The musicians’ base salary has hovered at or below $110,000 for about 15 years, with musicians handing over concessions during lean years and market downturns with the understanding that they would be restored later. Due to inflation, however, even a fairly stable salary means that their salary’s buying power has decreased steadily. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The traditional Mexican music was first introduced at a public school in 1969. Now there are dozens of classes in the region's middle schools, high schools, and even universities. After years of fighting for legitimacy, mariachi has joined band, choir, and orchestra as a pillar of music education. - San Antonio Report
The current contract, for one year, expires August 31; PSO management and the musicians' union are now negotiating what will be the first multi-year contract since COVID. This is at a time when the players in peer orchestras have been getting double-digit-percentage raises to make up for pandemic cuts. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Smith has big plans for Tanglewood, whose Boston Symphony season begins on July 5, just as he has a long to-do list for the ensemble at home. History would suggest that he isn’t just dreaming. - The New York Times
The lawsuit claims Suno and Udio’s software steals music to “spit out” similar work and asked for compensation of $150,000 (£118,200, A$225,400) a work. - The Guardian
"The Grant Park Music Festival has long had a tradition of bold, adventuresome programming. But none of the festival’s leaders have done more than Carlos Kalmar, who has made offsetting familiar classics with intriguing combinations of new and unusual works from the past a defining hallmark of his tenure." - Chicago Sun-Times
"After 18 years at the Boston Globe, I am moving on from my position and joining the faculty of Tufts University, where I’ll be taking up a newly created professorship in music history and public humanities, beginning this fall." - Twitter/X
It is problematic to foretell who will attend the revivals of modern operas. New York visitors? Somebody who missed it the first season? The opera house cannot rely on that. This simple fact is that modern operas are not an optimal financial base for the house repertory the size of the Met Opera. - OperaWire
"The general manager is responsible for everything," he insists. If the artistic director doesn't agree, if he doesn't want to collaborate, that's when we find ourselves in a dead end." - Le Courrier du Sud
Salonen had been pushing for the orchestra to do more, not less, to try to forge connections with new audiences. He had become passionate about an idea to build two performance venues, designed by Frank Gehry, on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. - The New York Times
For the uninitiated, this may seem like merely an intra-classical-music-world squabble, a fight over the esoterica of contemporary music versus old and pampered performers versus penurious patrons. In fact, it’s bigger than that. It is a dangerous warning sign that yet another prestigious institution in San Francisco has lost its way. - San Francisco Standard
Crumb’s “scores — created by hand and themselves works of art — are rife with exacting instructions to performers: how to thread paper between the strings of a harp, or how string players should use the thimbles on their fingers.” - The New York Times
"The city, which leases Harrison Opera House to Virginia Opera, says the organization owes $270,000 … for (2019-2024). … Virginia Opera leaders dispute those claims, said Peggy Kriha Miller, general director. … When asked why opera leaders do not believe the organization is behind on rent, Miller declined to comment." - The Virginian-Pilot
Aside from merely making a copy of a voice, MicDrop purports to offer a voice-to-instrument function, similar to the features that can make keyboards sound like a guitar or drum. - Rolling Stone
