Category: music

“One of the oddities of this whole business is the unmistakable note of relief in so many discussions about it. In the odd cult of people who spend many nights sitting in front of symphony orchestras, there’s a lot of talk, sometimes amused and sometimes exasperated, about the more infrequent visitors who don’t know the rules.”  – Maclean’s

Wadsworth founded Young Concert Artists in 1961 with the aim of finding great young musicians and giving their careers a boost. “The results speak for themselves: Among the more than 270 alumni, most largely unknown when they won, are major artists like Ms. Bullock; the pianists Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax and Jeremy Denk; the violinist Pinchas Zukerman; the cellists Fred Sherry and Carter Brey; the soprano Dawn Upshaw; and the composers Andrew Norman and Kevin Puts.” – The New York Times

Ann Powers re-listens to all of Michael Jackson’s work in the wake of Leaving Neverland. “If culture builds itself through revelations, explorations, secrets and lies, any response that doesn’t claim the contradictions gets it wrong.” – NPR

Will the festival commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic Woodstock Festival actually go on this August? The advance organization is a mess, the financing has been withdrawn, and now the lawsuits are flying. So we’re guessing… – The New York Times

Having just lost $230,000 in corporate sponsorship (due to changing corporate priorities), the SPCO has announced “that it would no longer sponsor the boundary-bending music series beyond three projects next season, a move that will help it eliminate three positions.” – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Two defendants, aged 17 and 15, were convicted of attacking violinist Yun-Ting Lee, pistol-whipping his husband, forcing their way into the couple’s house, and stealing some electronics and the couple’s car, which contained Lee’s 18,000 violin and $20,000 bow, which got pawned the next day for $30. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

So was it a troll? – Washington Post

“Before each performance Carol Isaac climbs into her little box from the orchestra pit and raises her seat just enough to be seen by the singers but not the audience.” It’s tight quarters in there, especially for a six-hour Wagner opera. But she and her seven colleagues in the job at the Met love the work. And the singers love them. (includes video) – NY1 (New York City)

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s deployment of jazz imagery was as cutting-edge as it was conservative. He embraced the new music; he struggled more to embrace its practitioners and progenitors. He was willing to learn. Yet in the age when jazz was at its arguable peak of public visibility, he was still not able to see black people in the same way he saw white Americans and Europeans. – JSTOR