“Cantrell’s appointment comes after a nationwide search sparked by the retirement of longtime Nashville Symphony leader Alan Valentine, who served in the role for 28 years. Cantrell, who will officially assume the position on Aug. 1., comes to Nashville Symphony from the Colorado Symphony in Denver.” - Nashville Post
The July 16 performance of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony and soloists including Katherine Lewek and Miles Mykkanen, was called off due to hazardous air quality caused by smoke from wildfires raging in Canada. - Ravinia Festival
It’s a story about many things, including music and money; excellence and equity; tradition and change. But mostly it’s about two questions: What should an orchestra be in a city like Boston in 2026? And even more important: Who gets to decide? - Boston Magazine
“In 1587, Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici and his wife, Bianca Cappello, died within hours of each other after days of agony. … Rumors of an assassination immediately spread, pointing to Francesco’s younger brother and rival, Ferdinando, as the perpetrator.” Or was it simply malaria? Here’s what DNA evidence reveals. - CNN (MSN)
Vinyl record sales in the US have increased for 19 consecutive years, surpassing $1 billion in revenue in 2025. As vinyl’s popularity has surged, so has scrutiny of its environmental cost—and the music industry’s efforts to address it. - LongReads
“The Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday unveiled 300 gold-colored statuettes of Mozart, which are barely 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) tall. … To give the statues a human touch, (artist Ottmar) Hörl depicted the composer with his favorite dog, Pimperl.” - AP
There is the book a writer writes, which is to say the actual words on the page, and then there is what I call its hologram—the shimmering, ethereal version of the book that the author must pitch to their publisher, and which their publisher then pitches to the public. - LitHub
"It reminded me of what happened when the internet came of age and you saw a difference in the texture of novels: something about the research process that had become expansive and yet somehow just a little more hollow than the pre-internet novel." - Yale Review
Nobody has definitive data, but Anne Green Gilbert has reached thousands of people during her career as the creator of, and advocate for, something she calls Brain-Compatible Dance Education. - Seattle Times
When director Indiana Lown-Collins, who’s half-Spanish, first worked at Shakespeare’s Globe, she decided that flamenco steps would sound terrific there, thundering on the wooden floor and resounding around the circular space. Now she’s settled on the perfect vehicle: Love’s Labours Lost. - The Guardian
“It’s really been holding back local broadcasters from reaching the scale necessary to invest in local news and journalism reporting,” Brendan Carr said. - The Hill
We have found that although AI can enhance individual creativity, it reduces collective creativity. To explain why this occurs, we should first clarify what we mean by creativity. - MIT
Two years. That’s how long it’s been since Andris Nelsons, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has had a meaningful conversation with the orchestra’s chief executive Chad Smith. In fact, the two barely speak at all. - Boston Globe
“It’s not that I don’t have a strategy — I just don’t have one for my life. I don’t plan it. Some people define their next goal and know exactly what they want. I let things come. ... I have a vision about how I want to run the company.” - Hube
