UK record labels enjoyed a 30% boost in income from the sale of vinyl records last year to £86.5m, the highest total since 1989, as fans unable to attend live music because of pandemic restrictions spent their spare cash on building up their record collections. The number of vinyl records sold, led by classics such as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours...
The design of the Opera House takes on unconventional forms, opening up the space and integrating the opera house into the Greater Bay Area. Entitled Light of the Sea, the proposal puts in place a curved, light, transparent, and floating roof, under which performance spaces such as opera hall and concert hall are placed. - ArchDaily
"The move brings a singer at the peak of her international career to Detroit. She will perform locally at least once a season, take the lead in casting MOT productions and complement Sharon's experimental streak with a sensibility forged within the core of the operatic tradition." - Detroit Free Press
Wendy Law uses the same bow, in the same room with the same microphone, to play the opening of Bach's First Cello Suite on a contemporary instrument by Jay Haide, a 19th-century English cello by Thomas Kennedy, and an early 18th-century instrument by Alessandro Gagliano, the first great luthier in Naples. - Digg (YouTube)
Inspired by the vinyl LP revival, new CEO Danny Zeijdel thinks he can make a go of the online business and, ultimately, brick-and-mortar. For now, "you can visit the website, buy a vinyl record, a CD, even a cassette tape, or slake your Tower nostalgia with a logo T-shirt. Everything comes to you wrapped in that familiar yellow...
"The unevenness of response across the London halls, from the vagueness and uncertainty of the SBC to the Wigmore Hall’s dauntless ongoing programme of streamed recitals, with audiences to be readmitted as soon as possible, has been mirrored across the country." - The Guardian
Peel's star has been ascending, with work for TV and movies, and hosting a new, controversial BBC music show - and she managed, with the help of the cosmos, Barbara Hepworth, her grandfather's voice, and nature, to compose a new album during pandemic lockdowns and restrictions and a lot of Zoom meetings. - The Observer (UK)
The state legislature voted to scrap the state's official song. Why? "The pro-Confederate Civil War-era tune features lyrics that denigrate Abraham Lincoln as a 'tyrant' and call on Maryland to join the South in fighting 'the Northern scum.' Penned in 1861 and set to the melody of 'O Tannenbaum,' it has been blasted by critics as racist and an embarrassment to...
Across Canada, indie opera companies are making the art form cool again; daring and provocative again. Pre-pandemic, the collective mass of these companies was on the verge of something truly special: making opera mainstream, something to be wafted over a crowded pub, or poured out freely in church basements and makeshift venues coast to coast. - CBC
"In the first two articles in the series, we looked at the streaming industry's revenues, how they're shared out between the music we listen to and how we choose that music. This week, we're going to look at who ultimately receives the money — and at how the industry could or should change." - Bachtrack
Following criminal complaints by a veterans' group and the Russian Union of Orthodox Women that the pop tune's words "aim to seriously insult and humiliate the human dignity of Russian women" and " hatred towards men, which undermines the foundations of a traditional family," authorities are investigating singer Manizha Sangin for her anthem "Russian Woman," which salutes the strength...
"First things first: It will not tell you how much money Drake made from Spotify; in fact there are no artist names on the site at all. Instead," Loud & Clear (as it's called) "'aims to increase transparency by sharing new data on the global streaming economy and breaking down the royalty system, the players, and the process.'" -...
"The musicians, and most of the Met's workers, were furloughed in April, shortly after the pandemic forced the opera house to close. Months later, the Met offered the musicians partial pay in exchange for significant long-term cuts, but their union objected. Then the Met softened its position: Since the end of December, it has been offering to pay the...
To help break this inertia, we must confront a work that has left indelible marks on music in this country: Antonin Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. To grasp in full the complex legacy of this classic piece would allow us to move beyond it, fostering new paths for artists of color. - The New York Times
“It took 25 years for me to reach a point in my career where I was constantly preparing for the next orchestra concert, opera performance, or recording session. Not having goals to work toward really messes with your head." - San Francisco Classical Voice
