Category: music

“Although Renaissance and Baroque repertoire remains his lodestar, [Liam] Byrne has taken the music — and audiences — to surprising places. In 2015, he squeezed into the belly of a plaster sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum and performed for one person at a time, Marina Abramović-style. Two years later, he participated in a site-specific reworking of Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe, holing up in the kitchen of a historic house with the performer Mara Carlyle, who sang and played the musical saw.” – The New York Times

The attorneys for Woodstock 50 co-founder Michael Lang have shared a furious letter he has written to Dentsu, the Japan-based international ad agency that had been lead investor for this summer’s festival, only to abruptly pull its funding and announce the festival’s cancellation last week. – Vulture

“Contemporary country celebrates heterosexual men in blue-collar occupations just like the genre did in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. But the ideal rural man is now depicted as a particular type of heterosexual provider, while white women have increasingly been represented as the ideal sexual objects to complement this masculinity.” – Pacific Standard

While things will proceed as planned for the rest of this year, from 2020 onward, the Lucerne Festival will redirect focus and resources to its flagship late-summer event and its in-house orchestra (directed by Riccardo Chailly) and academy. Consequently, the satellite Lucerne Easter Festival and (late-autumn) Lucerne Piano Festival are being eliminated by the artistic director and board, who have determined that those events are “strategically of lesser importance” to the Festival’s brand. (in German; for Google Translate version, click here) – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich)

“The Metropolitan Opera has named Lisette Oropesa the 2019 recipient of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, just one month after the young soprano was announced as this year’s Richard Tucker Award honoree. Both awards come with a $50,000 prize.” – Playbill

Data by Co-op FuneralCare suggests that 24% of UK adults (in a survey of 2,000) have already made clear what music they want played at their funeral – up from 19% in 2016 – with one in four opting for songs that will make mourners laugh. – The Guardian

“Beyond the humorous, ironic façade of these performances is a sincere craft that has exploded in popularity over the past couple of decades.” Ethnomusicologist Byrd McDaniel explains how it came to be. – The Conversation

Mind you, the operating surplus was only just over $342,000 (in local dollars), but even that isn’t bad for such a money-losing art form. But several million dollars in bequests came in last year, sending the consolidated profit figure soaring. Which company? Opera Australia. – Limelight (Australia)

They’re learning to sing without a voice box, and they literally do have a choir. – BBC