FEATURE: SOCIALLY DISTANCED PERFORMANCE
What Socially Distanced Live Performance Might Look Like
Vulture: Justin Davidson
The “foreseeable future” is a contradiction in terms, and among the infinity of things nobody knows is when we’ll be able to attend a live performance.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
#BetterMusicCities
SoundDiplomacy.com
Ensuring Music is at the Heart of Recovery in Cities Around the World.
Musicians are more desperate than ever. Streaming services ought to rescue them
The Star: Nick Krewen
Spotify, YouTube and streaming services in general: It’s time to step up.
A Jazz Pianist Flips Bach Upside-Down
The New York Times: Anthony Tommasini
Dan Tepfer has programmed a computer to invert the “Goldberg” Variations. Take a listen.
The New Museum Is Offering Strange Stories for Trying Times
The New York Times: Peter Libbey
The conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan conceived of the “Bedtime Stories” series as a way to foster a sense of connection during the coronavirus crisis.
YouTube Premiers
Lynn Harrell & Brooks Smith – Mendelssohn ‘Song Without Words’
Fumika Mohri & VC Artist Timothy Ridout – Britten Concerto for Violin & Viola
Violinist VC Artist Paul Huang – ‘Jamaican Rumba’
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma – Lincoln Center’s #MemorialForUsAll
Lynn Harrell & Brooks Smith – Dinicu ‘Hora Staccato’ [1989]
NATIONAL
Over 700 Artists Urge Congress for COVID-19 Relief Assistance
Pitchfork: Allison Hussey
There’s also a new hotline to help other artists contact members of Congress themselves.
Prizes Awarded at 2020 Fischoff Online National Chamber Music Competition
The Violin Channel
The Balourdet Quartet has been awarded 1st prize in the Senior Strings Division at the 47th Annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
CSO chief Riccardo Muti, colleagues contemplate season of silence and surprising ways they could resume
Chicago Tribune: Howard Reich
What happens when one of the world’s great orchestras stops rehearsing and performing for six months? Or more?
The Hollywood Bowl domino effect: Layoffs and furloughs follow season cancellation
Los Angeles Times: Jessica Gelt
The Los Angeles Philharmonic‘s announcement Wednesday that it had been forced to cancel the 2020 seasons at the Hollywood Bowl and the Ford Theatres came with details of an $80 million budget shortfall and a painful ripple effect in the form of staff furloughs and layoffs.
When the New York Philharmonic Fought Over Santa Claus
The New York Times: Douglas W. Shadle
In the 19th century, a Christmas symphony became a flash point in the battle over the orchestra’s commitment to new American music.
NYC’s Kaufman Music Center to host online Day of Musical Action
The Strad
NYC’s Kaufman Music Center to host online Day of Musical Action on Monday 1 June.
Grand Teton Music Festival cancels 2020 event but announces immersive filmed festival instead
The Strad
’Music from the Mountains’, a three-day programme of filmed concerts, will take place in the absence of the usual festival.
A 92-Year-Old Piano Teacher Won’t Let Students Miss Bach in the Pandemic
NY Times: John Branch
For more than 50 years, Cornelia Vertenstein, 92, has taught piano lessons from her home in Denver. Every week, through all those years, a parade of children came to her door, books in hand. Now, she would not let the pandemic put an end to the lessons. And she certainly would not let it cancel spring recitals.
INTERNATIONAL
Canadian Group Wants To Pay Artists To Stream Concerts Online
Ludwig van Toronto: Michael Vincent
SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) has announced Encore!, a new program that pays members $150 per online music performance broadcast online.
‘Glimmer of hope’: leading performers return to London’s Wigmore Hall
The Guardian: Imogen Tilden
Musicians including Mark Padmore, Mitsuko Uchida, Angela Hewitt and Stephen Hough feature in ‘empty hall’ concert series to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in June.
Eight Austrian orchestras call for concerts to resume
The Strad
A letter to the culture secretary gives details on how performances might be organized during the pandemic.
The Khachaturian Violin Competition will take place entirely online this year
The Strad
Responding to the COVID-19 lockdown, the Khachaturian International Violin Competition, held in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, is going entirely online. It will take place from 6-15 June 2020.
2020 Menuhin competition participants commit to rescheduled date
The Strad
All the musicians originally participating in this year’s Menuhin competition have committed to the rescheduled date.
The Tiny Radio Stations That Lift Spirits in Hospitals
The New York Times: Alex Marshall
Volunteer-run broadcasters are a British tradition. During the pandemic, they’re cheering patients up with jazz standards and soft rock.
Igor Levit Is Like No Other Pianist
The New Yorker
He’s a political activist. His repertory is vast. And, during Germany’s shutdown, he streamed more than fifty performances from home. It’s made him question what a concert can be.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Opera in Italy to relaunch with open-air shows in Rome park
Wanted in Rome
Rome’s Opera House is planning to stage an outdoor production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in a central Rome park in what is seen as a tentative come-back for opera in Italy, a sector left reeling by the coronavirus pandemic.
OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
‘Everybody Dance Now’ (Arr. Solo Viola) [CORONA COPING]
The Violin Channel
Violist Kenji Bunch’s finding his own unique way of coping with the complexity of quarantine …
Solo for Flute, Airport Terminal and One Listener
The New York Times: Alex Marshall
A lucky group of concertgoers experienced live music for the first time since lockdown, in a series of ultra-intimate recitals.
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