Our base salary is some $70 per hour, as opposed to other parts of the university, where the average is about $130 an hour. Somebody might say, “$130, that’s incredible!” But this includes hundreds of hours of preparation, grading, and writing recommendations. - Van
When conductor Philippe Jordan steps down from the job in 2025, it will be eliminated, announced superintendent Bogdan Roščić. "Historically, the State Opera has been without a music director for much longer than with one," he said. "Both models can have major advantages and disadvantages." - OperaWire
British composer Julian Anderson was devastated by the fire. He "began channeling some of his despondence into 'Litanies,' a 25-minute meditation for cello and orchestra. In the second movement, a series of chords emerges then melts away." - The New York Times
Sir James MacMillan "had not even heard a rehearsal of the piece, which he had written in secret, and until the night before the funeral was not completely sure it would be performed." - BBC
Twenty years ago, high school students Thomas S. Nilsen and Steffen Ojala Soderholm created "nightcore." But it didn't take off until TikTok kicked into high gear. - The New York Times
Instead, it took a lot of planning and some carefully waged campaigns. "While syncs have previously boosted older singles, they’ve never generated this level of resurgence for a 37-year-old song." You can thank Sony's VP of creative, Amy Coles. -Variety
The whole music culture, it seems, is now under the sway of a chipmunk aesthetic. This, to my way of thinking, is even more foreboding than all those people who want us to eat bugs and compost our deceased loved ones. - Ted Gioia
"While the authors noted the limits of their single study, they were unequivocal. Those who completed music training were the only group to show 'significant improvement' in audiovisual processing. That group also showed reduced levels of depression, stress, and anxiety." - Ludwig Van
Introduction to local artists is common among local libraries using streaming services. “It turns out that people who think they know their city’s music scene do not." - The Guardian
"The cause of death, in this coroner's verdict, is a prolonged failure to address reality. ... The decline and fall of England's national opera is a lesson to all working in the arts that you cannot kick problems down the road." - The Critic (UK)
John Storgårds, a Finnish violinist-turned conductor who is also artistic director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, was named the BBC Phil's Principal Guest Conductor in 2012 and Chief Guest Conductor in 2017. He now succeeds Omer Meir Wellber as the orchestra's Chief Conductor. - Gramophone
Aidan Lang: "There's been no explanation given other than a pleading that it's not an opera thing, it's about levelling up or spreading culture and creativity to the regions. But that's exactly what we do: within England, we perform in seven different cities. We just don't get it." - Bachtrack
Last week at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Julia Fischer and the Staatskapelle Dresden were about to start Beethoven's Violin Concerto when two activists from the German group Last Generation glued themselves to the rail on the conductor's podium. (Turns out the rail was removable. Oops.) - Deutsche Welle
