The Metropolitan Opera has been on a downward trajectory for fifty years. For the first thirty or so of those, the descent was gradual, uneven, and in most respects reflective of the encroaching decadence of the artform in general. For the last twenty, the rate of decline has accelerated, and in the last few has gone into a new,...
"In December 2012, “Gangnam Style” became the first music video to earn more than a billion views on the platform. That momentum continued to 2014, when the song exceeded YouTube’s 2,147,483,647-view limit." - Los Angeles Times
Outwardly and proudly sexist tradition, that is, as the Boys' Choir of St. John's College becomes simply "The Choir of St. John's College" — and as girls take their official places in the ranks. - The New York Times
"Francesca Zambello, the artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival, came up with a novel idea. 'I just said, ‘Let’s do a Rossini comedy that doesn’t exist yet.’'" Hence Tenor Overboard. - The New York Times
The singer, who became famous at 11, says, "It was a double-edged sword, but being a major-label artist, I felt like a commodity, a thing to be sold." - The Guardian (UK)
Former leader Yo-Yo Ma "saw the classical footing he brought to Silkroad as 'a starting point,' and classical music itself as 'a form of literacy.' In Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory, he sees a similar capability: the ability to employ difference as a binding agent." - Washington Post
"Rainer Eudeikis, currently the principal cellist with the Atlanta Symphony, ... will succeed the late Michael Grebanier, who led the cello section from 1977 until his death in 2019." - San Francisco Chronicle
Hire engineer/producer Da-Hong Seetoo, whose dad "fostered a second career for his son by letting him tinker with a 1947 General Electric tube radio and a reel-to-reel Telefunken tape recorder, with which he could preserve the sounds of borrowed classical music LPs." - San Francisco Classical Voice
The American soprano was going to make her Arena di Verona debut as Violetta in La Traviata — until a furor arose over Netrebko's photos of herself in dark makeup and her Aïda costume and Arena di Verona management defended the makeup as part of a historical staging. - Classic FM (UK)
Scammers ruin everything, including violin skills: "At its most basic, it’s someone who is busking with a violin, apparently playing, while they’re actually faking it — the music comes from a hidden recording." - Ludwig Van
Jeffrey Arlo Brown writes about the tricky, nerve-wracking process that two young trumpeters went through. One passed his trial, the other failed hers — which turned out to be a very lucky thing. - Van
Is this a little like The New York Times buying Wordle? Yes, and the outrage is not dissimilar. For instance: "I lost my game history, and the link to get it back only exists for a microsecond. Also the skip function is now super glitchy, making the game unplayable." - BBC
In a heavily refugee and immigrant area of Glasgow, "Musicians in Exile a way of helping to give musician asylum seekers and refugees in the area a chance to gather every Tuesday evening to sing, play and share their talents, experiences, stories and songs." - Time Out
The school's leader, before the Taliban and now in exile: "We can show the world a different Afghanistan. ... We will show how we can raise the voices of our people. We will show where we stand." - The New York Times
