Office for the day - in the arts industry which seems so volatile these days, I am so grateful for my community and colleagues as we continue to have mini-reunions throughout my career.
This reminds me of my #pmea District Band concert back in high school, when our conductor told us to look around and remember the faces of our fellow musicians. We may not see each other in a year, but we may connect in a few years.
Here’s to a gorgeous Spring Day
Gratitude looks like this: a seat in a darkened house, surrounded by people you love, watching something that matters.
This weekend reminded me why I’ve spent decades in this industry — and why I’d spend decades more.
Three productions. Three completely different worlds. One through-line: the irreplaceable power of live performance, experienced together, in a room, in real time.
That’s not a small thing. That’s the whole thing.
Who are your +1s?
"Fabulousness without accountability is just spectacle."
New essay on what this spring's most talked-about productions get right — and what they owe — about queer history, ballroom culture, and the communities whose stories are being told.
Art is political. What follows is an attempt to take that seriously.
Link in bio.
#DragHistory #QueerArts #TheSwann #SashaVelour #CatsTheJellicicBall #WoollyMammoth #PerformingArts
The Firebird found me in a marching band. 🪗🔥
Essay on the Principe Dynamics Substack: "The Relics are Sampladelic" — tracing Stravinsky's Firebird from a 1910 Paris premiere to a sampler in Australia to every hip-hop and disco record that borrowed the Orch5 Hit without most people knowing what they were borrowing.
Perfect timing: NYC Ballet opens their Spring season THIS TUESDAY (April 21) with All Balanchine III, featuring Stravinsky's Firebird — Chagall sets, Koch Theater, the whole spectacle.
Art doesn't stop. It just keeps getting sampled.
Link in bio. 🎟️
#Firebird #Stravinsky #NYCBallet #Balanchine #ClassicalMusic #MarchingBand #Sampladelic #Orch5 #DiscoClassics #SalsoulOrchestra #PerformingArts #PrincipeDynamics
Promofunk has been living rent-free in my head for 25 years and I finally wrote about why. ✨
New piece on @substack — on @xmatmosx , The Soft Pink Truth, and one of the most quietly radical artistic practices in music.
From go-go dancing at Club Uranus in early-90s San Francisco → co-producing @bjork album Vespertine → turning hardcore punk into house anthems → a new orchestral record built from 46 layers of live strings and written through climate dread, rising costs, and gratitude for love.
I caught the Vespertine tour at Radio City Music Hall in 2001 with my aunt. Still one of my favorite nights. Still processing.
The new album Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? is the one. It belongs in a concert hall. I want to make that happen. Who’s in?
Link in bio 🔗
#TheSoftPinkTruth #DrewDaniel #Matmos #Bjork #Vespertine #ElectronicMusic #QueerArt #ClassicalMusic #NewMusic #PrincipeDynamics #ArtsAndCulture #Substack
New article on @substack about my favorite #albumoftheyear and it’s only April - The Soft Pink Truth’s “Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever?” is a sonic response to the tension and release every moment of our existence today.
Here’s to hoping #chambermusic ensembles program some of this work!
Survey says: the arts are losing the news.
We just published a piece on what's really happening to arts journalism in America — and what one well-funded, well-intentioned attempt to fix it taught us about the scale of the problem.
#Linkinbio → read the article + take the survey
We need 500 responses before we close it and publish the findings. Help us get there.
#performingarts #artsjournalism #opera #theatre #dance #classicalmusic #newmusic #artsadmin #artsleadership #independentmedia #culturalpolicy #operatwitter
Such a delight to see the incredible @pauloszot in a #cabaret setting after seeing him in #opera and #musicaltheater
My gosh does he know how to carry a tune with the panache to hold you in the palm of his hand
Well a first for many - @jorge.happy first trip to NYC - first opera at the Met - my first #tristanundisolde - #finalperformance wow what a performance!!! #stellar cast and musicmaking - kudos @lisedavidsen@skeltoz amazing solo @oboe_pedro
Mabou Mines hosts + Brad Walrond moderates next Friday in New York City. RSVP through the link in my bio or come as you are 💋
A screening + listening session of excerpts from THE SWANN, a chamber opera by @tamar_kali inspired by the life of “queen of drag” William Dorsey Swann, will accompany a Town Hall on the themes of identity, community, and cultural memory.
Join us as collaborators in this evolution of a queer opera in development!
Panelists include THE SWANN composer @tamar_kali + librettist @carlhancockrux + director @jamesblaszko
#williamdorseyswann #tamarkali #newopera #nycdrag
