A change in leadership notwithstanding, the Salzburg Festival has announced another unadventurous, celebrity-driven lineup, with the overexposed Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann at the center of attention. Even Die Soldaten is no bold move at this point, and most of the composers in the "Salzburg contemporary" series are, ironically, dead. Heinz Holliger is the only living composer on the main orchestral programs. It's been years since I've seen a strong reason to go; I hope to see more fresh activity in future seasons. [Update: Tom Service spreads word that Salzburg will become much more interesting in the 2013-16 period, with commissions slated for György Kurtág (an opera on Beckett's Endgame), Jörg Widmann, Marc-André Dalbavie, and Thomas Adès — his long-awaited adaptation of Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel.] ... The New York Public Library is now presenting the Rolex Arts Weekend, a lively array of performances and discussions across a wide cultural spectrum. Tomorrow will bring two Hans Magnus Enzensberger settings by Gregory Spears and a conversation with Osvaldo Golijov and José Van Dam; the Sunday lineup includes a performance of Ben Frost's Music for Six Guitars in the NYPL main reading room and a conversation with Brian Eno, Anish Kapoor, and Peter Sellars. Paul Holdengräber presides.... Accepting the Prince of Asturias Award, with Riccardo Muti in the background, Leonard Cohen delivers an extraordinarily eloquent speech.... Royal Holloway at the University of London has set up Early Music Online, a digital library of more than three hundred musical publications from the British Library.... ICE, which offers a George Lewis concert this weekend, is accepting submissions for the 2013 and 2014 editions of ICElab, its emerging-composer program.... Introducing New Music USA, a merger of the American Music Center and Meet the Composer... As Time Out New York notes, the next week or so is rich in Messiaenic organ concerts: Olivier Latry plays a Messiaen program as part of White Light tonight, and Jon Gillock performs the entire Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité at Church of the Ascension on Tuesday. Paul Jacobs, a Messiaen virtuoso, avoids the master on his St. Ignatius Loyola recital on Wednesday, instead emphasizing female voices: there are works of Nadia Boulanger, Jeanne Demessieux, Elgar, Wayne Oquin, and the African-American composer Florence Price.... High-end cuteness: Pablo Kitty, Kittengenic, and other Kitten Covers.
