Category: music

Jader Bignamini’s first performances with the DSO were unexpected: in 2018, due to cardiac surgery, outgoing music director Leonard Slatkin had to cancel the final concerts of his tenure with the orchestra, and Bignamini stepped in. It was, says the DSO’s board chairman, “the right time, right place, right chemistry.” The new maestro begins his initial six-year term this fall. – Detroit Free Press

“In an era when many of his peers have been buffeted by economic challenges, Mr. Volpe, 62, has kept the orchestra on firm footing by capitalizing on what he has referred to as its ‘multiple brand strategy.’ … During his tenure, the Boston Symphony may not have been as flashy as, say, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has changed how orchestras think about programming and community engagement. But Boston has steadily expanded in ambition and reputation, and avoided the labor unrest that has hit some of its peers.” – The New York Times

Since taking over as general director in October, Khori Dastoor, 39, has been on a tear behind the scenes — beefing up staffing levels, setting ambitious financial goals and consulting with members of the tech community for data-driven ways of attracting new subscribers to the 36-year-old company. – San Francisco Chronicle

Last week, Deborah Dugan was placed on “administrative leave” following what the Academy’s board called “serious concerns” about her mistreatment of staff. Dugan responded by filing an EEOC complaint saying she was being retaliated against after reporting numerous dishonest practices at the Academy. Now Dugan’s interim replacement alleges that she only reported the allegedly improper practices after a staffer formally complained about her behavior, and another source claims she demanded $22 million to drop her allegations of impropriety (her side denies this). Meanwhile, Dugan now charges that her predecessor was accused of rape by a recording artist and that the Academy’s attorney sexually harassed her. – Slate

The third edition of the study, spearheaded by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Stacy L. Smith, was announced Tuesday, revealing that for 2020, the percentage of female nominees in five of the highest-profile Grammy categories has hit an eight-year high, accounting for nearly 21% of all nominations in those fields. – Los Angeles Times

“But as is the case with other musical genres indigenous to Spain, they initially developed with no ties to one political ideology over another. Zarzuela is nowadays perceived in the national imagination as an integral part of musical life under the Franco regime and, as such, outdated and conservative. … More than classical music and zarzuela, flamenco was perhaps the genre that suffered the most from Franco’s cultural policies.” – JSTOR Daily

The group wanted to Klein Jasedow provides a nearly perfect test case for a theory, popular within the classical music industry, which postulates that if we could just tweak the atmosphere in which the work is presented, we could unleash its universal potential. – Van

After a male CEO told women in music to “step up” if they wanted to win Grammys, the Recording Academy formed a blue-ribbon task force to reform the organization, hired a woman CEO last August … and then asked her to step down 10 days before this year’s ceremony. There were rumors of bullying, but there’s so much more going on. “Dugan is said to have filed a memo weeks ago with the academy’s human resources department outlining concerns she’d developed over voting irregularities, financial mismanagement, ‘exorbitant and unnecessary’ legal fees and ‘conflicts of interest involving members of the academy’s board, executive committee and outside lawyers.'” Ah. Surely this will end well for the Recording Academy. – Los Angeles Times

His management company announced the conductor’s retirement from public performances. At the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where he became Conductor Laureate last year, “Ashkenazy launched a three-year program called Vladimir Ashkenazy Masterworks and, as part of the 2020 season, was to have conducted the Northern Lights Festival in May. The SSO said today that the performances will go ahead with a guest conductor to be announced.” – Limelight (Australia)

Just kidding about the Millennials. Sort of. The thing is, streaming has messed with everything related to the music industry – and now there’s the elaborate rigging of streaming with “stream farms” and bundling. – The Guardian (UK)