Alan Rusbridger, one of the world's most influential newspaper editors, devotes his time to an extensive interview with the composer George Benjamin.... The beloved blog Proper Discord has returned, now identified as the work of a Mr. Doe.... The new NYC company Opera Moderne, which won a positive review from Zachary Woolfe in the fall, had caused some excitement by announcing a production of Gustave Charpentier's magnificent vériste drama Louise, which, I believe, has been missing from New York stages since Beverly Sills sang it at City Opera in the 1976-77 season. That plan has been put off, alas, but the company will present Turn of the Screw on May 26.... It's still hard to believe that Milton Babbitt is no longer with us — I hear him soliloquizing in a corner of my mind. A Babbitt Retrospective at CUNY on May 25 features a rare performance of the Composition for Four Instruments, a pointillist masterpiece now finally available on a CRI CD.... The Queens New Music Festival runs through May 13: Todd Reynolds, TACTUS, Parthenia, and the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble cast a wide stylistic net.... ACME has a two-day gig at the Kitchen this weekend, featuring new works by Mick Barr and William Brittelle.... And there's Look and Listen, with a Cage tribute by Derek Bermel and much else.... The River to River Festival has much contemporary fare on its summer 2012 schedule: the Philip Glass Ensemble, Paola Prestini, Missy Mazzoli and Victoire, and an extension of Judd Greenstein's Ecstatic franchise. The fest begins with the Bang on a Can Marathon, on June 17, and ends with an Alarm Will Sound presentation of Cage's Song Books, on July 15.
