The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra "coalesced quickly around a mission to stage, as the Met news release put it, 'artistic defense' of its homeland. Its debut concerts across Western Europe and Britain have been met with rave reviews and long ovations." - Washington Post
"The history of African country music is largely uncharted. When you piece together the fragments, a long and rich musical relationship begins to emerge. It starts in the 1930s, according to writer Jesse Jarnow, and differs hugely across the continent." - The Guardian
The site lists gigs that are available to book on the home page, and under the My events section, users can see their past and upcoming ticket bookings. - TechCrunch
Live performances can account for 90%-95% of a band’s income, according to Help Musicians, but Brexit has cut into one of their most important revenue streams, restricting them to £1,000 worth of merchandise before they get into a higher taxable bracket. - The Guardian
New programming initiatives mean musicians are rehearsing more unfamiliar works, and, come curtain time, standard repertoire sometimes ends up underrehearsed. Shutdown-induced layoffs mean remaining administrative staffers do the work of two or more people. They're burning out, and management's biggest concerns seem to be elsewhere. - San Francisco Classical Voice
More than 100 years after all the -isms in modern art, art lovers, art buyers, and masses of museumgoers throughout the world wholly accept the presence of most abstract modernism cheek by jowl with contemporary figural and representational works. So what happened to 20th Century music? - American Scholar
The Bavarian town has, in fact, two opera houses: Richard Wagner's famous custom-built theater and the Margravial Opera House, an opulent 18th-century venue seating 600. For two weeks every summer, it's home to Bayreuth Baroque, whose director is the countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić. - Bachtrack
"The label, called La Boîte à Pépites (the jewel box), will record compositions that have rarely, if ever, been heard before, yet deserve 'a good position in the standard musical repertoire'." To make the music available to more musicians, a publishing division will open next year. - The Observer (UK)
With phones and constant connectivity do we really need a song during our elevator journeys? Apparently not. Elevators are losing their soundtracks. At least, that was my hunch. In fact, I doubt whether the next generation will even understand what elevator music means. - Ted Gioia
"The lyrics are abusive or threatening. They are usually based on the premise that Hindus have suffered for centuries at the hands of Muslims - and now it's payback time." And these songs make their singers a lot of money. - BBC
"I felt in opera I could freely integrate — to twist and to turn, to create all the drama with the music. Some plays should never be touched or turned into opera, but I felt this was one of the rare cases where it could work." - The New York Times
A California company spent years lying about where its music came from. "'It’s the biggest debacle I’ve ever seen in the vinyl realm,' says Kevin Gray, a mastering engineer." A filmmaker who had purchased 50 albums added, "They were completely deceitful." Does it matter? - Washington Post
Classic FM’s audience has hit a record low, falling under 5 million listeners for the first time with over half a million people switching off since the start of the pandemic. - David Taylor
