Attendance at the DOB has been disappointing in recent years; it was time for something different. Aviel Cahn, who became the company’s general director this year, is making major programming changes. His first new staging there is nothing less than Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, complete with camel and helicopters. - The New York Times
Located in Battersea Power Station, Apple Music Hall is a state-of-the-art venue “designed to connect artists and fans through bespoke, intimate performances unlike anywhere else,” Apple said in its announcement on Tuesday. - Variety
Fans are paying thousands of dollars not just to see their favorite artists live, but to get closer to the performance and have a more exclusive experience. - The Guardian
“With their new agreement running through September 2, 2030, the NSO musicians will be compensated for the increased amount of local travel as the orchestra is splitting its 2026/27 season across multiple venues during the Kennedy Center’s planned closure.” - The Violin Channel
Louisa Proske: "It was insane and thrilling. … It was like, ‘the director has to assemble a team, and we kind of need the design yesterday.’” - The New York Times
“It was Sandler ... who both came up with the idea that they could create an income source by building opera sets and renting them out to other companies, and also Sandler who sold that idea,” including to Missouri’s Republican governor. - Kansas City Stack
This summer the Chicago Symphony’s summer home re-opened its concert pavilion after a $70 million revamp. Next on the to-do list, with work starting in October, is a $38 million makeover of the Martin Theatre, the last remaining structure from when Ravinia’s park-like grounds first opened in 1904. - WBEZ (Chicago)
The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali. That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. - Moto Perpetuo
“San Francisco Opera management and its orchestra musicians have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending a strike that began nearly a week ago and forced the cancellation of multiple performances at the start of the company's 2026-27 season.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The RPO findings show that there is a rising interest among young people – the nationally representative poll of 2,000 adults revealing that 89 per cent of adults would be interested in attending a concert or performance featuring classical or orchestral music. This figure is up from 79 per cent in 2018. - Gramophone
How Sheeran, a musician known for his crowd-pleasing, inoffensive everyman appeal, landed in this situation illustrates the hazards of planning a lucrative, global music tour at a time of intense geopolitical unrest and cultural division over violent conflicts. - The Wall Street Journal
“The basic disagreement is … not simply over a percentage raise. It is also over how much work the orchestra should be guaranteed and how the Opera should structure itself now that it stages far fewer operas than it once did.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
Austrian media were reporting that there would be two leaders: stage director Barrie Kosky (artistic) and Dutch National Opera chief Sophie de Lint (administration). Negotiations with that pair collapsed at the last minute, so the Festival board turned to Peter de Caluwe, until last year director of La Monnaie in Brussels. - Moto Perpetuo
If we cannot even agree that classical music is indeed obscure to most people, how can we understand the current state of affairs so that we might do something about it? - San Francisco Classical Voice
