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
"Here millennials sit, following begrudgingly in the boomers’ wake, at the centre of a generational Venn diagram: in the unique position of having CDs, vinyl and iTunes and streaming. For the best part of a year now, it’s been time for a clearout: so as we edge back to something resembling a normal life, dare we take the ultimate...
In a letter to school boards last week, which was leaked to the media, Kabul’s Education Department said girls aged 12 and above would no longer be able to sing at public events, unless the events were attended solely by women. The letter also stipulated that girls couldn’t be trained by a male music teacher. - The Guardian
"The pact, announced this week, was passed unanimously by the musicians, the SPCO board and the board of the American Federation of Musicians Local 30-73 some 15 months before the current contract was set to expire. It will maintain musicians' pay, benefits and work rules from July 2022 until July 2024." - The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"Iphigenia is not an adaptation of the Greek myth as much as it is an intervention into myth-making itself," reads an explanation on the Indiegogo page. "Led by award-winning director Lileana Blain-Cruz, and abetted by luminary architect and scenic designer Frank Gehry, the entire creative process has led us to understand how stories have been traditionally told, and how...
The state of the pandemic being what it is just now, management didn't want to cancel the event entirely as they did last year, but concert venues in Austria didn't seem likely to reopen in less than three weeks. So the festival is being transferred from one big Catholic feast to another: it will take place in the days...
The Metropolitan Opera House has been dark for a year, and its musicians have gone unpaid for almost as long. The players in one of the finest orchestras in the world suddenly found themselves relying on unemployment benefits, scrambling for virtual teaching gigs, selling the tools of their trade and looking for cheaper housing. About 40 percent left the...
Can there be hope for regular humans when the Grammy Awards can't get the sound right on Zoom? "The multiple acceptance speeches during the Premiere Ceremony that suffered from echoing, distortion or absent volume felt like a big miss for a show of its stature." - Variety
