Or rather, her instrument and her place in society as a griot: "Until Ms. Jobarteh, kora masters had one other notable characteristic: They were always male. By tradition, the playing of the kora is passed from father to son, but for many years Ms. Jobarteh was her father’s only child." - The New York Times
The café, which has managed to remain open during the pandemic, helps people with dementia sing, dance, and play instruments. Some even manage to write songs. - BBC
Of course I am describing a special place, not the kind of home most orchestras could hope to build in their neighbourhood. But the need is the same, to reach out to more people in a friendly environment. - Toronto Star
“Diversity applies to pretty much everybody except fat people,” opera critic Uwe Friedrich tells me. The pressure to conform to a societal ideal of beauty has “increased enormously” in recent years. - Van
The BBC interviewed half a dozen musicians who have had instruments smashed, relatives killed, and threats issued since the extremists took over Afghanistan last month. They now all in hiding in Pakistan, hoping to find refuge in another country. - BBC
The instrument, designed and handmade by Wayne Stuart of Stuart & Sons in Australia, has a nine-octave range, two octaves more than a standard grand piano and about the same as most pipe organs. - Classic FM
The main thing these former fellows may take home from L.A. is indoctrination. New music here is part of the daily diet. Dudamel’s curiosity has led to a far more varied repertory at the L.A. Phil than that of any other major orchestra. - Los Angeles Times
Since shortly after the pandemic effectively closed the world down in March 2020, Jim Clayton’s Danforth area home — more specifically his dining room — has become Jim’s Piano Bar, with Clayton logging more than 425 performances, turning a personal Facebook following of 250 into an international audience of more than 30,000. - Toronto Star
In renegotiations for the final year (2021-22) of the current contract, management had proposed cutting salaries in half, down to $17,710 per year. Their latest offer, said to be final, is to cut the roster of full-time players from 71 to 42, with 26 part-timers. - San Antonio Current
" announced that he would leave his post at the end of the 2023-24 season, saying that the pandemic had made him rethink his life and priorities." He'll also step down from the Hong Kong Philharmonic that spring. - The New York Times
"Traditional a cappella groups cover pop lyrics and full music beds with impressive skill. But one group in South Korea, called MayTree, is taking the genre further to mimic the digital devices that occupy our lives." (audio) - The World (PRX)
LA Phil violist Ingrid Hutman: "When we're injured, we tend to go to sports doctors because that's what's available. It's very difficult to find practitioners who understand the peculiarities of musicians and what we do." - San Francisco Classical Voice
And it's sort of an internal hire: in April 2023, Kazuki Yamada, a 42-year-old from Japan who's been the orchestra's principal guest conductor for three years, will succeed fast-rising Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (and, before her, Andris Nelsons and Simon Rattle) as the CBSO's chief conductor. - The Guardian
There are new clubs in the city and new haunts where jazz can once again be heard regularly. There is fresh talent filling out the rosters of trios and quartets. And there are fresh ears hungry for a bit of cultural nourishment. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Since the turn to online services, however, the award has undertaken an additional role. It is upholding the idea of the album in the face of technological change. Even the televised event is structured like a record. - The Conversation
