Overall paid attendance for this past season was 72%, only three points below the pre-pandemic level. There was a record number of new audience members, and the average age of single-ticket buyers is down to 44 from 50 pre-pandemic. Are contemporary operas selling well? Yes, some of them. - The New York Times
Presented in Los Angeles by MOCA and the director Yuval Sharon’s company of operatic experimenters, the Industry, “The Comet/Poppea” was commissioned by the American Modern Opera Company. - The New York Times
Concert planning and programming are still what he likes doing most of all, he says, but nonetheless he has found himself running an operation that employs almost 200 people. - The Guardian
The recent analysis of 16,327 compositions scheduled for performances revealed that 7.5% of works were composed by women (down from 7.7% in the 2021/22 report on the same topic). Of these, 5.8% were composed by white women. Works by women from the global majority accounted for 1.6%. - The Violin Channel
Perryn Leech succeeded Alexander Neef as the company's CEO only three years ago and had two years remaining on his contract. The statement announcing his departure gave no reason other than that it was "by mutual agreement." - Toronto Star
I’m not an advocate of doing in historically specific productions but look for this place of speculation that connects opera fundamentally with the world of science fiction. - San Francisco Classical Voice
Sure, it doesn't have any particular melody or even a beat, but music it is. Various musicians liken it to Phil Spector's "wall of sound," ambient music, synth punk, drone music, a theremin … There's even a sax player who publicly jams with cicadas. - Chicago Tribune
Starting back in the 1980s, an illegal demimonde of teens began. Their initial goal was to strip the copyright protections off video games. By the 90s, some of the same teens got the notion to apply that practice to the data on coveted CDs. - The Guardian
"The Ravinia Festival Association, whose grassy lawns come alive with a slew of summer concerts every year, filed an updated complaint in a trademark infringement case against Ravinia Brewing Company, a craft brewery in Highland Park, over the use of their shared neighborhood moniker." - Chicago Tribune
The expected grandeur, the time and space business, the big emotions, big ideas and big voices, we’ve got it all. That's to be expected. But what really sets opera in L.A. apart is the art form's movement in new and profound ways can come from the unexpected sources. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Maria Todaro, an accomplished singer, stage director, fight choreographer and arts entrepreneur is stepping into her biggest role yet, ushering in an ambitious rebrand for Florida’s oldest opera company as the Florida Grand Opera’s new general director. - Miami Herald
As the West’s oldest still-operational opera company faces a steep financial cliff, there’s another aria being sung across the Pacific Ocean—one SF Opera stands to benefit from. “If there was a big growth market for opera at the moment,” SFO Director Matthew Shilvock said, “it is in China.” - San Francisco Standard
It took about two days for this lavishly-praised maestro to lose or cancel all his future engagements, and he'll likely be fired from his positions. Yet why was Roth's behavior (sexting musicians) treated so much more harshly than, say, Gardiner's or Barenboim's (screaming and hitting them)? - Van
