FEATURE: THE FUTURE OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY
Predicting Tectonic Changes in Classical Music
VAN: Jeffrey Arlo Brown, Timmy Fisher, Hartmut Welscher
When the curtain finally lifts on concert restrictions, a new world will start coming into focus. And while it’s impossible to predict the future, here are 19 things we think will be different—based on over a dozen conversations with people across the music world.
COVID-19
Conservatories on the Cutting Edge of Distance Learning
San Francisco Classical Voice: Jim Farber
How universities were already prepared for closures.
A Moment to Rethink How We Support Music
The New Yorker: Nathan Taylor Pemberton
As social-distancing rules have been put into place around the globe, a special kind of chaos has ensued for musicians, and for the performing arts in general.
6 Music Publicists Explain How COVID-19 Is Making It Harder to Help Artists
Vice: Josh Terry
“It feels really strange to also be like, ‘Hey, would you like to write about this brand new band? By the way, our entire society is crumbling.'”
Livestreams Are Moving to Hard Tickets to Replace Lost Touring Revenue
Billboard: Taylor Mims
Companies like Side Door, StageIt and Looped are stepping up to help artists monetize online performances.
The Coronavirus Hasn’t Slowed Classical Music
The New York Times: Joshua Barone
As closures give way to a deluge of live streams, performances have never been more accessible.
‘Joy in the Grief’: Musicians Are Making Art in a Pandemic
NY Times: various conversations
Many classical artists have had barely a week off in their careers. But with performances now on hold worldwide for months to come, what creative projects are they working on? These are edited excerpts from their conversations with Joshua Barone, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, Anthony Tommasini, Seth Colter Walls and Zachary Woolfe.
Dancing With Myself: How Artists Stay in Shape Without a Stage
The New York Times: Nancy Coleman
With the coronavirus pandemic putting live shows on hold, performers are adapting how they practice.
A FEW OF THOSE WE’VE LOST…
- Jazz legend Ellis Marsalis’ lasting impact on family and world of music
- Adam Schlesinger, Songwriter for Rock, Film and the Stage, Dies at 52
- Bucky Pizzarelli, Master of the Jazz Guitar, Is Dead at 94
- Wallace Roney, Jazz Trumpet Virtuoso, Is Dead at 59
NATIONAL
As Virus Threatens Orchestras, Trade Group Taps a New Leader
NY Times: Zachary Woolfe
The League of American Orchestras chose Simon Woods, who left the Los Angeles Philharmonic abruptly last September, as its next chief executive.
In New York Arts, the Damage from the Pandemic is Proving to be Catastrophic
NY Times: Peter Marks and Geoff Edgers
As the covid-19 disease has escalated, turning New York into a crisis epicenter, the resolve of a multibillion-dollar arts community has intensified to try to temper panic and pool advice.
With Stars at Home, a Coronavirus Pop Benefit Scales Down
The New York Times: Jon Pareles
Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello and Sam Smith performed remotely to raise money for organizations helping with Covid-19 relief.
After 94 years, the Song Ends for the Turtle Bay Music School
The New York Times: James Barron
The closing of the Manhattan institution, born in the days of Gershwin, after an ill-fated effort to relocate illustrates the struggle for small nonprofits.
Carnegie Hall projects $9M deficit, expects cuts next season
Yahoo! News: Ronald Blum, Associated Press
Gillinson said this will be the first deficit since he joined Carnegie Hall in 2005. The budget was slashed 20% in 2007-08 because of the Great Recession.
To avert ‘enormous’ deficit, Philadelphia Orchestra musicians take 20% pay cut as special fund-raising begins
The Philadelphia Enguirer: Peter Dobrin
Faced with an abrupt and unprecedented loss of ticket revenue, musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra are taking a pay cut. Players voted last week to approve an across-the-board 20% reduction in compensation starting April 1 and lasting through the middle of September.
L.A. Orchestra Musicians’ Lost Wages Could Add Up to $4 Million for March
Variety: Jon Burlingame
John Acosta, president of Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians, projects that lost wages due to the cancellation of live performances (notably by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, L.A. Opera, L.A. Master Chorale and others) and studio recording dates could range from $2 million to $4 million, “just for the month of March.”
Ulysses Quartet – Schoenfeld, Fischoff & Vietnam Competition 1st Prizes
The Violin Channel
The Ulysses Quartet has in recent seasons firmly established themselves as one of the most promising young chamber music ensembles to emerge internationally.
INTERNATIONAL
World Federation of International Music Competitions appoints new Secretary General
The Strad
The Geneva-based federation has appointed Florian Riem as its new Secretary General, with immediate effect.
Fundraising campaign launched for freelance musicians in Germany
The Strad
The German Orchestra Foundation has so far raised more than €855,000 for the emergency fund.
Calgary Phil Musicians Work Part-Time From Home
Calgary Herald: Michele Jarvie
Two weeks after temporarily laying off staff and musicians, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is offering them reduced hours.
Coronavirus Pandemic Forces Bayreuth to Cancel 2020 Festival, Delays New Ring Cycle Until 2022
Opera News
It was planned to stage the premiere performances this summer of the festival’s new Ring cycle, directed by Valentin Schwarz and conducted by Pietari Inkinen, as well as revivals of its productions of Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Aldeburgh festival 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus
The Guardian: Imogen Tilden
Classical music festival founded by Benjamin Britten will not go ahead for the first time in its 73-year history.
London’s Barbican extends closure to 30 June 2020
The Strad
The arts space also calls for donations from audiences ’to enable it to keep investing in the artists and organisations it works with’.
Tasmin Little postpones retirement
The Strad
In response to concert cancellations as a result of the coronavirus crisis, the violinist has postponed her retirement from the concert platform to December 2020.
Anne-Sophie Mutter pays tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki
The Strad
The German violinist honours the Polish conductor and composer whose death was announced yesterday, describing his loss as ‘a huge void in my heart’.
New cello album explores the life of a man caught up in the Albanian conflict of the 1990s
The Strad
Cellist Redi Hasa, a member of Ludovico Einaudi’s touring group, has put together an album that tells his personal story.
Hellmut Stern, 91, Dies; Violinist Returned to Germany After Fleeing
The New York Times: Katharine Q. Seelye
He joined the Berlin Philharmonic after years in exile, setting what a colleague called “a unique example of reconciliation and forgiveness.”
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Our Advice to Independent Artists Right Now Is Simple: Keep Releasing
Music Business Worldwide: Tim Ingham
This is a time of great uncertainty for artists and record labels. Our partners are all asking the same thing: Where is the world going – and what should I be doing?
Coronavirus: New initiative will assemble artists to create micro-operas
The Stage: Giverny Masso
A new initiative has been set up to assemble teams of artists from across the world to create mini-operas that will be shared online. It’s called #OperaHarmony.
Violin and bow makers collaborate to raise money for musicians’ fund
The Strad
Innovation in philanthropy, luthier Jacob Brillhart is live-streaming the building of a $10k violin for ’Musician Aid’.
Tamsin Waley-Cohen has co-founded Living Room Live
The Strad
The violinist has co-founded a website streaming live concerts from musicians’ homes.
Julian Lloyd Webber curates online concert series in aid of NHS workers
The Strad
‘Art Saves Us’ is an online concert series in support of NHS Workers, launching on Friday 3rd April.
OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
Virtual Choir “Va pensiero” (“Nabucco” by G. Verdi) – International Opera Choir
YouTube – International Opera Choir
“The ‘Va pensiero’ is a part of our history, and as soon as anyone begins singing the motif the words come back to mind. The hymn has always been considered a potential substitute to the national anthem, and according to many scholars no other pieces can truly represent the Italian people like the the ‘Va pensiero’.
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