Bellevue Philharmonic survives tumultuous season

"The Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra has had a year beset with problems, including the loss of a major donor and internal strife. The Bellevue City Council agreed to help fund this year's Fourth of July concert in downtown Bellevue as part of the orchestra's plan to emerge from a tumultuous year."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Looking the Other Way: Race in Classical Music

"When it comes to classical music and opera, we enlightened ones are supposed to be color-blind. Regardless of our race, the racial characteristics of singers and musicians are not supposed to matter … some of the time."

For the full story, please see the San Francisco Classical Voice.

How the Internet Changed Music

"In 1998, Death Cab for Cutie was just another tenderhearted indie-rock band signed to a minor record label, playing empty clubs for $50 a night. But after two years of soul-crushing obscurity, something strange happened: people started going to the band's shows...Death Cab is just one of the Internet-and-music stories chronicled in Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot's book Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. Kot talks to TIME about the demise of the music industry, whether illegal file-sharing is really that bad and why there may never be another band as big as the Beatles."

For the full story, please see Time.

Van Cliburn 2009: Van Cliburn International Piano Competition spotlights emerging talent

"Alexander Kobrin is grateful for the career boost he got from his first prize in the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. But, asked how he would improve music competitions, the Russian pianist says, 'I would erase them from the map.' The idea of competitions as means to artistic fame and fortune will always rub some people wrong. This year's installment of the quadrennial Cliburn Competition, running Friday through June 7 at Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall, will raise the familiar questions again."

For the full story, please see the Dallas News.

Julian Patrick, 81, famed baritone

"Julian Patrick, the Seattle-based baritone whose credits extended from Broadway theater to Wagner's "Ring," died in his sleep of natural causes May 8 while on vacation in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 81."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Mike Seeger named NEA National Heritage

"Mike Seeger, the 2009 recipient of the Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship, stands out in a family of prominent scholars and musical performers as an advocate, a documenter, a teacher, and an artist."

For the full story, please see the NEA website.

Texting at a Symphony?

"Cellphones are hardly applauded in concert halls, where it’s considered gauche to have them turned on, much less to pull them out during a performance. So at a recent Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concert of classics like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, it was a little surprising when the conductor instructed audience members to take out their phones."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Could you sit through a 10-hour opera?

"Thanks to a four-year, $750,000 grant whose funds are aimed at building relationships through technology, the opera (Seattle) company is looking for someone to host a 10-minute, reality-style video titled "Confessions of a First-time Operagoer."

To find out more, please see the Seattle PI.

Photo of the Seattle Opera chandelier by Marc Smith.

A Klingon-Language Opera

"The new Star Trek movie opens Friday, and it includes the usual suspects: Vulcans, Romulans and, of course, humans. But one race gets short shrift: the Klingons...But Klingons have not been forgotten — far from it. In fact, they're the subject of an ongoing research project that explores a long-neglected art form: Klingon opera."

For the full story, please see NPR.

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

The Music Library is pleased to announce the arrival of its newest online resource, the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online. This resource includes 1,208 essays and hundreds of audio examples. Genres covered range from American Folk and Jazz to Spoken Word and Sounds. The database is located on the Music Library's Hompage under "More Resources".

Cheerful music 'can make everyone around you look happy'

"The effect takes just a fraction of a second and can happen without us even being aware of it, the study reveals. The finding was made by psychologists at Goldsmiths, University of London, after a series of experiments on students."

For the full story, please see the Telegraph.

Photo by Dotbenjamin.

Female conductors crack the glass podium

"Classical music institutions throughout the world are embracing the notion of female conductors more than ever. In addition to appearing regularly as guest conductors and in assistant conductor positions with top orchestras, women are now commonly in the running for -- and occasionally winning -- music directorships."

For the full story, please see the Los Angeles Times.

Great Performances -- Behind the Scenes

"If you have never understood why an old saying calls opera 'the most expensive human endeavor, with the possible exception of war,' a day at the Metropolitan Opera explains it. The divas, maestro, managers and orchestra are just part of the equation. So much else goes into the productions, made more complicated by the Met's tradition of staging operas in repertory. The Met is often a 24-hour operation. Make that a 24/6 operation, and occasionally 24/7."

For the full story, please see the Wall Street Journal.

Forgotten Music composed by Handel to be heard for first time in 250 years

"The University of Portsmouth choir will play the funeral anthem which was originally commissioned by King George II to be played at the burial of his wife, Queen Caroline in 1737. After the performance Handel wanted to translate the 40-minute piece into Italian but the King refused and ordered the music be thrown away and never heard again."

For the full story, please see the Telegraph.

Dudamels in the making? L.A. Phil names conducting fellows

"Even before Gustavo Dudamel officially takes the podium this fall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new maestro is making it clear that music education is a priority. Tomorrow the orchestra is announcing a fellowship program proposed by Dudamel that will offer promising conductors the chance too work with one of the hottest figures in classical music."

See the Los Angeles Times to view the full article.