FEATURE
Reckoning with a Reckoning: How Cultural Institutions Can Advance Equity
Nonprofit Quarterly: Kim Zeuli, Maria Rosario Jackson, and Seth Beattie
The questions are wide-ranging, including what art is presented, by whom, and for what audience.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
What Orchestras Must Do, After Covid
NY Times: Letters – Simon Woods
Read Simon Woods response to Anthony Tommasini’s article “Reinventing the American Orchestra”, included in last week’s Digest.
Tiny Desk Playlist: Black Music Knows No Bounds
NPR: Nwaka Onwusa
For the final NPR Black History Month Tiny Desk playlist, Nwaka Onwusa, chief curator and vice president of curatorial affairs for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, highlights the vast sonic landscape that Black artists have cultivated.
What the Rush to Go Virtual Revealed About the Dance World
Dance: Zachary Whittenburg
This response initially appeared to put the nonprofit dance sector’s best foot forward. Companies demonstrated ingenuity and resourcefulness. Global dialogues supported knowledge-sharing and fostered multicultural competence, just as violent policing in the U.S. reignited a national movement for racial justice.
On a Positive Note, Pandemic Piano Sales Are Booming
KQED: Andrew Gilbert
After months of intermittent lockdown, people have had plenty of time to consider the implications of procuring a piano, and many are fulfilling a long-held dream.
How George Harrison staged one of the most influential concerts in music history
GQ Magazine: Graeme Thomson
Harrison managed Madison Square Garden, twice, both nights with 20,000 people. Eric Clapton just arrived from London looking like a wraith; somebody has been dispatched to find him uncut heroin. Bob Dylan, meanwhile, is so terrified he’s ready to run. If this sounds like your chamber ensemble on tour by all means you should keep reading to learn how Harrison managed things…
He Was a ‘Bad Boy’ Harpsichordist, and the Best of His Age
NY Times: Zachary Woolfe
Scott Ross, who would have turned 70 this year, died young of AIDS — but not before recording all 555 Scarlatti sonatas.
Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen: The Latest Podcast Duo
NY Times: Ben Sisario
Their new show, “Renegades: Born in the USA,” features the 44th president and the musician speaking intimately and expansively on topics like race, fatherhood and the country’s painful divisions.
NATIONAL
Antoine Hodge, Opera Singer With a Powerful Work Ethic, Dies at 38
NY Times: Julia Jacobs
Mr. Hodge, a bass-baritone, was recently a chorus member in “Porgy and Bess” at the Metropolitan Opera. He died of Covid-19.
Lincoln Center Will Head Outside Its Closed Theaters to Perform
NY Times: Matt Stevens
Officials announced plans to create 10 outdoor spaces for pandemic-era performances and rehearsals, and to work with blood drives and food banks.
New York City’s Arts and Recreation Employment Down 66%, Report Says
NY Times: Colin Moynihan
The New York State comptroller’s office details the effects of the pandemic’s devastation and says a full recovery would be made only with government assistance.
New York City Ballet alum Silas Farley, 26, is named dean of Colburn dance institute
LA Times: Makeda Easter
Colburn’s dance institute offers programming for youth and adult students. The institute’s Dance Academy is a highly selective, pre-professional training program for ages 14 to 19.
Long Beach Opera names pandemic go-to director James Darrah as its next leader
Los Angeles Times: Catherine Womack
The new contract begins immediately and will continue “until at least the end of 2024,” Executive Director and Chief Executive Jennifer Rivera said, making Darrah just the third artistic director in the company’s nearly 42-year history.
INTERNATIONAL
London School Of Contemporary Dance Overhauls Everything To Become More Diverse
The Stage
The drive to create a more diverse dance curriculum and the aim to harness digital capabilities to prepare graduates for a post-Covid world means the way we teach dance needs to radically change, in order to better prepare graduates for the cultural landscape in which contemporary independent dance artists forge their career and which many of them go on to shape.
ENO announces bold plan to stage Ring Cycle from the autumn
The Guardian: Mark Brown
Richard Wagner’s four-part opera epic will play at London’s Coliseum over several years.
Dresden Music Festival to go ahead this year
The Strad
The current plan is to provide a mixture of live and online events.
From Easter Island, a Pianist Emerges
NY Times: Thomas May
Mahani Teave, 38 and likely the only professional classical performer from the remote island, has released her first album.
Violinist Steps Down from Brodsky Quartet
The Violin Channel
Violinist Gina McCormack has decided to leave the Brodsky Quartet for family reasons.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason auctions off private concert for Music Masters charity
The Strad
The auction is part of a celebratory fortnight, from 24 February-10 March, where Music Masters highlights the work of its Ambassadors and Artists.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
‘Drivers License’ Is a Runaway Hit. See How Olivia Rodrigo Made Her No. 1 Song.
NY Times: Joe Coscarelli
The singer-songwriter and actress, 18, explains how she wrote her first-ever single — after a good cry, with TikTok in mind — before it took over the world.
Watch These AI Hands Attempt to Play an Unplayable Song on the Piano
Motherboard: Samantha Cole
This algorithmically-generated virtuoso can play almost any composition by ear.
To Express the Sound of a Country’s Soul, He Invented New Instruments
NY Times: Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim
The Guatemalan composer, inventor and writer Joaquín Orellana’s creations are the subject of the Americas Society exhibition “The Spine of Music.”
Aaron Dworkin — With Chicago Symphony President Jeff Alexander
The Violin Channel
Aaron Dworkin sits down with Jeff Alexander, President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to discuss the importance of live orchestral music and the day-to-day leadership of a major symphony orchestra.
Spotify to Launch in 85 New Markets
Variety: Todd Spangler
That represents more than 1 billion potential new listeners, according the company.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
A Violin Made Out of Nails?
The Violin Channel
Created by Nicolas Bras, builder of homemade instruments, the innovative new instrument tries to recreate the concept of sympathetic strings.
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