Category: music

“The autumn series will not only include solo recitals and duos, but trios, quartets and larger ensembles will return to Wigmore Hall for the first time since lockdown. … All 100 concerts will be live-streamed in HD and free to watch on demand for 30 days after broadcast on Wigmore Hall’s website.” – Opera Today

With fewer or no opportunities to perform live at school, can music degrees live up to their mandate to prepare students for a career? In other words, what is the value of a socially distanced degree in music performance? And if the value is significantly reduced, and given the extraordinary financial stress on young music students and their families, what is the best course of action? – Middle Class Artist

The Dunedin Consort, an Edinburgh-based period-instrument group known for its recordings of Bach sacred works and Handel oratorios, had its first engagement since lockdown this past Friday in northern France. The problem: Boris Johnson’s government announced late Thursday night that anyone entering the UK from France after 4 am on Saturday would have to be quarantined for 14 days, and every regular means of transport for late Friday night was sold out. – BBC

“I’m the first to admit that my project can sound outré or precious. … When it came to Bach, I was unhappy about the piano’s awkwardness with hand crossings, the harpsichord’s lack of dynamic vitality and the tootiness of organ pipes. … I kept struggling with what my ideal ‘Goldbergs’ might sound like. I wanted the raw pluckiness of the harpsichord, but with the expressive qualities of the piano.” Parker Ramsay, who plays harpsichord and organ as well as Baroque and modern harp, makes his case. – The New York Times

The festival has been renamed Re-Generation, and a temporary theatre constructed that, were it at normal capacity, would seat around 1,500, but for the late August event will house only 500. “It’s absolutely enormous. Similar dimensions to the Bolshoi in Moscow,” says Granville. Enormous, too, was the paperwork required. “The permissions stage was about 7,000 pages worth … I’m not exaggerating. Italians love a bit of paperwork. Every single thing has to be submitted and approved.” – The Guardian

Clemency Burton-Hill works as the creative director at WQXR, New York’s classical station, and has been a BBC presenter, including a lot of Proms coverage. In early 2020, she had a massive brain hemorrhage and emergency surgery. As she regained consciousness, she heard a familiar piece and, she says, made some internal choices. “Music is the opposite of despair. It was going to be worth the fight.” – BBC

Well, why not let a video game provide a virtual mosh pit, virtual vendors, and a musical experience that lasts for days? “The super fans eat it up because they’re excited in a time when there’s not a whole lot else to consume.” – CBC

How he feels playing to an online audience: “You can’t touch, you can’t hug, you can’t shake hands. But what music does, its sound moves air molecules. So when air floats across your skin and touches the hairs of your skin, that’s touch. That’s the closest thing to someone actually touching you. It’s as if you were miniaturized and you’re in the middle of a lake. But that lake is a bowl, and that vessel is holding you. That’s what music can do.” – Washington Post

Lighting designers, sound engineers, tour managers, caterers, bus drivers, and more – all laid off more or less permanently, nebulously, until a vaccine. Their unions and associations are trying to help. “We basically trawled the internet looking for temporary jobs for our members. … Some top technicians have got themselves into Amazon fulfilment centres, or driving for Asda. We had two members bump into each other in the same aisle in Tesco, stacking shelves on a night shift.” – The Guardian (UK)

But will New Yorkers accept the new song? Musician RZA: “I can assure you that this one is made with love.” – Gothamist