As the Salzburg Festival trumpets the offerings for its upcoming summer season , a few backstage developments have emerged in recent days. Last week, the Festival fired its new Drama Director Marina Davydova for having taken a job elsewhere … » Read

The highlight of the February Masters Week sale at Sotheby’s in New York will undoubtedly be the auction of the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius. Crafted by Antonio Stradivari in 1714, the instrument epitomizes the famous luthier’s … » Read

A new report by Will Page, the former chief economist at Spotify, finds that for the first time the value of global music copyright, pegged at $45.5bn in 2023, exceeded the $33.2bn generated by the cinema box office. Page’s calculation … » Read

Matías Tarnopolsky’s January 1 move to New York, effective rather soon in the world of major executive maneuvers, appears to have been long anticipated by his soon-to-be-former colleagues in Philadelphia. Ryan Fleur, current … » Read

A star-studded concert at La Scala commemorating the centenary of Giacomo Puccini’s death on Nov. 29, 1924, became something quite different when the orchestra and chorus decided to strike just as the event was to begin. The sold-out event, … » Read

Giacomo Puccini died 100 years ago, on Nov. 29, 1924, but his works remain omnipresent. “Opera houses across the world,” opines Neil Fisher in The Sunday Times , “would probably have long thrown in the towel without bankers such … » Read

All’s well that ends well for French musician Ophélie Gaillard. On Sept. 24, her 300-year-old cello was stolen (for the second time) from her home. On Nov. 22 she was able to announce that the instrument and two bows had been … » Read

Two years after being told by Arts Council England that it needed to relocate from London or face drastic funding cuts, English National Opera (ENO) has announced plans for its first three years in Manchester. ENO selected the city, albeit … » Read

OPERA America has released Understanding Opera's New Audiences , a deep dive into the post-pandemic motivations, experiences, and barriers faced by new opera audiences. The study was undertaken in collaboration with Slover Linett, a leading … » Read

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, named for and funded by the co-founder of The Home Depot, has gifted $27.5 million to the Atlanta Opera toward its three-year $110 million comprehensive campaign. The monies insure the completion of the … » Read