Melbourne Digital Concert Hall streamed 430 performances, with over $1.6 million going to musicians during one of the longest, strictest lockdowns in the world. In 2022, as the Australian Digital Concert Hall, it will transmit 200 programs by performers from Perth to Brisbane to Hobart. - The Age (Melbourne)
The school became known for supporting the education of girls, who make up about a third of the student body. The school’s all-female orchestra, Zohra, toured the world and was hailed as a symbol of a modern, more progressive Afghanistan. - The New York Times
As the value of Lebanese money fell, the 100 or so musicians in the orchestra watched the value of their pay fall from $3,000 to around $200. Most foreign musicians left the orchestra and the country. It is not clear how long the orchestra can keep going. - Voice of America
Venues for punk shows were numerous, encompassing everything from pet grooming stores to nonprofit community centers. The small-venue approach lent itself to the formation of a self-regulating community. - Slate
"Spain's announcement means UK musicians and their crew will no longer need visas for engagements of less than 90 days, a change in policy that came after months of lobbying from trade groups on both sides." - The Guardian
Why are generation after generation of young people drawn to these places where they’re pushed, jostled, pummeled or worse? Why do they run into a seething crowd? - The New York Times
The bass-baritone has made programming an art in itself, building evenings around a sermon or a Langston Hughes poem, slipping from Bach to jazz to Julius Eastman to plantation chant to R&B to Caroline Shaw. And, writes Alex Ross, he makes all of it matter. - The New Yorker
At year’s end, Tony will step down as The Times’s chief classical music critic. It is a position he has held since 2000, giving him the longest tenure in the role since Olin Downes. - The New York Times
And the puppets; don't forget the puppets. Instead of a quiet recital hall, "Schubert’s songs grew from entertaining evenings of spontaneous, alcohol-fuelled interaction, with dressing up, games and stories." - The Guardian (UK)
Claddagh Records, founded in the '50s to preserve Irish musical heritage, fell on hard times in the 2000s. But now a deal with Universal Music Ireland has changed its trajectory. - Irish Times
"The musicians, all connected to the country’s network of youth orchestras, performed a roughly 10-minute Tchaikovsky piece outdoors under the watchful eyes of independent supervisors with the job of verifying that more than 8,097 instruments were playing simultaneously." - Washington Post (AP)
From Google Doodle. Hensel "composed more than 450 pieces of music, most of which show a deep reverence for Johann Sebastian Bach. But she struggled with the societal constraints on the roles of women at the time and was overshadowed by her more famous brother." - CNET
Musician Melanie Charles wants to revitalize knowledge of, for instance, Betty Carter - whose "improvisational approach to singing that influenced generations." She was one of the first jazz artists with her own label, founded a jazz program at BAM, and brought up countless musicians. - Washington Post
Deaths are rare, but they're hardly unknown; however, music promoters like Live Nation, for instance, say that the rarity "proves that most shows are perfectly safe." - The New York Times
