To know Renée Fleming is to love her. Hear what she thinks about performing, teaching, and what's in store this sumer at Tanglewood, plus a whole lot more, in this week's link roundup!
1. Conductor Mark Wigglesworth has a new book that aims to demystify the art of conducting, most of which, he says, is all about confidence. Critic Tim Page reviewed "The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters" for the Washington Post, saying,
It calls to mind a spirited bar conversation with a new friend, somebody you’ve asked to tell you about this most mysterious of musical professions and how it works.
2. We've had Caroline Shaw's new album with the Attacca Quartet, "Orange," on repeat since we got it in the mail last week. It's particularly special for us, since the Quartet recorded the album here in our studios, so we've been looking forward to this release for over a year. Here's a gorgeous music video for "Plan & Elevation IV: The Orangery."
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3. Speaking of string quartets we love, NPR Music's Tiny Desk concert series hosted the incandescent Calidore String Quartet earlier this week:
4. Violinist Frank Almond visited The Moth to tell the story of his stolen Stradivarius -- from the initial mugging all the way through the recovery.
5. What is it like to compose the score for a documentary? Composer Danielle Ferrari recently scored "The Impossible Dream," a film about Tim Blevins, a homeless opera singer and Juilliard graduate living in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. She describes her process in an article for NewMusicBox.
6. To get a sense of how far the Internet has come since its inception, you only need to look at early versions of websites we know and love today. The blog "Classical Dark Arts" looked at the first versions of the "big five" orchestras' websites, including the BSO:
7. What can the opera world learn from Beyoncé's "Homecoming?" Scholar Naomi André investigates.
8. Last week, Renée Fleming visited WGBH's Open Studio with Jared Bowen! Watch the episode:
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