Matthew Halls, halfway through a four-year contract that saw him take the Oregon Bach Festival in the direction of historically informed performance, says he doesn’t know why he was fired, and the University of Oregon’s press release is not useful (“We look forward to a wider range of programmatic choices, community events, and cross-departmental relationships with UO faculty, staff, and students,” for instance). “Halls said he was not well versed in the specifics of his contract, which was to have expired in 2020. ‘I can’t begin to communicate the personal sadness I’m feeling,’ he said.”