JSoM Alert!! Pacifica Quartet, Richard O’Neill, and LA Phil Win 2021 Grammy Awards
Violinist.com: Laurie Niles
Congratulations to the Pacific Quartet, violist Richard O’Neill, and the LA Phil and all winners of 2021 Grammy Awards, which were announced on Sunday. The Pacifica Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Jacobs School of Music, won in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for its “Contemporary Voices” album, featuring works by three Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary composers: Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The album includes a performance by renowned classical saxophonist, IU Professor Otis Murphy.
Jacobs School of Music quartet-in-residence, alumna win Grammy Awards
JSoM Press Release: Linda Cajigas
In addition to the Pacifica Quartet win, Jacobs alumna Laura Sisk won the second Grammy of her career, as an engineer/mixer on Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” release, which won Album of the Year.
See more Grammy news below.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
Juilliard Must Modernize, or It Will Disappear
Rolling Stone: Emma Sutton-Williams
A Juilliard-trained violinist argues that more innovative education at music conservatories could reverse classical music’s decline in the face of pop culture.
The Culture Warped Pop, for Good
NY Times: Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding
Our digitized world hasn’t just changed how we listen to music. It changed the music itself.
Love It or Hate It: Musicians Come to Terms With Performing for the Camera
San Francisco Classical Voice: Lou Fancher
Musicians [this author spoke to] all say their professional careers now and forever forward will consist of a hybrid of live and virtual performances.
Bang the drum for change: why do orchestras have so few female percussionists?
The Violin Channel
In London’s orchestras alone, there are more men called David with jobs in percussion than there are women. Why are back rows still so male?
Genre Is Disappearing. What Comes Next?
The New Yorker: Amanda PetrusichMarch
As record stores close and streaming algorithms dominate, the identities that music fandom supplies are in flux.
NATIONAL
2021 Grammys Winners: The Full List
NY Times: Peter Libby
Trevor Noah hosted the first Grammy Awards since the pandemic began. The ceremony in Los Angeles, always heavy on performances, featured Taylor Swift, BTS, Megan Thee Stallion and more.
Grammys 2021: A Year of Pandemic and Protest Shapes the Awards
NY Times: Ben Sisario
Beyoncé broke a record, Megan Thee Stallion and H.E.R. won awards, and Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” was named album of the year.
‘The boat has been rocked’: Mickey Guyton, the Grammys’ first Black solo female country nominee
The Guardian: Marissa R Moss
Her song Black Like Me is a bold statement in an often conservative genre, but the Texan singer is conflicted about bringing diverse voices into the ‘lion’s den’ of country music.
Grammys awarded for recordings of Ives, Gershwin, Smyth and a raft of contemporary composers
BBC Classical Music Magazine
Artists and ensembles awarded Grammys in this year’s ceremony included Gustavo Dudamel, JoAnn Falletta, the Pacifica Quartet, Michael Tilson Thomas and the Experiential Orchestra
Chick Corea Wins Best Improvised Jazz Solo & Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Grammy.com: Morgan Enos
The legendary fusion pianist, who died last February at 79, won Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “All Blues” and Best Jazz Instrumental Album for ‘Trilogy 2’
Five Artists Awarded 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grants
Violin Channel
Artists include violinists Geneva Lewis & Kevin Zhu, cellists Sterling Elliot and Oliver Herbert, along with pianist Eric Lu
Pixar Film “Soul” Wins Golden Globe for Best Original Score
The Violin Channel
Composer duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, along with jazz artist Jon Batiste, were given the award at this week’s Golden Globe ceremony.
NEA to Receive Funds from American Rescue Plan to Help Save Organizations and Jobs in the Arts Sector
NEA
The $135 million allocated for the Arts Endowment in this historic legislation represents a significant commitment to the arts and a recognition of the value of the arts and culture sector to the nation’s economy and recovery.
The Met Opera’s Musicians, Unpaid Since April, Are Struggling
NY Times: Julia Jacobs
About 40 percent of the players have left the New York area, and a tenth have retired. Now the Met is seeking long-term pay cuts, and offering them partial pay if they come to the bargaining table.
Esther Nelson, Who Took Opera Beyond The Stage, Set To Leave The Boston Lyric Opera
WBUR: Cristela Guerra
Boston Lyric Opera general and artistic director Esther Nelson is departing at the end of the season after 12 years.
Florence Price: Forgotten work by pioneering composer rediscovered
BBC News: Mark Savage
A forgotten work by the pioneering composer Florence Price has been rediscovered and performed for the first time in nearly 80 years.
Shuttered Venue Grants Are Coming In April, After A Long Wait
NPR Andrew Limbong
Most people in the live music industry were ecstatic when Congress passed the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act in December.
INTERNATIONAL
A New ‘Aida’ Lands in the Middle of France’s Culture Wars
NY Times: Joshua Barone
The production, which examines the work’s colonial legacy, opened after the far right accused the Paris Opera of “antiracism gone mad.”
Orchestra Becomes United Nations Climate Change Goodwill Ambassador
The Violin Channel
Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), appointed the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn to be the first United Nations Climate Change Goodwill Ambassador
Online ‘Coffee Mask’ International Music Video Competition announces winners
The Strad
First prize went to Czech violinist Marie Hasoňová and Romanian flautist Raluca Tihon.
Giovanni Guzzo appointed concertmaster of Camerata Salzburg
The Strad
The Italian-Venezuelan violinist takes on the position with immediate effect alongside current concertmaster Gregory Ahss.
Royal Opera House to welcome in-person audiences from 17 May
The Strad
Beginning next month, the London venue will also live stream fully staged performances of ballet and opera.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Music Biz on the Rebound: Assessing the State of the Industry for Concerts, Songwriters, Publishing, Music Discovery and the Latin Explosion
Variety: By Jem Aswad, Cata Balzano, Geoff Mayfield, Ellise Shafer, Chris Willman
Streaming now accounts for 83% of all U.S. music industry earnings, which encompass physical sales, syncs and digital downloads.
Online music school teams up with MET Orchestra Musicians for virtual masterclass
The Strad
Violinist David Chan will be giving a virtual masterclass as part of a collaboration between Lessonface and MET Orchestra Musicians.
SF Opera Develops New COVID-19 Singing Mask for Rehearsals
NBC Bay Area: Joe Rosato Jr.
The San Francisco Opera costume department teamed-up with doctors from UCSF to create a mask that will allow the company’s singers to safely rehearse together — while greatly diminishing the chances of spreading COVID-19.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé’s daughter, wins her first Grammy.
NY Times: Julia Jacobs
At only 9 years old, Beyoncé’s oldest daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is already starting to follow in her parents’ footsteps, winning her first Grammy for her role in the music video for “Brown Skin Girl.”
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