The BBC Singers, the UK's only full-time professional vocal ensemble, will cease operations this summer, and the Corporation is offering voluntary buyouts to reduce headcount by a fifth in the BBC Symphony in London, the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, and the BBC Concert Orchestra. - The Guardian
"Organizers called Chipperfield's work — more than 100 projects over four decades ranging from cultural, civic and academic buildings to urban planning to residences, and including a recent addition to Berlin's famed Museum Island complex — 'subtle yet powerful, subdued yet elegant.'" - AP
At its core updating Roald Dahl’s children’s books is really about the rights and control copyright grants to authors and copyright holders. Those rights are exercised to update children’s books more frequently than many of these critics may realise. - The Conversation
The conference in New Orleans was equal parts group therapy and war room, as nearly 2,000 librarians from throughout the country strategized on how to protect their patrons and themselves, and how to get the public to wake up to the urgency of the threat. - Washington Post
Enormous is right; with more than 80 percent of the show consisting either of musical numbers or underscoring, Sweeney Todd’s 26-person orchestra rivals the 30-person cast both in size and scope. - Playbill
Blurbing has always had discontents. In 1936, George Orwell decried the use of blurbs in his essay “In Defense of the Novel.” He feared for the novel’s “lapse in prestige,” for which he partly blamed “hack reviews” and “the disgusting tripe that is written by the blurb-reviewers." - The Millions
Reputedly the grand pedagogue Dorothy DeLay had her piano tuned to 443Hz, maintaining that it would make her pupils’ violins sound more brilliant; there is even the case of a US concertmaster insisting that his orchestra tune to precisely 440.5Hz. - The Strad
There is little hope for meritocracy as a theory of distributive justice. The “playing field” isn’t level, there is an oversupply of talent and the methods for determining merit are often winner-take-all, the social determinants of merit often don’t line up with objective criteria of merit. - 3 Quarks Daily
"From all-female sides to youth teams and an appearance at the Brit awards, photographer Rachel Adams has been chronicling England's oldest surviving rural tradition, and seeing how it has found a place in 21st-century Britain." - The Guardian
The idea of ‘truth’ as something subjective may seem odd, but nevertheless it is clear how the notion of lived experience leads in this direction. - 3 Quarks Daily
Late in her life, virtually everything Hildegard had written was copied into a 33-pound illuminated manuscript — too heavy for Soviet soldiers to loot from a Dresden bank vault after World War II. But how to get it out of East Germany and back to the nuns at Hildegard's abbey? - Literary Hub
While nobody expects Tár to be a documentary, it gets so much wrong that either it’s deliberately distorting reality for the sake of the plot or nobody bothered to do the research. - San Francisco Classical Voice
"For close observers, the story of Adams, 65, has taken a stunning turn — though in a manner that had been foreshadowed in recent years as the cartoonist rebranded himself as a provocateur, routinely making headlines for his polarizing views on politics, race and other aspects of identity." - MSN (The Washington Post)
This re-engagement with Black authors of the past is being led by a fresh cohort of literary tastemakers: younger authors in search of ancestors; publishers eager to excavate Black literature, film and television executives in search of intellectual property; social media influencers on Bookstagram... - The New York Times
"He was one of a long line of screen performers whose brilliance was shadowed by shocking offenses that employers were willing to factor into the hiring process because of his track record of superlative performances. His life was filled with reprieves and second chances." - Vulture
