“Sara Ascenso, a clinical psychologist and trained pianist, will start at the [Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester] in January. Her role will include lecturing and research, and she will also develop the health and wellbeing provision across the college, ensuring it is tailored to musicians’ needs.” — The Guardian
Category: music
$100,000 Grawemeyer Award To Joël Bons For Concerto For Cello And Asian Instruments
“Nomaden, which was written for the French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Atlas Ensemble, a group of 18 musicians from Asia, the Middle East and Europe, had its premiere at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam in 2016, where it was received enthusiastically. It pairs its cello soloist with musicians who play instruments from China (erhu and sheng), Japan (sho and shakuhachi), India (sarangi), Turkey (kemenche), Armenia (duduk), Iran (setar) and Azerbaijan (tar and kamancha).” (includes audio) — New York Times
Jeanine Tesori’s Musical Revolution
Tesori, who wrote the music for 2015’s Tony Award-winning Best Musical (and Best Score, not incidentally) Fun Home (oh, and 2004’s Caroline, or Change, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Shrek: The Musical, and, and, and), is having quite a moment. Here’s how she got to Broadway from pre-med.
San Diego’s Outdoor Symphony At The Marina Is Getting Closer
The California Coastal Commission has approved a permanent structure. “The new, permanent outdoor concert space would feature a 57-foot acoustic shell housing a stage, turf lawn with temporary seating, a box office and two food pavilions.”
How Scientists Are Studying How We Respond To Music
Contemporary work on music perception embraces a variety of disciplines and methodologies, from anthropology to musicology to neuroscience, to try to understand the relationship between music and the human mind. Researchers use motion capture systems to record people’s movements as they dance, analyzing the gestures’ relationship to the accompanying sound. They use eye tracking to measure changes in infants’ attentiveness as musical features or contexts vary. They place electrodes on the scalp to measure changes in electrical activity, or use neuroimaging to make inferences about the neural processes that underlie diverse types of musical experiences, from jazz improvisation to trance-like states to simply feeling a beat.
Equal Pay Lawsuit Against Boston Symphony Could Impact Other Orchestras
One thing is certain: if the case does go to court and Elizabeth Rowe prevails, the impact on the symphony world will be profound. While it is true that the law on which this case is based is limited to Massachusetts, there would likely be a strong effort on the part of many musicians to argue that the precedent should apply to them.
Sphinx Starts New Program To Train Minority Classical Music Administrators
The Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, which for 22 years has run education programs and competitions to develop black and Latinx classical music performers, “is launching a leadership development program with educational and mentorship components aimed at cultivating black and Latinx candidates for leadership positions in orchestras, conservatories and music schools across the country.”
An ‘Amahl And The Night Visitors’ Staged In A Soup Kitchen, With A Chorus Of Formerly Homeless People
The site-specific New York company On Site Opera, which has already staged productions at a mannequin showroom, Harlem’s Cotton Club, the Bronx Zoo, and Madame Tussaud’s, is presenting Gian Carlo Menotti’s Christmas opera at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, with the chorus recruited from the clients of Breaking Ground, which provides permanent housing and services for the homeless.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Will Share Met Opera’s New Commissions With Philadelphia Orchestra
In a Q&A with David Patrick Stearns, the music director of the two institutions says of new operas in the works from composers Kevin Puts and Mason Bates, “We will be workshopping these pieces in collaboration with the Curtis Institute. The Philadelphia Orchestra will premiere the scores in a concert presentation prior to the full production at the Met.”
The Nézet-Séguin Era Begins At The Metropolitan Opera
Mr. Nézet-Séguin, who had originally been set to assume the post in 2020, moved up his start date to take a stronger musical hand at the opera house after the allegations against Mr. Levine came to light. And although it will be a few seasons before he takes on his full workload at the Met and implements some of his plans for commissions and collaborations, he is already making his presence felt.