Justin Davidson: The current scheme, a joint Philharmonic–Lincoln Center project, is relatively modest. The auditorium stays where it is but gets gutted and rebuilt (again). In 2022, the orchestra moves out for an extended summer break, from May to November, returns for an abbreviated season in the reconfigured but unfinished hall, and spends most of 2023–24 touring, floating, and sojourning in its ancestral home at Carnegie Hall. The new Geffen reopens in March 2024. (Lincoln Center and the Philharmonic say that they’ve already raised two-thirds of the money.) – New York Magazine
Blog
The Online Image Business Is Being Gutted (Or Saved, Depending On Your Perspective)
The stock photo business is highly competitive, with Getty and its rivals, such as Adobe and Shutterstock, steadily cutting prices to keep market share. Last month, for example, Getty announced plans to move entirely to a “royalty-free” pricing model that would make stock images even cheaper for clients. But if lower prices have benefited Getty’s customers, they’ve also meant less money for stock photographers. – Seattle Times
How Pink Martini Became A New Vision For An Orchestra Collective
“After college, I actually wanted to be the mayor of Portland,” Thomas Lauderdale recalls, “but working in the campaigns and political fundraising can be so dreary. And the music at those rallies really sucked.” Therein was the impetus for forming the band. Lauderdale had become the de facto social director of Portland’s underground political scene, staging rallies, parties and functions at coffeehouses, private homes and auditoriums citywide. – Monterey County Now
Some Schools Used Science To Change The Way They Taught Reading. So Why Hasn’t It Caught On?
Danville’s method relies on new reading science. It has roots in an old way of teaching but is based on new cognitive neuroscience research that has revealed how brains process sounds and symbols. It borrows from linguistics, the study of language and its structure. Students do not memorize lists of words for spelling tests, yet the average Danville fourth grader is spelling at the sixth-grade level. – Seattle Times
Apostrophe Society Shuts Down, Blames “Ignorance And Laziness”
Retired journalist John Richards, 96, started the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 to make sure the “much-abused” punctuation mark was being used correctly. “We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won.” – London Evening Standard
Finally – A Makeover Of The NY Philharmonic’s Lincoln Center Home – Opening In 2024
The reconstruction of David Geffen Hall is finally about to happen — for real, this time. A new plan to transform the acoustically and aesthetically challenged auditorium into a more intimate, better sounding space was unveiled on Monday. – The New York Times
Boston Children’s Theatre Abruptly Closes After Accusations About Artistic Director
The collapse of the organization came quickly, just a few weeks after a group of former students accused longtime artistic director Burgess Clark of inappropriate behavior. The explosive allegations, including accusations by some students of touching and kissing during private lessons or while they were at his second home in Vermont, rocked the theater group and has triggered an investigation by police. No charges have been filed. – Boston Globe
Classical Music’s Streaming Problem
According to a new survey commissioned by Primephonic, 34% of the 1,000 Americans surveyed are interested in listening to classical music, but only 16% actually do so. Put another way, only half of the people interested in streaming classical music are actually listening. Primephonic and Idagio ($10 monthly) — another classical music-only streaming service that launched in the U.S. in 2018 — intend to take advantage of the gap in those numbers, to improve access to classical music by offering new-user-friendly software and guided listening. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Composer Lei Liang Wins $100,000 2020 Grawemeyer Award For Piece Inspired By Climate Change
Boston Modern Orchestra Project commissioned the winning piece, A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams, which premiered in 2018 in Boston’s Jordan Hall with Gil Rose conducting. The annual, $100,000 prizes reward outstanding ideas in music, world order, psychology, education and religion. – NewMusicBox
Accidentally Becoming The Real-Life Mrs. Maisel
When a woman in a close-knit Jewish family gets divorced and moves in with her parents, her friends tell her she’s just like Mrs. Maisel. But she’s no comedian, she thinks. And then the first open-mic night beckons. – The New York Times
