Category: music

The global live music industry is worth some $30 billion every year. Or, rather, was. In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 shut down everything from pub gigs to festivals. And in doing so, it also made apparent the lopsided shape of the modern music industry, in which artists are paid to perform, but often barely anything for the music they record. One of the truisms of the streaming era has been that while Spotify might have gutted the income you make from records, it makes it easier for people to find your music. That grows your live audiences, which is where you make your money. Now, with live audiences at zero, that deal is looking increasingly unworkable. – Esquire

The cello concerts have the added bonus of another San Francisco shelter-in-place trend. Page Street is one of an increasing number of roads closed to through traffic to give people space to exercise, get fresh air or, apparently, listen to cello music while keeping their social distance. – San Francisco Chronicle

If, that is, the players remain one meter apart, per current regulations. The research, commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic and carried out earlier this month, “involved members of the orchestra each being fitted with an aerosol device inside their noses, which spayed a fine mist into their lungs. They were then placed in front of a black canvas and very brightly lit from the front, then photographed while playing. This made it possible to view the mist and the extent to which it travelled in the air.” – The Strad

Beth Morrison and her company have produced dozens of new operas and music-theater works since they launched in 2005, including such prize-winning, audience-thrilling pieces as Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves and Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone. In a Q&A, she talks about how and why she crossed over from singing into production, how she chooses projects, and where she sees the art form heading. (And by the way, “Nothing’s easy about producing opera. Nothing at all. It’s expensive, it’s challenging, everything about it is hard.”) – San Francisco Classical Voice

“If I want to improvise during “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” for example, first I memorize it. That’s because when I’m performing onstage, I want to let my mind be completely free. “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is there, and I can come back to it if I want, but what I’m creating is greater than the sum of the parts — technical ability, notes, themes — I’ve collected along the way. The song is in the back of my brain where many other things are stored, and in that way, it becomes just another item that I can call upon when I’m playing.” – The New York Times

Young Iranian composers have set up a network for mentorship, commissioning and presenting. – The New York Times

Violinist Jennifer Koh has been commissioning more than 40 pieces for herself to play unaccompanied on her weekly Facebook Live show. So are other musicians and organizations, from the New Jersey Symphony to the Guggenheim. “Taken together,” writs David Patrick Stearns, “these direct artistic responses are the classical soundscape of the pandemic. The keep-your-spirits-up message that circulated early on in the classical music community has given way to something darker.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

The moisture that comes out of singers’ mouths and into the air that their fellow singers are breathing seems to be a very efficient way of transmitting coronavirus, as several cases of multiple contagion traced to choirs have shown. And from community-based groups to church and gospel choirs to top professional ensembles like The Crossing, as one director put it, “We grieve.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

A computer playing the Goldberg Variations backwards sounds, yes, like a counter-counterpoint, but “at the same time, it sounds eerily familiar, starting with the upside-down Aria — the theme developed over Bach’s 30 variations. The slowly ascending notes in the lower staff of Bach’s original, which outline a G major triad, become, in the upside-down version, a graceful falling figure in the top line.” – The New York Times