Musicians in American orchestras are now generally balanced between the sexes, largely because blind auditions — during which candidates play behind screens — were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s. But stereotypes surrounding which instruments women should play remain. Most harpists are women; brass sections are dominated by men. – Dallas Morning News
Category: music
How To Hack An Opera
Inspired by ‘hacks’ in the technological sector which often brings together experts in disparate fields to work together to solve a presented problem, usually in a limited amount of time, San Diego Opera’s Opera Hack partnered participants with local universities and tech companies to come up with creative solutions to scenarios presented by San Diego Opera. Forty multi-disciplinary experts from around North America submitted sixteen proposals to a panel of tech and theater-based advisors. – Mowdy
Reimagining The Art Of Fluxus In 2020
“Fluxus artists looked for value in the commonplace, believing that art can be anywhere and belong to anyone. Rather than eliminating art, they sought to dissolve its boundaries in order to infuse everyday life with heightened aesthetic awareness and appreciation.” – NewMusicBox
Old Recordings Of Classical Masters Are Sounding Better Than Ever
“The most dramatic evolution in the classical recording industry has also been the quietest — partly because the most glamorous figures involved are long deceased.” David Patrick Stearns looks at labels specializing in historic recordings: the use of advanced technology on crackly old source material means that, for instance, “you [can even] hear what sounds like Furtwängler turning his score pages in the 1949 Ring Cycle at La Scala.” – WQXR (New York City)
Poland’s Hottest Rapper Walks Right Into The Culture Wars
“Taco Hemingway is a household name in Poland. One of the country’s biggest rappers, he has songs that get millions of views, and before the coronavirus hit, he filled arenas. … Over the summer, he released a track, ‘Polskie Tango’ (‘Polish Tango’), which many saw as a direct criticism of Poland’s right-wing government and [its] culture of fear. … He soon found himself under attack on social media and becoming a target for conservative journalists.” – The New York Times
Music Exec Is Buying Up Distressed Music Venues Across The Country To “Save” Them
Marc Geiger, the former global music chief of the giant talent agency WME, has quietly amassed a war chest to fortify empty clubs during the pandemic and help them grow once they reopen. One of the most charismatic figures behind the scenes of the music industry — a motormouth futurist who helped create Lollapalooza and was an early proponent of how the internet could help musicians — Geiger portrays his latest venture as a kind of personal crusade. – The New York Times
Alex Ross Speaks About His Wagner Quest
“You actually never know who is going to turn out to have an interest in Wagner. I think a lot are working composers and musicians [who] end up engaging with him on an extremely practical level. It’s not necessarily a question of dealing with these huge Wagner questions, but just, “Is there something to be learned from him right now?” – Van
The Inescapable Problem With Pop-Up Opera On A Truck
Michael Andor Brodeur: “For all the power and dramatic force opera can generate, it remains a sublimely vulnerable form, its fantasy created onstage and tenuously protected from the elements by the eggshell shield of the proscenium. Here, outside among the hum and honk of afternoon traffic, it doesn’t really stand a chance.” – The Washington Post
Where Music Comes From, According To Anthropologists
In warfare, rhythm and melody allow tribal groups to signal their strength, numbers, and coordination across far distances, to both allies and foes. This is not unlike how animals commonly use vocalizations to signal their territory or scare off others. “If we study music in traditional societies, we see it used consistently to form political alliances.” – Fast Company
Nico Muhly’s New Piece For San Francisco Symphony Would Be Impossible To Perform Live
With no live concerts since March and no prospect of restarting them soon, the orchestra commissioned Muhly to write a work specifically for virtual performance. The result is Throughline, “a piece of big-girl music that has big-girl stuff in it” (as Muhly put it) that involves the orchestra and all eight of the creative partners Esa-Pekka Salonen engaged when he was appointed SFS music director. – The New York Times