Why? It's a mystery. "The abrupt switch, at a high-profile venue in one of the biggest markets in the world, is head-spinning news in the lucrative ticketing business." - The New York Times
Natalie Murray Beale says, "We looked a lot at the physical aspects, ensuring she would not be too reverent of the conductor’s podium, because after all it’s just her workplace." - The Observer (UK)
The conductor survived brain cancer surgery and has been conducting at a furious clip - but he's also been "trying to dig out his piles of unfinished pieces he has composed over the decades and see what he can do with them." - Los Angeles Times
"The Los Angeles Conducting Co-op is a new organization founded by violinist and producer Lisa Liu, conductor Christopher Rountree and violist, curator and broadcaster Nadia Sirota. Their mission is straightforward: 'Pool resources to defray the costs of studying symphonic conducting.'" - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Observing the company's worrisome slump in ticket sales and Peter Gelb's announced plans to focus more on contemporary works and reduce the number of performances (especially of revivals), Parterre Box contributor Dawn Fatale suggests further ways to get the FOMO factor working in the Met's favor again. - Parterre Box
A 2009 study, for instance, found that newborns react to beats — i.e. they anticipate the downbeat of rhythmic patterns, which tends to support the theory that our ability to perceive rhythms is inborn and not learned. - Ludwig Van
"Jean Davidson, 54, is president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the largest professional chorus in the country. (She) will begin her tenure April 1, succeeding Gary Ginstling, who left in October to become the executive director of the New York Philharmonic." - The Washington Post
"There are so many men – actual, documented men – this film could have been based on but, instead, it puts a woman in the role but gives her all the attributes of those men. That feels anti-woman." - Chicago Sun-Times
While the main Glyndebourne Festival receives no public money and is unaffected, its touring and education activities were supported by Arts Council England, which just reduced its grant by half. So the festival has had to cancel next autumn's tour to Liverpool, Canterbury, Norwich and Milton Keynes. - The Guardian
Following a three-month hiatus from conducting due to a neurological condition, Barenboim announced that he'll retire as general music director of the Berlin State Opera, whose stature he's credited with reviving following decades of Communist-era stagnation. - The Guardian
If you really dive into this thing, you’ll begin to learn how musicians hear, how they think, how they remember, how they forget, how they emulate, how they worship, how they fortify and defy their own tastes, how they communicate with one another, and, ultimately, how they experience the world. - Washington Post
Italy has a draconian - and patently ridiculous - new code: "It makes organising raves a specific crime punishable with three to six years of jail time. ... The new statute also allows the surveillance of groups who are suspected of holding these unauthorised events, including tapping their phones." - The Guardian (UK)
"The space is alive with the sounds of thawing permafrost, cracking ice, grinding glacier. ... 'Sometimes, moving ice can sound like something that’s alive.'" - The Guardian (UK)
