The Met’s first Ring Cycle is completed

An excellent piece in The Economist Can classical music be cool? on building new, younger audiences for classical music.

Sydney audiences are by and large generous in their applause even if they don’t approve of the performer or the production. ‘Boos’ are rarely, if ever heard, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, when the villian of the piece takes his curtain call. The most emphatic expression of audience disapproval is to leave at interval.  Other ‘houses’ are different. A new…

This is a really important feature from theatre critic Jane Howard, writing in The Guardian about the culture of arts criticism in Australia, the loss of “critical dialogue” and a plurality of views. It applies as much to music as it does to the theatre. A recommended read.