In recent years, a study quantified the audible differences between her recordings of Tosca and Nabucco, a decade apart. They found that she had become increasingly sharp, irregular and unstable. What prompted the demise of this iconic voice has been a subject of hot debate in the operatic world. - The Conversation
"I would say that the era for old uprights is coming to a close. The inevitability is that one day, those pianos will be gone… The ones that have musical value — yeah, I'm sad about those." - CBC
Carmen Souza, a Cape Verdean musician, realized that certain words she knew from her childhood derived from British sailors and merchants who "came for the cheap labour, goats, donkeys, salt, turtles, amber and archil,” and “built roads and bridges and developed the natural ports.” - BBC
“His music speaks to something timeless: the longing for connection, and the pain at not finding it. He gives voice, and then consolation, to that part of us that feels alone in the world even when surrounded by people who care for us.” - The New York Times
Early on, many in the Protestant movement saw organ music as just another Popish frippery; even Luther disapproved of it at first. He changed his mind, of course, and the presence of the organ in church became a major point of conflict, and even identity, between Lutherans and Calvinists. - History Today
The company, which canceled all performances and laid off staff last last year, filed earlier this month for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the legal step toward liquidating its assets and closing itself down. - BroadwayWorld
Believing that you possess a perfect understanding of what the people want is a poor way to run an opera company—or any organization, up to and including a nation. What we call the “audience” is an ever-shifting assemblage of tastes, expectations, experiences, levels of knowledge, degrees of passion. - The New Yorker
Unlike a record label, a tech company doesn’t care whether we’re hooked on the same hit on repeat or lost in a three-hour ambient loop, so long as we’re listening to something. - The New Yorker
The sight of young people moving to K-pop’s electrifying beat has become part of the drama of this protest movement. Protest organisers are blasting out K-pop hits, and demonstrators are waving K-pop light sticks (portable devices associated with specific artists or groups), turning the protests into multicoloured musical rallies. - The Conversation
When the librettist obtained a copy of the score, in early 1743, he didn’t like it. “His Messiah has disappointed me,” he wrote to a friend, “being set in great haste … . I shall put no more Sacred Words into his hands, to be thus abus’d.” - The Wall Street Journal
The venue is in the city's top conference center/shopping mall; the cast includes Asmik Grigorian and Brian Jagde; José Cura is conducting; top tickets cost nearly $700. But hours before curtain time, director Davide Livermore stormed away and producers reconfigured the hall to remove 2,800 seats. - The Korea Herald
Some — London Heathrow, Nashville, Phoenix, Seattle-Tacoma, both Chicago airports — have stages with live musicians. Others — Detroit, Austin — have specially curated playlists. Singapore-Changi even commissioned piano music for its famous waterfall. - AP
We still don’t quite know how to sell Schoenberg. There is the scary modernist Schoenberg — inventor of the 12-tone system, replacing traditional harmony with the democratic notion that all notes are equal — who reputedly drives audiences away. But there is also the Schoenberg who carried on from the 19th century Romantic tradition. - Los Angeles Times
Whether it’s chestnuts roasting on an open fire or a white Christmas, many of our classic Christmas images are drawn from songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Why are so many great artists drawn to making art about a holiday that isn’t theirs? - The New York Times
