My initial impressions, after three performances, were mixed. The sound is bright and clean, with excellent separation of instrumental voices. When the entire ensemble kicks in, though, the sonic picture seems to flatten out and lose lustre. - The New Yorker
The argument for me as groupie is more complex than the definition of the term. Groupies were women who hung around bands. They were crucial to any music scene, alongside musicians and bands, other fans, and the inevitable young music writer trying to make a name for themselves. - The Walrus
In 2017, the Spoleto Festival asked musician Rhiannon Giddens if she wanted to write an opera about Muslim scholar Omar ibn Said. She'd never even heard of him - and she certainly hadn't written an opera. - Los Angeles Times
And will it ever, ever be fair to musicians? In August, Congress member Rashida Tlaib's office calculated that "it would take more than 800,000 streams a month to equal a wage of $15 an hour."Â - USA Today
The hall "seems to have achieved a rare distinction in its engineering for sound: consistency. No seat in the hall ... is appreciably better or worse than any other." And the sound, which is cool, has a "lack of sonic plumpness." - The New York Times
The trip would have marked the 50th anniversary of when the Philadelphians became the first US orchestra ever to visit China. The stated reason for canceling is the country's strict COVID quarantine rules, which would require anyone infected to quit the tour and remain in place for weeks. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
There are more English songs to be discovered, past, present and future. Seams of gold run through those blue remembered hills and our modest three-day festival will carry on mining them. - The Guardian
For instance, this season the Philadelphia Orchestra has four Black guest conductors in its main subscription series — and, in Philly and elsewhere, they're finally getting to do programs that aren't for MLK Day or Black History Month. But few people yet trust that the change is permanent. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
The latest Orchestra Repertoire Report shows a 638% increase in music by women at our symphony halls in the past six years. The numbers for women composers of color — which started at next to nothing — is up a whopping 1425%. - NPR
"(The Czech conductor), 41, will begin his tenure in September 2025. He succeeds Antonio Pappano, who steps down from the post at the end of the 2023-24 season after 22 years in the role – making him the Royal Opera's longest serving music director." - The Guardian
Hebrides Redacted successively removes notes from the 10- to 11-minute overture in proportion to the decline in humpback whale populations over many decades. A short film about the project (embedded above) was released today as part of the Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival. - Ars Technica
"Some things in life are meant to be heavy and indebting and antiquated; they are meant to demand regular and highly specialized maintenance; they are meant to bring forward the weight of the past." Hence, in adulthood, a piano. - The Atlantic
Las Cafeteras, a band, composed a love song to Oaxaca in response. One band member: "It’s now our responsibility, I think, as people of color, specifically Mexicans, Chicanos and Latinos to really take this as an opportunity to do better — to be better." - Los Angeles Times
"Conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko declined to take part in a concert 'intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in Kherson,'" according to Kiev's culture ministry. - The Guardian (UK)
