Listening through a summer of sounds for what lies ahead for arts and culture in the city

No other summer in Philadelphia, it’s safe to say, ever came with the soundtrack of the one now ending. It started with the chants of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and air-chopping sounds of hovering helicopters. As we head into fall, the city has gone an unnatural shade of quiet.

The concert halls of our big arts town are marking six grim months of sitting idle. In Rittenhouse Square, where the practice-room windows of the Curtis Institute of Music would normally be a source of scales and arpeggios this time of year, the air is still. The city is a different place. Read More