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FEATURE: IMPORTANT WORKS REVEALED
Our Congratulations to Jacobs School of Music Professor of Conducting Arthur Fagen, whose recent release of works by William Dawson and Ulysses Kay with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra has received extensive attention in the media!
- NPR: Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson’s ‘Negro Folk Symphony’
- NYT: 8 Things to Do This Fourth of July Weekend (Giving a Symphony Its Due)
- WFMT: Music of William Dawson & Ulysses Kay
- The Art Music Lounge: The Music of Dawson and Kay
RESEARCH AND OPINION
The Great Reformatting
American Scholar: Theodore Gioia
As performances go digital, artists must reconsider their relationship to audiences. This is the first in a series of articles on the shifting landscape of artistic activity on the modern Internet.
What Does the Public Want From Art in a Post-COVID World? Here Are 5 Takeaways From a Massive New Study
ArtNet: Ben Davis
In what’s billed as one of the largest arts and culture studies ever done in the US, the new report “Culture and Community in a Time of Crisis” has surveyed some 124,000 people to take a look at their thoughts on the role of culture in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results don’t look good, but it’s good data to look at, to get a sense of the challenges the sector faces.
What Happens When Artists Stop Being Afraid?
Token Theatre Friends: Diep Tran
Recently, more than 60,000 theater artists (including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sandra Oh) signed a petition called We See You, White American Theatre, which called out racism and sexism in the theater industry.
An Interview with Young Concert Artist Xavier Foley
The Violin Channel
The up-close and personal chat, presented by Young Concert Artists, covering the normal life of a musician vs the life of a musician in quarantine.
Aaron Dworkin interviews Bienen School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery [EPISODE 2]
The Violin Channel
In this episode of ‘Arts Engine’, Aaron Dworkin sits down with Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery – to discuss the role of the arts in education.
Ennio Morricone Was More Than Just a Great Film Composer
The New York Times: John Zorn
Morricone, who died on Monday at 91, has been an influence and an inspiration since I first encountered his work as a teenager in 1967.
Music-Making across the Distance: An Interview with Alan Pierson
The Paris Review: Garth Greenwell
Interview with Alan Pierson from Alarm Will Sound.
How the Music Business is Faring Amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Los Angeles Times: Mikael Wood
Anyone paying attention to the music industry knows that the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the touring business, thanks to the postponement of tours by the likes of the Rolling Stones and Kenny Chesney and the cancellation of festivals including Coachella and Bonnaroo.
Mark Mulligan on the Future of Streaming and Live Events
Stitcher
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done.
NATIONAL
Yacht Rock Revue Kicks Off First Night of Drive-In Concerts in Indiana
The New York Times: Sarah Bahr
On a breezy, 80-degree summer night, more than a thousand, mostly middle-age smooth rock fans, many of them sporting cargo shorts and captain’s hats, danced for two hours to tunes from the 1970s and ’80s by Yacht Rock Revue, who were performing in an Indiana parking lot.
Metropolitan Opera Will Livestream Its Biggest Stars
NY Times: Zachary Woolfe
For its next major initiative during a lockdown of its theater that will last at least until the end of the year, the Met will test whether a broad audience will pay for digital content.
Minnesota Orchestra replaces August concerts with chamber performances
The Strad
All full orchestra concerts originally scheduled for August and early September 2020 have been cancelled due to Covid-19 safety regulations.
MacDowell Colony Drops the Word ‘Colony,’ Citing ‘Oppressive Overtones’
The New York Times: Julia Jacobs
The artists’ retreat, founded in 1907, has hosted the likes of James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein and Audre Lorde, among others.
Julianna Barwick Left Her Ghosts in New York. Then the Healing Began.
The New York Times: Grayson Haver Currin
The musician became a star on the city’s experimental music scene, but her personal life spiraled into chaos. A move to Los Angeles unlocked her creativity and let her find joy again.
The dark future for the world’s greatest violin-makers
BBC: Sergio Colombo
Cremona has long been known for its fine stringed instruments. But now, after the Italian city became a virus hotspot, its craftsmen face tough times. Sergio Colombo reports.
INTERNATIONAL
Outdoor theatre and music can restart in England from 11 July
The Guardian: Lanre Bakare
Industry welcomes news but calls for clarity on when indoor performances can return.
Berlin Philharmonic Cancels 2020 US Concert Tour Due To Coronavirus
The Violin Channel
The Berlin Philharmonic has this week announced the cancellation of its 6-city US concert tour – scheduled to take place from the 7th to the 20th of November.
Szymanowski Quartet Announce Cellist Karol Marianowski To The Ensemble
The Violin Channel
The Polish-based Szymanowski Quartet has announced the appointment of Polish cellist Karol Marianowski to the ensemble.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra cancels 2020-21 season, announces plans for smaller events
CBC
Performances will take place across GTA, including at Roy Thomson Hall.
Italy’s La Scala opera house reopens after four-month shutdown
France 24
The cultural venue operated at under a third of capacity to allow for distancing, with an audience of just 600, as opposed to the regular 2,000.
New funding announced for Scottish arts sector
The Strad
The William Syson Foundation is making new funding available thanks to its £13m endowment.
Cadogan Hall reopens for streamed concerts and recording sessions
The Strad
Events include a charity performance in response to the Black Lives Matter Movement and a concert from the English Chamber Orchestra.
Prizes Awarded at Germany’s 2020 Mahler Conducting Competition
The Violin Channel
30-year-old British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear has been awarded 1st prize at the 2020 Mahler International Conducting Competition.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Walkman, Forty Years On
The New York Times: Matt Alt
The gadget that taught the world to socially distance.
What I Learned from Making an Opera on Zoom
Howl Round: Kamala Sankaram
This is what I saw with the livestreams: our traditional modes of live performance are not a good fit for the new world we find ourselves in. Rather, as we continue to create live performance in the months ahead, we must seek new modes of performance that actively engage with the technologies we’re using.
OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
Ben Folds Puts His Live-Work Sanctuary in Hudson on the Market
The New York Times: Julie Lasky
The indie-rock musician and his wife renovated the three-story former department store in upstate New York from top to bottom.
Japanese man arrested for attacking pedestrian with violin bow
The Strad
The random incident took place on a street in Sapporo, Japan.
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