FEATURE
The Musicological Zest of “Switched On Pop”
The New Yorker: Alex Ross
Music appreciation is having a resurgence, although the music being appreciated has changed. Early in the twenty-tens, song-explainer videos began proliferating on the Internet. When podcasts took off, dissections of the innards of pop hits were in demand. Now TikTok has its own pithy army of music theorists. The “Switched on Pop” hosts deliver charmingly rigorous dissections of Taylor Swift and Weeknd songs, slipping in a fair amount of music history and theory.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
Andra Day On Portraying BilIie Holiday And The Enduring Strength Of ‘Strange Fruit’
NPR: All things Considered
The role is Day’s acting debut, but she has already won a Golden Globe for her performance.
He Was Born Into Slavery, but Achieved Musical Stardom
NY Times: Anthony Tommasini
The life and work of Thomas Wiggins, who toured as “Blind Tom,” has been given more attention in recent years.
The Jazz Pianist Using a Computer Program to Play with Other Musicians in Quarantine
The New Yorker: Fred Kaplan
A successful JackTrip human interest story!
Audio streaming: the missing millions
Bachtrack: David Karlin
As the recorded music industry is booming, who’s been the winners and losers, and why?
Composers of Color Crash Through Awards Conversation
Variety: Jon Bulingame
Are composers of color now being considered more frequently for films that don’t focus on Black issues? The answer appears to be yes.
‘A Concerto Is a Conversation’
NY Times: Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
A virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer tracks his family’s lineage through his 91-year-old grandfather from Jim Crow Florida to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
New Jazz That Agitates for Change
NY Times: Jon Caramanica and Pedro Rosado
A Conversation about strong recent debuts, and how canon and community can be in tension.
Premiere of the month: Telling the Truth
The Strad
An International Women’s Day celebration of a civil rights pioneer.
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Tenors
NY Times
Rufus Wainwright, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli and others choose opera’s most passionate, golden voices.
NATIONAL
‘It’s devastating’: Margaret Atwood on a musical project honoring women killed by partners
The Guardian: Alison Flood
In 2015, Nathalie Warmerdam was killed by an ex-partner. Now her brother Joshua Hopkins has teamed up with the author to write a song cycle highlighting such everyday atrocities
A Composer’s Notes Echo After His Death
NY Times: Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim
The violinist Hilary Hahn has released the premiere recording of two serenades by Einojuhani Rautavaara, who died in 2016.
Glimmerglass Festival to Stage Its Operas Outdoors This Summer
NY Times: Christina Morales
The festival, in Cooperstown, N.Y., plans to resume performances this summer in “the most ventilated area we could find: the great outdoors.”
Saving Birdland—and Jazz History
The New Yorker: Adam Gopnik
The legendary New York City music venue has been crushed by the pandemic.
New York to Allow Limited Live Performances to Resume in April
NY Times: Michael Paulson
The state will allow plays, concerts and other performances to start again April 2 for audiences of up to 100 people indoors, or 200 outdoors.
INTERNATIONAL
As Biden Reverses Trump Immigration Policies, Foreign Artists Breathe a Sigh of Relief. But Many Hope for Better Than ‘Back to Normal’
ArtNet: Brian Boucher
Many culture workers in the U.S., typically avid believers in international cultural exchange, are heaving a sigh of relief at the election of Joe Biden, a far more liberal-minded president than his Republican predecessor.
Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic Writes Letter in Support of MET Musicians
The Violin Channel
Daniel Froschauer, violinist and member of the Vienna Philharmonic’s board of directors, released an open letter voicing concern for the musicians of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
Royal Academy of Music to conclude term with 12 livestreamed concerts
The Strad
The Academy plans to resume its regular term-time concert series from next month.
ISM responds to new funding for the Arts
The Strad
Although extra cash for culture is welcome, most of this funding goes to institutions not individuals, say the ISM.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
How a mannequin head could revolutionize how orchestras and audiences come together
The Washington Post: Michael Andor Brodeur
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra uses Ted, a mannequin head outfitted with binaural microphones and hi-def cameras, which “hears” and then transmits live-sounding immersive audio and video.
Aaron Dworkin — With President & Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization Afa Dworkin
The Violin Channel
Aaron Dworkin sits down with Afa Dworkin, President & Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, to discuss the importance of diversity in the arts and leadership attributes that empower organizational excellence.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Pharrell’s “Happy” On 10 Different Instruments
The Violin Channel
Gunhild Carling is a Swedish jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, known for playing three trumpets at a time.
Playing it cool: these artists make music with ice
National Geographic: Lola Akinmade Åkerström
Using frozen drums, horns, and harps, an emerging art form takes its cues from nature.
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