On February 24, 2022, after Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, award-winning curator Sasha Andrusyk posted on social media: “I’ve lived a very happy, very full life in Ukraine, and I intend to continue. The end of [Putin’s] Russia is fast approaching.” Despite the expectation of further attacks and the… Read More
For some readers, the word “protest” and the sounds of banging pots might call to mind Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, the attack on the US national capitol on Jan 6, or the scenes of people banging pots and pans as positive public expressions of support for health… Read More
This essay is a contribution to the Musicology Now Roundtable, “Protest in Latin America: 2019 and Beyond.” “Si el río suena es porque agua lleva” (“If the river sounds, it is because it carries water”) is an old Spanish proverb broadly used in the Hispanic world. It metaphorically expresses that a… Read More
A note about Pandemic Piece (2020): Ethnography is a research method that involves deep human contact—studied, immersed involvement with communities over months, years, or even decades. Relationships with real people always involve give-and-take, so ethnographic research as a rule cannot be mapped in advance. Ethnographers know that they will experience… Read More
by Christopher Little Herewith, the first of several posts on Louisville, which will host the national meeting of the American Musicological Society in November. It’s a happening place. Well, not actually a million. But if $100,000 will satisfy, travel to Louisville, Kentucky. Site of the 2015… Read More
We wish all the constituencies—musicians, patrons, donors, board, the city of New York—well as they seek to honor the Metropolitan Opera’s stated mission to provide “a vibrant home for the most creative and talented artists working in the multidisciplinary field of opera, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors,… Read More
by D. Kern Holoman Alfred Cortot and Wihelm Kempff during the concert de clôture, Exposition Arno Breker Orangerie, 1 August 1942. Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Even if you don’t read a word… Read More
by Melissa J. de Graaf The Composers’ Forum was a weekly series of new and contemporary music concerts sponsored by the Federal Music Project and Works Progress Administration (WPA). It showcased such diverse composers as Aaron Copland, Amy Beach, Henry Cowell, and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Q&A sessions between composers and… Read More
by Cesar Leal Gabriel Astruc Inaugurated on April 30, 1913, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is an icon of Parisian modernist architecture as well as a significant landmark in the history of music. It was the life-long project of Gabriel Astruc (1864–1938),… Read More
Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King Jayn Rosenfeld, flute Jean Kopperud, clarinet Linda Quan, violin Haleh Abgari, singer/shrieker The New York New Music Ensemble, established 1976, has made available its extensive archive, including… Read More