The concert is the first on a 15-day tour, and the players won't risk COVID transmission, so they asked the Edinburgh Festival Chorus to sing with masks. The choir refused, so the Philadelphians decided to do Beethoven's 5th instead — and some people are furious about it. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
She feels she has achieved her goals at the upstate New York summer festival: "Creating a 'festival' environment and focusing on our brand of theater as a bridge to diverse communities, (and) addressing complex issues through storytelling and music making." And she's balanced the budgets, too. - The New York Times
Irish musician Martin Hayes: "We need to eat, to sleep, to have shelter, to keep our bodies alive, ... our souls need music, art and poetry, and we need human connection. We need to be near people and we need to experience music in the space with others." - Irish Times
By replacing vinyl with a different plastic, can this Dutch company get records playing again - without all of the delays, and without as much plastic waste? - BBC
"The group, which operated as the Buenos Aires Yoga School, was headed by 84-year-old Juan Percowicz. The group is accused of sexual trafficking, including of minors, as well as extortion and money laundering." Many of the musicians have links to Plácido Domingo. - NPR
In a rebounding touring market, with concert-starved audiences buying tickets in record numbers — and at higher prices than ever — these bookings are deliberate choices by prominent artists to reduce their time on the road and set up shop in far fewer places than they could on a traditional tour. - The New York Times
The first verse of the US national anthem feels too militaristic for some Americans' comfort, and the second and third are worse. So bass-baritone Tines worked with three leading composers to gradually morph the "Banner" into the celebratory song known as "the Black national anthem." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
“There is more demand in Charlotte for our services than we can usually meet, so I’m very pleased we were able to raise the overall compensation." Along with pay increase for all 62 full-time musicians over the two-year term, the new contract seeks to broaden the applicant base for auditions. - Charlotte Observer
"On the international stage, Domingo has largely remained an in-demand star. But why? I can tell you right now it's not his voice. … How desperate and sad to see institutions pretend that Domingo's artistic legacy must be preserved at the expense of their own integrity." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"I think these methods of analysis and talking about music are ideas musicologists need to explore a piece. When I listen to music, it is not important which aspects are notated or not notated. It doesn’t have any meaning for a listener." - Van
Though TikTok didn’t invent the audio meme, its effortless interface may have perfected it, and the platform, which recently ended Google’s 15-year-long run as the most visited website in the world, would be nothing without sound. - The New York Times
Rem Wransky had completed her transition when she became the orchestra's web developer in April 2021, but she developed some physically painful complications which, her doctors say, require surgery. The orchestra's insurance coverage specifically excludes gender transition care, a fact management claims it was unaware of. - The Buckeye Flame (Ohio)
For the last few years, I have felt the inescapable disappearance of music from my friends’ lives. Even people with whom I have longstanding relationships that were born from a shared love of music have simply let it go, or let it fade deep into the background. - The Guardian
The exterior balconies overlooking the main entrance to North America's oldest purpose-built opera house — "still the city's formal parlor for everything from Broadway shows and The Nutcracker to college graduations," writes Peter Dobrin — have been gradually crumbling and are being rebuilt. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
