The closest the festival circuit has to a trade body – the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) – lists 50 festivals as cancelled, postponed or closed this year. It expects the end-of-year total to be 100. This is part of a wider, and worrying, UK trend. - The Conversation
His departure comes as the orchestra’s musicians and the administration are in the midst of heated talks over a new labor contract; the current agreement expires in September. The musicians have been seeking large wage increases. - The New York Times
At the turn of the 20th century, he gifted six concert halls to different Steel City suburbs. The musical halls were built with uniformly excellent acoustics, each a historical gem in its own right. Perhaps the grandest symbol of opulence: most had functioning pipe organs, also called the “king of musical instruments." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Combined with the app’s 2023 revamp, which added a TikTok-like discovery feed, artist profiles where creators can hawk merchandise and concert tickets, as well as the ability to post to stories, Spotify’s app is shaping up to be a social network centered around all things audio, not just a music-streaming app. - TechCrunch
The 73-year-old Hungarian conductor, founder and director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, succeeds Vasily Petrenko, who has just completed a ten-year term. Fischer begins his tenure with this summer's EUYO residency at the Grafenegg Festival in Austria, followed by a tour to Carnegie Hall. - OperaWire
These novel approaches have allowed this maverick company to chart an enviable path in the US arts scene as a small-to-medium outfit that punches well above its weight, especially when it comes to artist diversity and audience reach. - ArtsHub
The rule clarifies that songwriters are entitled to collect mechanical royalties generated from streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Amazon after their termination rights have been invoked (i.e., when they reclaim their rights from another party, in this case, a music publisher). - Music Business Worldwide
The Brazilian cellist has been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the same cancer that struck conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in 2022. Meneses has withdrawn from all his concert and teaching engagements and is reportedly receiving palliative care in Switzerland. - The Strad
The shift to consuming songs as atomised units was depressing for artists too. Cynically, there’s the financial hit sustained when you only get paid for a handful of songs with heavy rotation. But it also forced acts into delivering the narrowest refinement of what audiences expected. - The Critic
"The Devan era had its shortcomings. … But (they) shouldn’t overshadow (his) central accomplishment: He took an undernourished, traditional opera company, set in motion a period of artistic experimentation and financial growth, learned important lessons, got through the pandemic, and delivered it all to his successor in one piece." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Leslie Bruicusse wrote “Pure Imagination,” “Talk to the Animals,” “Goldfinger,” and so many more - and now that his papers are at the Library of Congress, interest in him is on a steep rise. - NPR
"Tarmo Peltokoski was hired Thursday to succeed Jaap van Zweden as music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Peltokoski, at 24 far younger than most music directors, will start a four-year term in the 2026-27 season after serving as music director designate in 2025-26." - AP
"(Researchers) studied songs placed in the top five of the US Billboard year-end singles music chart each year between 1950 and 2022. … The results revealed the average complexity of melodies had fallen over time, with two big drops in 1975 and 2000, as well as a smaller drop in 1996." - The Guardian
The Donne report found that 78.4 percent of works in 2023–2024 were by historical (deceased) white men, with 30.6 percent coming from the top 10 (canon) composers, whose names are surely familiar. - San Francisco Classical Voice
