No show charts the streaming industry’s decline in inspiration quite like “Emily in Paris,” or the rush to capture the maximum amount of attention with the minimum investment of capital. - The New Yorker
“Where My Bus At” highlights the budget cuts made to school bus routes. In April 2024, the county board of education voted to remove most school bus routes. - Blavity
"Brent Assink, former executive director of the San Francisco Symphony and past president of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, … takes over for Michelle Miller Burns, who is leaving in September to lead the Dallas Symphony Orchestra." - The Minnesota Star Tribune
Errollyn Wallen succeeds Dame Judith Weir, the first woman to hold the role, who was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2014. In recent years the role has a fixed term of 10 years, and is comparable to the position of poet laureate. - BBC
For every composer affirming authority in their work, opera’s history offers counterexamples: creators so committed to establishing a new world order in sound that they resisted all conventions and invented their own instruments, their own ensembles or their own theaters. - The New York Times
The turmoil began after the MSO canceled a concerto appearance by a pianist who made a statement about Gaza from the stage. Musicians objected to that move but also called for the resignation of managing director Sophie Galaise for more general "poor communication, a lack of accountability and declining morale." - Limelight (Australia)
New company director Anthony Roth Costanzo has raised over $7 million since he took over on June 1, and he says, "That fundraising is not only subsidizing this ticketing model, but a lot of it is inspired by this ticketing model." (Patrons who can afford more have a pay-what-you-wish option.) - WHYY (Philadelphia)
Last summer, the Russian soprano sued the company for cancelling all her engagements after she refused to denounce Putin following his invasion of Ukraine. A Federal judge has tossed out her claims for breach of contract, defamation, and discrimination due to national origin, permitting only her gender claim. - AP
“Concert music moves audiences bodily. … Music reaches not just the minds (the cognition and experiences of people), but also their bodies such as heart rate, breathing, body movement. This is called ’embodied cognition.’” - PsyPost
“At Hera, women were not only performing on stage but working behind the scenes as producers, engineers and more. It’s something Itzel González, festival promoter, and Ximena Sariñana, Mexican singer-songwriter, co-creator and director of the Hera committee wanted to highlight with the event.” - Seattle Times (AP)
These days, you get this sort of unabashedly instructional approach to pop music only from Republicans, whose musical choices at July’s Republican National Convention felt, across the board, unburdened by any metaphorical obligations. - Washington Post
The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra may look, from a distance, like a European orchestra, but its musicians play erhu, gaohu, huqin (all bowed strings), sheng, guan, di (woodwinds), conchs, ox-horns and percussion. The HKCO runs a competition for young conductors, who must know both Chinese and European classical genres cold. - Classical Music (UK)
The Nicaraguan-Costa Rican conductor will be music director-designate in 2024-25 as he completes his 16th and final season in Tennessee's capital, and his initial contract term continues for five years beyond that. He and the Nashville Symphony have released 21 recordings and won six Grammy Awards. - Sarasota Observer
Des Moines Metro Opera, founded in 1973, can’t rival Salzburg or Aix-en-Provence in scenic luxury. Yet musical values by no means suffer; casts are drawn from the upper ranks of younger American singers. And the company’s home venue—the Blank Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Simpson College, in Indianola—fosters unusual intimacy. - The New Yorker
