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Let Bradley Cooper’s Maestro Be the Death of the Biopic

EILEEN JONES Jacobin
In Maestro, Bradley Cooper plays famed conductor Leonard Bernstein but leaves out the complicating — and fascinating — real-life details for a more streamlined, tearjerking product. It’ll doubtlessly do well at the Oscars.

Class Struggle at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

John Bruce Yeh, Youming Chen, Clara Takarabe interviewed by Isaac Silver Jacobin
Classical musicians aren’t associated with picket lines, but the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is now on strike. We spoke to three strikers about their grueling work, recent attacks on orchestra members’ pensions and salaries, classical music and labor.

books

Nostalgia for the Future

Thomas Gibbs Counterfire
Luigi Nono’s writings offer an invaluable insight into the unity of thought of one of the twentieth century’s greatest musical minds. Unlike many other prominent contemporary composers, he was on the side of the world’s working classes.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Don't Go to Israel

Susan Abulhawa; Peter Dobrin Philadelphia Inquirer
By performing in Israel, the orchestra provides musical accompaniment to the world’s last settler-colonial state, at a time when other artists are canceling appearances there following the Palestinian call for a global boycott (BDS) of Israel, modeled after the South African anti-apartheid boycott.

Classical Music Steps In for BlackLivesMatter - Classical Notes Add to Voices of Protest

William Robin; Priscilla Fran New York Times
On July 13, 2015, Sandra Bland died while in police custody in Texas. On July 13, 2016, the one-year anniversary of her tragic death, The Dream Unfinished held a concert to commemorate her and the large number of Black women impacted by police killings. Whether Black women and girls are killed by police directly; their loved ones are killed by police; or police refuse to intervene or respond - Black women, girls, and femmes are affected by police brutality and killings
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