jess pinkham

March 29, 2024: Big Ears, how generative you are, may I return every year! I was lucky enough to run up and down Main Street with a beloved who happens to be, to my esteem, one of our greatest living musicians. This meant I got treated to a killer musical line-up I didn't have to put any energy into curating (beyond my personal top hits I knew to pilot myself to), which included my first exposure to Darcy James Argue. I have plenty of thoughts and feelings about how conductors, both literal and more figurative (I consider John Wilson, for example, to be a major maestro) are treated in American culture, but what most fascinated me about Argue was that he, also a composer, showcased a lot of negative attention in his program, admitting to having written about entities and people and development he hates. What a practice! I wanted to learn more. (Photo by Lindsay Beyerstein)