Some Sad Passings

In finally getting around to scouring some of the music news (I've been composing a lot, too much to spend a lot of time reading the news excessively), I found out two sad passings. The first, of course, the passing of Betty Freeman, whose extraordinary life is documented in a beautiful conversation with Frank Oteri here, mourned in the Times here , and appropriately lamented by Alex Ross here.

But today, also, apparently Amato Opera announced it will close its doors after six decades. This wonderfully quirky little company in the shadow of what was once CBGB (another fallen place now a John Varvatos outlet, sadly) has been a mainstay of the brighter side of New York Concert Life for its entire life. I am sure the sad paeans are to come from the opera community, but a quick summary of the facts can be found here.

As I've said before, our world is much much lighter now.