News and music to start your week!

What better way to start off the new year than with Musicology Duck’s Listen Wider Challenge!  The goal is to encourage music enthusiasts to move out of their comfort zone and expand their playlists to include a wider variety of works, composers, styles, and representation.  A wonderful reminder for all of us to #ListenWider

The New York Times checks in with the current state of opera after a “tumultuous #MeToo year”.

The musicology world is honoring the life of Dr. Linda Shaver-Gleason, the writer behind Not Another Music History Cliche.  Dr. Shaver-Gleason, pictured above, has announced to her fans that she has moved to hospice care.  Read tributes to her and her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and National Sawdust Log.  And if you haven’t already, enjoy the many posts on her blog!

Alex Ross weighs in with his thoughts on Olga Neuwirth’s new opera in The New Yorker in a piece titled “Opera Against the Patriarchy.”

Speaking of Patriarchy, OK, it’s a Beethoven anniversary — he was born 250 years ago. To celebrate, how about we ban his music for a year?

NewMusicBox profiles the work of sound artist and poet Bonnie Jones.

And did you catch our TBT feature on the 2000 concert of The Women’s Philharmonic performing music by Amy Beach and Florence Price?

What did we miss?  What are you reading, and listening to?  And did you get your 2020 WPA Calendar yet?