Need some good news? Here are 6 stories to brighten your day... and someone playing Mahler on a rubber chicken.
1. Trinity Orchestra, also known as "the coolest orchestra in Ireland," doesn't play your standard classical fare, nor do they perform in your average concert hall. Instead, you're more likely to hear them play Daft Punk, Bob Dylan, or Pink Floyd at music festivals alongside groups like LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire. Their favorite music to perform? Bowie, of course.
2. Here's a list of asteroids named after classical composers and musicians!
3. There's a new summer camp in Philadelphia aimed at empowering teenage composers -- specifically, teenagers who identify as female or nonbinary. The Young Women Composers Camp runs through July 20th, and participants will work with guest composers Missy Mazzoli and Sarah Kirkland Snider. What a phenomenal opportunity!
4. The Guardian hosted a Q&A with Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel this week -- he touched on everything from wine to Wagner to how to pronounce his name:
5. You've probably heard the theory that listening to Mozart will make you smarter. The jury's still out on that, but a new study suggests that Mozart has actual measurable benefits for one group of people in particular: epileptics. This study measured brain activity while participants listened to various pop and classical pieces, including Mozart's Sonata in D for Two Pianos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9gT5bqi6Y
6. Opera North just put a full video of their recent production of Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti" online -- for free! Find it and tons of other great videos on their YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_j3T9zrvGk
...and, as promised, here's that rubber chicken.
