That’s not its official name, and it won’t be a competition, but EuroVision organizers said “the show will ‘honour the songs and artists’ that were due to take part of the contest this May.” – BBC
Category: music
“Sweet Land” Opera Was A Hit. Then It Had To Close For The Virus. So One Performance For Just The Cameras
“I think of it a little bit like if a house was burning, and you had the opportunity to run in and save a piece of humanity,” says Industry founder Yuval Sharon. “That’s what we’re doing.” – Los Angeles Times
Opportunity: Unplug, Pick Some Music And REALLY Listen
There was a time when listeners treated the mere existence of recorded sound as a miracle. A wonder, a kind of time travel. Priests warned of early wax cylinders being tools of the devil. Vintage images from the space age show couples seated around their high-fidelity systems as if being warmed by a fireplace. – Los Angeles Times
Washington Post’s New Classical Critic: What A Week To Start A Job!
Michael Brodeur: “The plan was to spend my first week … seeing concerts and shaking hands. (Just typing that makes me want to sanitize.) The goal was to go big,” with five performances in four days. “Then came the coronavirus, and the sudden lack of things for a critic to critique seemed the least of our problems.” – The Washington Post
Chicago Lyric’s Orchestra Gives Up Part Of Salary So Freelancers For Cancelled ‘Ring’ Can Be Paid
“The orchestra musicians voted [unanimously] to take a ’10 percent cut of our weekly salary for the next seven weeks that had been canceled,’ said [violist Amy] Hess. ‘Then the dollar amount of everyone’s cut will be distributed to the extra and stage band of musicians, to help make up for the work they wouldn’t have been paid for.'” – Chicago Tribune
Metropolitan Opera Cancels Rest Of Season And Furloughs All Musicians And Stagehands
The company will pay its chorus members, orchestral musicians, and unionized backstage staff through the end of March but maintain their health insurance. Upper-level administration employees will take pay cuts ranging from 10 to 50 percent, and general manager Peter Gelb is forgoing his salary entirely. – The New York Times
Music Moves To Streaming Live – But First To Figure Out What Works
On an individual level, innumerable artists and bands have rearranged tours or scrapped them altogether. With streaming still offering low royalty rates for artists, most musicians rely on essential revenue from touring. So can a livestreamed show be a feasible replacement for the real thing? – The Guardian
What It’s Like Performing For An Empty Hall
“When you’re on stage and projecting to an audience they are relating in various ways to what you are doing on stage. When I perform I’m always trying to invite them to respond in any way they can. When you’re doing it just for your musicians, you have a different approach, delving into the intricacies so much deeper…you’re not trying to project something when you’re so intimate. I actually felt very intimate there.” – Van
Glyndebourne Cancels (Only) Half Of Its Summer Opera Season
“The Glyndebourne Festival has announced that … instead of opening on May 21, 2020, it will instead open on July 14, 2020. As such, any performances scheduled prior to July 14 will be canceled. The company noted that it will send out a revised schedule in coming days.” – OperaWire
Met Opera Cites Force Majeure And Cancels Soloist Contracts
Five days ago, the largest opera company by budget in the United States released a statement to the press that all rehearsals and performances through the end of the month would be cancelled due to Coronavirus.
Multiple soloists currently engaged at the Met confirm they found out about their lost work via a Tweet. – Middle Class Artist