Category: music

“The memo, obtained by The New York Times, offers insight into the institution’s thinking as it works to recover from the turmoil that burst into the public eye this fall when Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire businessman, abruptly stepped down after eight months as its chairman.”

Anne Midgette tracks the year’s highs and lows in classical music.

“Enough already. The maxim that opera must not become a museum has made it one. Mess is not a message. Fifty years of patience with it are about 50 too many. The crutch has slowed us down.”

“The basic reason is that for all its magnificence as an art form, opera is no longer seen as an art of our time. The operas presented by Opera Australia especially were mostly written in the 18th and 19th centuries.”

“We live in a time where we’re all so focused on success, short-term success. And actually there are so many masterworks that wouldn’t exist if theatres hadn’t taken a risk on them.”

“Before the revisionists completely rewrite my adolescence, let’s be clear about something: As a format for recorded sound, the cassette tape is a terrible piece of technology. It’s a roll of tape in a box. It’s essentially an office supply.”

“Jukely is a new live-music-subscription app, the so-called ‘Netflix of Concerts.’ For $25/month, you can go to as many shows as you like (with some strings attached, of course, more on that later), reducing the friction and longterm planning normally associated with going to concerts. … It almost seems like too good of a deal, which raises the question: is it too good to be true? Can it last? And how does it work?”

The Russian baritone, who announced last June that he has a brain tumor, will be returning to London for treatment and will miss four scheduled performances of the Verdi opera in February.