Category: music

Sure, Twitter has issues. And then it has this: “At 58, [Karita] Mattila, who is currently onstage here at the Aix Festival in Weill and Brecht’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” is having something of a late-career renaissance: a newly expanding repertoire and newfound celebrity on Twitter, where she is beloved by some of opera’s most ardent fans. And she loves them right back.” – The New York Times

Actually, he’s an opera singer by training and design and only an Uber driver – in Durban, South Africa – by economic necessity. Still, though, the viral videos taken by a passenger were a welcome surprise. “The exposure has rocketed Mngoma to semi-stardom. He has since been interviewed by radio and TV stations across the country and auditioned for the Cape Town Opera. He has even been invited to participate in iPop, an international talent contest in L.A. this December — a step toward his dream of international stardom.” – NPR

Between Madrid and Barcelona, there’s now little but empty space where towns used to be – except for the 700-person town of Medinaceli, where “in August, [the town] becomes a stage for high art, due to one man’s eccentric vision of bringing elite opera to the slumbering central town in Soria, the least populated of Spain’s 50 provinces.” – BBC

“Msgr. Massimo Palombella” — who raised the (previously abysmal) standards of the papal ensemble, garnering it a major-label recording contract and international respect for the first time in many decades — “has resigned amid an investigation by Vatican prosecutors into alleged money laundering, fraud and embezzlement in connection with the choir’s funds.” – Financial Times

“We’re not known for our attention spans, our patience, or our respect for tradition, and we have been subsequently accused of killing avocado, cheese, home ownership, marriage, and the retail industry. Behind these allegations is, of course, the world’s deeply troubled economy, which has effectively made it unlikely that most of us will be able to afford what our parents could.” – Vogue

The BSO’s finances arguably are so unstable that members of the endowment trust supporting the symphony balk at lending or giving it even one penny more than the $6 million it has received this fiscal year. Some trustees worry that releasing more funds to an organization they say is in dire financial straits would be tantamount to pouring money down a drain. – Baltimore Sun

While Mitchell’s associations with jazz had been criticised in the mainstream rock press by writers who found her experimental, category-defying streak somewhat conceited, it was Mingus himself who instigated the project. Dying from ALS, Mingus was fixed on the idea of a final project, an epitaph of sorts, but he knew he needed a guiding light to see it through to fruition. – Jazz Journal

Writer Heather O’Donovan looks at the challenges of both translations for singing (fitting new words to the music) and supertitles (fitting the words onto that little screen). – WQXR (New York City)