"In opera, the external is the internal." 2. "In opera, all speech is dream speech, whether it wants to be or not." 3. "Opera transforms pain into pleasure." Composer Matthew Aucoin, whose Eurydice just finished its run at the Met, explains. - Literary Hub
For the last 12 months (November 2020-October 2021), orchestra ticket revenue is down 67%. This is on par with results for the larger performing arts sector in the U.S. for the same period. - SMU Data Arts
Following a meteoric rise in the '00s, the Mexican tenor suffered more than one vocal crisis, changed repertoire, and finally gave up. But, he says, he retooled his technique during the pandemic and now thinks he's singing better than ever. - The New York Times
Erik Ronmark has spent virtually his entire career with the DSO, having started as a part-time assistant in the music library in 2005. He was named general manager eight years ago and became vice president three years later. - Detroit Free Press
One critic describes Anna von Hausswolff's music as "where post-rock, doom metal, modern classical and high church music all coexist." Her concert at a church in Nantes was called off after protesters chanting Hail Marys blocked the entrance; tonight's performance at Saint-Eustache in Paris is cancelled. - The Guardian
Decades before today’s artificial intelligence pop stars, Auto-Tune and deepfake compositions was Lejaren Hiller’s piece, described by the New York Times in his 1994 obituary as “the first substantial piece of music composed on a computer” – and indeed by a computer. - The Guardian
The 45-year-old German-Ghanaian, now in his final season as chief conductor of the Munich Symphony, joins incoming music director Robert Spano at the FWSO at the start of next season. - The Dallas Morning News
The $7.99-a-month service, called Carnegie Hall+, isn't all, or even mostly, performances at the New York venue itself (where video recording is unusually expensive): viewers will be able to watch archived concerts, operas, and ballets from Salzburg, Bayreuth, and other festivals and halls. - AP
Shawna Lucey has some 15 years of opera and theater experience, having worked at such companies as Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Bolshoi Theater, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. - San Francisco Classical Voice
So where did hold music, the most vanilla of genres, go wrong? When experts have spent decades crafting tinkling tones to placate us, why does our blood still boil? The answer is not so simple. - Wired
At time of writing, 77 countries have registered. A total of 109 are needed to break the record. But “where better”, asks Brophy, “to break it but Expo?” - Irish Times
Ryan Bancroft, a 32-year-old Californian, led his first concert as chief conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Proms this past summer, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic has just appointed him to succeed Sakari Oramo as chief conductor as of 2023-24. - BBC Music Magazine
The work — a subversive blurring of genre, time and politics reflecting on how little has changed over the centuries, yet how much change is possible — jolted the generally conservative Vienna State Opera. - The New York Times
Myth is everywhere on Broadway and in opera right now, including a collaboration between 88-year-old composer Wayne Shorter and the younger composer/performer/lyricist Esmerelda Spalding. Why now? "In uncertain times, myths give us something sturdy to lean on, a narrative handrail to grip." - Washington Post
