Harvest Rock Church is asking $45 million for the 1,200-seat auditorium near the Old Pasadena district that has also hosted jazz greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck and Dizzy Gillespie. It has been called “the Carnegie Hall of the West” by fans. - Los Angeles Times
Will Crutchfield: "(Carolina) Uccelli was indeed extraordinary, and so is the single surviving opera" — Anna di Resburgo — "by which we can assess her abilities. Behind it lies a human story, touching and somewhat sad, to which there is now a chance to add a happy postscript." - The New York Times
The city is brimming with jazz musicians releasing stellar albums and taking risks live. But is L.A. so expensive and disconnected that it’s risking such rooms? - Los Angeles Times
Amid growing public outrage over the Board of Governors’ failure to retain the acclaimed Finnish conductor beyond his five-year contract ending after the 2024-25 season, audience member Laura Leibowitz displayed a sign during the June 21 performance that read “F— the board” in Salonen’s native language. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"They came, they listened, and barely a bark was heard — something that can usually go safely unremarked at a Philadelphia Orchestra concert. But for Saturday’s matinee, in addition to a couple of thousand fans of patriotic music, the orchestra drew eight puppies (training to be guide dogs.)" - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Roadies are fundamental workers in the fulfilment of live music events and concert tours. They are much more than “humpers” who haul road cases and equipment in and out of venues and festivals. - The Conversation
"Michelle Miller Burns, who has led Minnesota's largest performing arts organization since 2018, will take charge of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where she had held several leadership roles before coming to Minnesota, the orchestra announced Friday. She starts with Dallas in September." - The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
The heirs of Alexandre Benois, a celebrated stage designer who worked on the original performance of "Bolero", argued that he should have been credited as a co-author and demanded a share of the proceeds. And because Benois died in 1960, that would put "Bolero" back under copyright until 2039. - France24
It took place the month after Woodstock, and it was in Toronto, but “the performances by each of the rock pioneers floored the young crowd, who had no idea of their power.” - CBC
In Berlin, “although every program booklet had a portrait of a female composer on its cover, her piece was usually a small fraction of the total running time: Unfamiliar works by women were often eclipsed by large-scale, crowd-pleasing compositions by men.” - The New York Times
All venues were full. All audiences I joined were infectiously rapt. Yet everywhere I went there was an inescapable feeling of doom, of disquieting calm before the storm. - Los Angeles Times
The lack of recognition of Gypsy and Traveller contributions to Scottish, Irish or English music styles effectively excludes these ethnic minorities from narratives of Britishness. - The Conversation
The RIAA’s lawsuits use lofty language, saying that this litigation is about “ensuring that copyright continues to incentivize human invention and imagination, as it has for centuries.” This sounds nice, but ultimately, the incentive it’s talking about is money. - The Verge
It's called a stretto piano, and it fits 88 keys on a keyboard roughly 7/8 the size of a standard grand piano keyboard. Studies indicate that the benefits in reduced strain and pain for smaller-handed pianists are just what you'd expect they'd be. - Ludwig Van
Bolstered by significant governmental support, European companies mostly appear to have returned to a pre-pandemic status quo. A recent visit to Germany found both the Hamburg and Berlin Staatsopers fearlessly mounting challenging operas of questionable popular appeal. - The Observer
