FEATURE: BLACK COMPOSERS SPRING FORWARD
Lifting the Cone of Silence From Black Composers
George E. Lewis
A cone of silence hangs over the work of Black composers from Africa and its diaspora. It is not that Black men and women have not written music, but too often it has been ignored — and thus assumed not to exist at all.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
The Music Industry Is Wrestling With Race. Here’s What It Has Promised.
The New York Times: Ben Sisario
The business owes much of its wealth to the work of Black artists but has just a handful of Black executives in its most senior jobs. Companies large and small say they’re devoted to change.
He Turned ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Into Protest Music
The New York Times: Guilia Heyward
After Joel Thompson wrote “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” in 2014 he put the piece away, thinking it would never be performed.
Artists Are Ditching Their Racially Insensitive Band Names. Who’s Next?
Vice: Drew Schwartz
No matter how slight a band name’s connotation to slavery in America may be, now is the time to change it.
The problem with the ‘Hamilton’ movie
CNN: Ed Morales
In the context of a movement that has clearly identified systemic racism and lethal policing for abolishing rather than reforming, “Hamilton: is quaint and noncommittal. HamilFilm has arrived at a moment when America is not satisfied with ambivalence or compromise, but yearning for real and necessary change.
Coronavirus drove a boom in virtual content; to protect artists, copyright law must catch up
LA Times: Edward Klaris
Even before pandemic pushed our lives online, our digital moment was crying out for a new, more streamlined, simplified approach to managing this copyright can of worms.
Reshaping the Concert Stage, Post Covid-19
MaestroArts: Kazushi Ono
What will the orchestral concert stage look like post-Covid? Kazushi Ono recently led scientific tests with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra to determine a safe and musically viable distance between players. He shares the research
Concerts Disappeared. Piano Sales Survived.
The New York Times: Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim
With their showrooms closed this spring, instrument dealers around the country report surprise at the robust numbers.
NATIONAL
Government Arts Boost ‘Does Not Come Close To Meeting The Demand,’ Says NEA Head
NPR News: Neda Ulaby
846 arts organizations across all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico chosen by the National Endowment of the Arts to receive these $50,000 grants.
40% Cuts to the Arts Help Philadelphia Address Huge Budget Gap
San Francisco Classical Voice: Jisa Houston
Across the country, cultural organizations have been hard hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, but the impact has been felt particularly hard here where the city has eliminated its funding for two institutions, reduced it for others and completely shuttered its Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.
Listening to the Moment: Valérie Sainte-Agathe Leads the SF Girls Chorus Through Unusual Times
San Francisco Classical Voice: Jisa Houston
How does one lead a choir when studies cite choral singing as the one of the most dangerous things to do in terms of transmitting COVID-19?
New York City Cuts Arts Spending by 11 Percent to Close Budget Gap
The New York Times: Julia Jacobs
Facing a $9 billion loss in tax revenues, city leaders cut agency spending across the board, including the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Rolling Stones Working With BMI to Stop Trump’s Use of ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ at Rallies
Roling Stones: Chris Willman
BMI says that campaign usage is covered by a Political Entities License, and songwriters can deny use. The Stones are threatening to sue if Trump persists.
Violin vigil for Elijah McClain interrupted by riot police
The Strad
Police deploy pepper spray and foam munitions in what had been intended as a peaceful musical protest.
Veteran Chicago Symphony Violinist Paul Phillips Announces Retirement
The Violin Channel
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced the retirement of long-serving violinist Paul Phillips Jr from the ensemble.
INTERNATIONAL
Unprecedented £1.57 billion package to save the arts from the brink
Arts Professional (UK)
UK Arts Sector Leaders have responded with a mixture of relief and gratitude for a Government package that will secure the medium-term future of many organizations on the brink of permanent closure, but others believe the announcement leaves many questions unanswered.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to perform live concerts
The Strad
The ensemble will perform two concerts to a live audience in July.
Madrid’s Teatro Real reopens with socially distanced opera
The Guardian: Ashifa Kassam
Verdi’s La Traviata reimagined with cast and orchestra wearing face masks.
In Europe, The Drive-In Festival Concept Gathers Speed
Forbes: Sarah Turner
While many of Europe’s arts festivals have been cancelled this year, including Edinburgh, Bayreuth and Glastonbury, others have turned to 1950s America for inspiration with drive-in performances.
Germany’s 2020 Audi Summer Concerts To Be Streamed Live On The Violin Channel
The Violin Channel
The 2020 Audi Summer Concerts, in Ingoltstadt, Germany will this year partner with The Violin Channel for a smaller scale virtual festival – to be held from the 2nd to the 5th of July.
Global circus company Cirque du Soleil files for bankruptcy protection
CBC: Jonathan Montpetit
A group of existing investors, with backing from the Quebec government’s investment wing, Investissement Québec, has already tabled a bid to take over the company, inject $300 million US and provide financial support for 3,500 laid-off workers.
Vienna Boys Choir Facing Imminent Insolvency
The Violin Channel
The Vienna Boys Choir has announced that the ensemble is likely to be insolvent by September, 2020 – due the devastating economic affects of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Japan’s 2020 Osaka Chamber Music Competition Postponed To 2021
The Violin Channel
The 2020 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, scheduled to take place in May 2020, has been postponed – due to the growing uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus.
Australia’s Queensland Youth Orchestra Announces New Music Director
The Violin Channel
The Queensland Youth Symphony has announced the appointment of Australian conductor Simon Hewett as its new Chief Conductor.
London Symphony Chorus to launch musical tribute to health and care workers
The Strad
Never to Forget pays homage to the health and care workers who have died from Covid-19.
Hachalu Hundessa, Ethiopian Singer and Activist, Is Shot Dead
The New York Times: Abdi Latif Dahir
The musician, 34, was known for political songs that provided support for the ethnic Oromo group’s fight against repression and a soundtrack for antigovernment protests.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Apple’s new spatial audio headphone feature should have Bose and Sony worried
c|net: David Carnoy
Commentary: The AirPods Pro are getting simulated surround sound. But it could also be the secret sauce in its rumored full-size noise-canceling headphones, the so-called AirPods Studio.
Violinist James Ehnes Announces Launch of New ‘Recitals From Home’ Series
The Violin Channel
Superstar Canadian violinist James Ehnes has week announced the launch of his new online series: ‘Recitals From Home.
Americana Singer Amy Helm Offers Curbside Delivery Of Songs
NPR: Karen Michel
Amy Helm, an acclaimed Americana singer and the daughter of famed drummer and singer Levon Helm of The Band, has decided during the lockdown to do a kind of curbside delivery of her own — songs.
New software allows users to recreate the sound of a Stradivarius
The Strad
Native Instruments’ ‘Stradivari Violin’ uses tones captured at Cremona’s Museo del Violino in January 2019.
OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
VC Artist Ray Chen – $69 Violin Vs $10,000,000 Violin
The Violin Channel
This week VC Artist Ray Chen puts to test his $10,000,000 Stradivarius vs a $69 violin he found online …
Canada’s Sparrows Are Singing a New Song. You’ll Hear It Soon.
The New York Times: Cara Giaimo
Over 20 years, scientists tracked the transformation of the traditional trill of a common bird from western Canada to Ontario.
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