Also this week, resources for musicians and artists affected by COVID-19 cancellations, a look at arts organizations holding public digital rehearsals, and Zubin Mehta's grandkid conducting Borodin like a pro.
1. What's a cristal baschet? I'm so glad you asked. Check out this fascinating rare instrument:
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2. As this user on Reddit pointed out, Stephen Colbert is beginning to look an awful lot like Mahler. I, for one, support this transformation. What do you think?
3. For the musicians in your life whose careers have been impacted by concert cancellations due to COVID-19, here's a roundup of resources -- financial and otherwise -- to help them through this difficult time.
4. This video isn't new, but it is a delight. Smash Mouth's "All Star," arranged as a Bach chorale:
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5. The Atlanta Opera's costume shop is dedicating its production services to making medical supplies to help fight COVID-19.
6. Matthew Guerrieri at the Boston Globe looks at a composer who memorialized the Bubonic Plague in his oratorio "Pestis Mediolanensis": Marc-Aintoine Charpentier.
7. Read pianist Lara Downes's thoughts on social distancing, cancelled concerts, and what it means to make music right now.
8. ...But while concerts everywhere are being cancelled, artists everywhere still need to rehearse. Here's a look at several arts organizations conducting rehearsals digitally, including the San Francisco Ballet.
9. Violinist Augustin Hadelich released this gorgeous video of Dvorak's "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (and guess what! It was recorded right here in WGBH's Fraser Studio, by our two-time GRAMMY winning engineer Antonio Oliart Ros.) This piece will appear on Hadelich's upcoming album, "Bohemian Tales," out this July.
10. Conductor Zubin Mehta's 18-month-old grandchild conducts Borodin:
11. Soprano Erin McCarthy serenades some... less-than-impressed alpacas:
