A landmark Supreme Court ruling has opened the way to reintroducing (c) protection for works which had, for one reason or other, lapsed into public domain. These include major works by ex-Soviet composers, such as Peter and the Wolf and Shostakovich’s jazz music. Some Stravinsky scores are also affected. First report here. More detail here.

 

The photographer Jane Toohey does sessions with a lot of musicians and is concerned at how few of them can afford health insurance.

So she suggests they pose for her calendars and make some extra money that way. Entertaining story here.

Somebody blinked at the last minute, but it may still be too late to save the troubled company. Union members will vote today and tomorrow on whether to ratify the deal. Measnwhile, the orchestra remains locked out and City Opera has a long way to go if it’s to climb back off the scrapheap.

Details here from the smoke-filled room (I know, an antiquated image, but it still serves well).

It is the first museum and research centre for a culture the Nazis tried to erase, and it was opened yesterday in Hannover by President Wulff and the minister-president for Lower Saxony, David McAllister.

Europäisches Zentrum für Jüdische Musik in der Villa Seligmann in Hannover. Foto: EZJM Hannover

Wulff, who is embroiled in a political scandal that he may not survive, fixed a mezuzah to the door and called the event ‘a landmark… in public education’. The European Synagogue Choir sang liturgical music by Kurt Weill and Louis Lewandowski.

Video report here.