An article in the Webzine “The Idler” muses on the subject of who will succeed Bill Ivey as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Two names get the most attention: Roy Goodman, the Republican State Senator from New York, and Tony … » Read

BERLIN -- This fair season of the year, with most larger central European cities' resident operatic and orchestral opulence furloughed for summer vacation, a phenomenon occurs that Christiane Peitz of the Berlin Tagesspiegel recently dubbed … » Read

NEW YORK (AP) -- Did you hear about the little old lady who tried to sell six "Producers" tickets to folks in line at the half-price ticket booth in Times Square? She claimed she had bought them for her family but their New York vacation was … » Read

Two online music sources are to be closed presently. GetMusic International and BOL France (Bol.fr). Both are owned by Vivendi Universal, the latter in a joint venture with Bertelsmann. Based in London, GetMusic International is a division of … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO -- Now that it says it can block all but a tiny fraction of unauthorized song-swapping, Napster Inc. can resume its operations on the Internet, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of … » Read

WOODLAND, Calif. – The weakening economy hit close to home earlier this week, when the current editors and contributors of Schwann Inside Classical and Jazz, an 80-page monthly consumer publication, received word that their services would no … » Read

BERLIN -- Tuesday’s announcement that Nike Wagner -- daughter of Richard Wagner's theatrically gifted grandson Wieland Wagner, niece of Wieland's substantially less talented younger brother Wolfgang (think Cain & Abel, almost), cousin … » Read

The Windsor Symphony’s marketing department has been working overtime lately, coming up with such phrases as “One Horny Concert,” to promote a brass quintet concert and “Breaking Wind” to advertise a woodwind quintet. The idea, apparently, is to … » Read

BERLIN -- Nike Wagner has tossed her Valkyrie helmet back into the Nibelung's Bayreuth “Ring,” on the heels of a proclamation from her cousin Eva that she herself wants no more of the currently running family soap opera. In this most recent … » Read

LONDON – Norman Lebrecht’s take on Andre Previn’s appointment as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic is not very kind. He uses the orchestra’s choice of a maestro who will be 73 when he takes over as a jumping-off point to discuss what’s wrong … » Read