally or constantly. - The Conversation
“What is becoming clear now is that the coming war is not really one between human and machine creativity; the two will forever be incommensurable. Rather, it is a struggle over how art and human labor are valued—and who has the power to make that appraisal.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
“Serenading an audience fresh from four days of divisive rhetoric, immigrant bashing and attacks on LGBTQ people with music from a sonic icon of Europe’s post-World War II quest for peace and dignity was either brilliant in its perversity or perversely hypocritical.” - Washington Post
When the Russians might bomb you out at any second, what’s the point, really? “People need some joy in their lives, even through these hard times.” - BBC
“His greatness was not necessarily the way he used sound or even the sound itself, rather why he used sound, where he used sound and how he interacted with sound. … Music also drove his video creation. And that creation has had a lasting effect on music.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Jim Lucchese most recently worked as CEO for the music event startup Sofar Sounds. He also led Spotify for Artists, a program helping artists access and maximize fan engagement. - Boston Globe
Eurovision, like the Olympics, touts itself as an apolitical event. Fans and jury members are asked to vote for the best song, not the country that sings it. But neutrality is impossible. Politics are ingrained in the event’s makeup—from the finances of hosting to the concept of the “Big Five” countries. - LA Review of Books
When Peter Biggs stepped down in April, the stated cause was ill health. He now acknowledges the reason was "grievous errors of judgment": commuting from his country house and charging the orchestra for expensive overnight stays in Wellington while renting out the apartment he already had there. - The Post (Wellington, NZ)
"Orchestra members of the Welsh National Opera have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action, following threats of full-time jobs being reduced to 85% contracts by management. … The ballot was called as a result of WNO management plans to make the orchestra part-time, cutting the members’ pay by 15%." - The Strad
