Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

I've gotten several alerts over the past week about a pirate site that's new to me (though not new: this warning was first published in September 2017): Kiss Library, where many authors are finding unauthorized electronic versions of their books.

Kiss Library differs from the typical pirate site in a couple of ways. Unlike, say, Ebook Bike, run by serial copyright thief and "information wants to be free" ideologue Travis McCrea, it doesn't simply offer pirated books for free download, but appears actually to be selling them. Also unlike Ebook Bike and other pirate sites, it seems to promptly respond to DMCA notices.

I found two of my own books listed.

I filled out the form on Kiss's DMCA page, and within minutes my books vanished from the site. I also received this email:

Awwww. How nice. They're contrite! It's not their fault! They'll pay back the illicit profits! They are so transparent about the whole thing!

Except...it's bullshit. They send the exact same response to everyone. Here's someone who got it in July:


A friend of mine got it in March. Someone else got it in 2018. Kiss seems to have concluded that it's better to lose a few listings (which can always be reinstated later) than to make waves by ignoring authors or telling them to f*ck off. It's a different strategy from the "fight everything" stance of many pirates, or those that send takedown notices into oblivion--and it's probably why Kiss, with its huge, monetized catalog of pirated books, hasn't sparked the uproar other pirate sites have.

It's been suggested that Kiss doesn't actually take down disputed books: it simply blocks the IP addresses of anyone who sends a DMCA request so they can't see that the books are still on offer. I've no idea if this is true.

Also, there's the question of whether Kiss really offers the books at all--whether it's nothing more than an elaborate phishing scheme that uses books as bait. I followed purchase links all the way to the point of providing credit card info, but I didn't dare do more. This anti-piracy service, however, did:

An interesting fact is that they actually don't even have the books they are selling! The catalog is automatically generated from indexing Amazon author pages.
We know this because we tried to buy a clients ebook out of curiosity..

— DMCA | Anti-Piracy Service | Pirat.io (@pirat_io) August 8, 2019

Exactly! This why we tried to purchase one of our authors eBooks to see if they could deliver the content.
We never received anything. -Eric

— DMCA | Anti-Piracy Service | Pirat.io (@pirat_io) August 8, 2019

So if you visit the site, be careful. Send the DMCA if you find your books, but don't try to test the system by buying anything.

Kiss's About page features a photo of smiling millennials and a Canada address. Kiss originally had a .com domain, registered in 2017 by a Gibraltar-based registrar that was shut down by ICANN this past March. Its current .net domain, which is just 6 months old, is registered to Legato LLC, a Russian company. Make of that what you will.

UPDATE: An update from the anti-piracy service:

Hi Victoria, sorry for the late reply. I wanted to ask the dev and legal dpt. regarding this. The website didn't seem to be hosting any phishing or malware. Its just an elaborate scheme profiting from pirated content. We also used a dummy PayPal account for this testing. -Eric

— DMCA | Anti-Piracy Service | Pirat.io (@pirat_io) August 9, 2019

So maybe there's no content on the site--just book covers--and all they're doing is taking the money and running.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Per this Facebook post from Tamara Thorne, the Authors Guild is aware of Kiss Library and is preparing a statement on the status of the matter and steps they are taking. I'll link to or post it here when it's released.

UPDATE 8/10/19: Well, that didn't take long. Thanks to an alert commenter, I visited Kiss Library this evening and found this:


Not only have they reinstated the two books I DMCA'd (with different covers; they're both backlist books that I re-published with Open Road Media), they've added my two other Open Road backlist books, and a pair of fake books put up by a Writer Beware-hating troll a few years ago as part of a harassment campaign. Think the Kiss Library folks know about this post?

UPDATE 8/11/19: Oops, gone again (except for the two fake books that use my name). Someone is following Writer Beware!

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

The enormous digital archive that is the Internet Archive encompasses many different initiatives and projects. One of these is the Open Library Project, a huge repository of scanned print books available for borrowing in various digital formats.

Unlike a regular library, the IA does not purchase these books, but relies on donations to build the collection. Nor are permissions sought from copyright holders before creating the new digital editions. And although the IA claims that the project includes primarily 20th century books that are no longer widely available either physically or digitally, the collection in fact includes large numbers of 21st century books that are in-copyright and commercially available--and whose sales the Open Library's unpermissioned versions have the potential to harm.

Most professional writers' groups consider the Open Library to be not library lending, but massive copyright violation. Many have issued alerts and warnings (you can see SFWA's alert here), and many authors have contacted the IA with takedown requests (to which the IA was not always terrific at responding; you can see my account of my own frustrating experience here).

In the fall of 2018, a novel (and disputed) legal theory was created to justify the Open Library and similar initiatives, called Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). CDL's adherents present it as "a good faith interpretation of US copyright law for American libraries" seeking to conduct mass digitization projects, and invoke as support the "exhaustion" principle of the first sale doctrine (the idea that an authorized transfer of a copyrighted work "exhausts" a copyright holder's ability to subsequently control the use and distribution of  that copy; this is what allows used book sales, for example) and the fair use doctrine (a complex principle that permits the copying of a copyrighted work as long as the copying is limited and transformative). As long as the library restricts its lending in ways similar to restrictions on the lending of physical books (for instance, allowing only one user at a time to access each digital format), CDL holds that creating new digital editions of in-copyright books and lending them out is fair use, and copyright holders' permission isn't necessary.

Libraries in particular have embraced CDL. Publishers' and writers' groups...not so much, especially in light of a recent legal decision that rejected both the first sale doctrine and fair use as basis for re-selling digital content. Here's the Authors Guild:

CDL relies on an incorrect interpretation of copyright’s “fair use” doctrine to give legal cover to Open Library and potentially other CDL users’ outright piracy—scanning books without permission and lending those copies via the internet. By restricting access to one user at a time for each copy that the library owns, the proponents analogize scanning and creating digital copies to physically lending a legally purchased book. Although it sounds like an appealing argument, the CDL concept is based on a faulty legal argument that has already been rejected by the U.S. courts.

In Capitol Records v. ReDigi, the Second Circuit held that reselling a digital file without the copyright holder’s permission is not fair use because the resales competed with the legitimate copyright holder’s sales. It found that market harm was likely because the lower-priced resales were sold to the same customers who would have otherwise purchased new licenses. In this regard, the court emphasized a crucial distinction between resales of physical media and resales of digital content, noting that unlike physical copies, digital content does not deteriorate from use and thus directly substitutes new licensed digital copies.

The same rationale applies to the unauthorized resale or lending of ebooks. Allowing libraries to digitize and circulate copies made from physical books in their collection without authorization, when the same books are available or potentially available on the market, directly competes with the market for legitimate ebook licenses, ultimately usurping a valuable piece of the market from authors and copyright holders.

For a more detailed deconstruction of CDL's arguments, see this statement from the Association of American Publishers.

Flash forward to 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic crisis. Last week, the IA announced the debut of the National Emergency Library--really just the Open Library, but with some new provisions.

To address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials, as of today, March 24, 2020, the Internet Archive will suspend waitlists for the 1.4 million (and growing) books in our lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later.

During the waitlist suspension, users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized for the remainder of the US academic calendar, and that people who cannot physically access their local libraries because of closure or self-quarantine can continue to read and thrive during this time of crisis, keeping themselves and others safe.

What this boils down to, under all the high-flying verbiage: the IA is ditching the one-user-at-a-time restriction that is one of the key justifications for the theory of controlled digital lending, and allowing unlimited numbers of users to access any digitized book in its collection.

The Authors Guild again, on how this harms authors:

IA is using a global crisis to advance a copyright ideology that violates current federal law and hurts most authors. It has misrepresented the nature and legality of the project through a deceptive publicity campaign. Despite giving off the impression that it is expanding access to older and public domain books, a large proportion of the books on Open Library are in fact recent in-copyright books that publishers and authors rely on for critical revenue. Acting as a piracy site—of which there already are too many—the Internet Archive tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world.

Here's just one concrete example. Katherine Harbour's Nettle King is available for borrowing in the National Emergency Library as a scan, an EPUB, and a PDF (the IA's EPUB versions are OCR conversions full of errors). Published in 2016, it's also "in print" and available on Amazon and other online retailers as an ebook, in addition to other formats. The IA, which never bought a digital license to Ms. Harbour's book and scanned and uploaded it without permission, now is proposing to allow unlimited numbers of users to access it, potentially impacting her sales. How is this any different from a pirate site?

Announcement of the National Emergency Library has been greeted rapturously by the press and by libraries. Less regarded has been the flood of protest and criticism from authors and professional groups. In situations like these, authors and publishers tend to be dismissed as greedy money-grubbers who are putting profits ahead of the march of progress and the noble dream of universal access to content...despite the fact that authors' right to make money from their work--and, just as important, to control the use of it--springs directly from the US Constitution, and has been enshrined in law since 1790.

In response to the outcry over the National Emergency Library, the IA has issued a justification of it, citing the "tremendous and historic outage" of COVID-19-related library closures, with "books that tax-paying citizens have paid to access...sitting on shelves in closed libraries, inaccessible to them." This noble-sounding purpose conveniently ignores the fact that those libraries' (legally-acquired and paid-for) digital collections are still fully available.

If your book is included in the National Emergency Library, and you don't want it there, the IA will graciously allow you to opt out (another inversion of copyright, which is an opt-in system).


Hopefully they'll be more responsive than they were in 2018, when I sent them DMCA notices that they ignored. Or later, when they began rejecting writers' takedown requests by claiming that the IA "operates consistently with the Controlled Digital Lending protocol.”


I've covered this question above, but I want to highlight it again, because it's such a persistent objection when this kind of infringement occurs: Brick-and-mortar libraries lend out books for free, so how are the IA's "library" projects any different?

A few reasons.

- Brick-and-mortar libraries buy the books they lend, a separate purchase for each format (hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, etc.). The author gets a royalty on these purchases. The IA seeks donations, and lends those. Authors get nothing.

- Brick-and-mortar libraries lend only the books they purchase. They don't use those books to create new or additional, un-permissioned lending formats. That's exactly what the IA does. Moreover, one of its additional lending formats is riddled with OCR errors that make them a chore to read. Apart from permission issues, this is not how authors want their books to be represented to the public.

- People who advocate for looser copyright laws often paint copyright defenders as greedy or mercenary, as if defending copyright were only about money. It's worth remembering another important principle of copyright: control. Copyright gives authors not just the right to profit from their intellectual property, but to control its use. That, as much as or even more than money, is the principle the IA is violating with its library projects.

UPDATE: It appears that the IA--on its own initiative--is removing not just illegally-created digital editions in response to authors' takedown requests, but legally-created DAISY editions as well, even where authors don't ask for this (DAISY is a format for the visually impaired, and like Braille, is an exception in copyright law and is also permissioned in publishing contracts).


It did the same thing in 2018, even where the takedown requests specifically exempted DAISY editions. I don't know if the current removals reflect expediency or possibly are just a kind of FU to writers (and, indirectly, to disabled readers), but if you send a removal request to the IA, you might consider specifically asking them not to remove any editions for the blind and disabled (which, again, are legal for the IA to distribute).

UPDATE 4/2/20: The Authors Guild has issued a statement encouraging writers to demand that the Internet Archive remove their books from its National Emergency Library. The statement includes instructions on what to do, along with a sample DMCA notice in the proper legal form.

UPDATE 4/8/20: SFWA has issued a statement on the National Emergency Library, describing the legal theory of Controlled Digital Lending as "unproven and dubious". (A link to SFWA's DMCA notice generator is included.)

[U]sing the Coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, the Archive has created the “National Emergency Library” and removed virtually all controls from the digital copies so that they can be viewed and downloaded by an infinite number of readers. The uncontrolled distribution of copyrighted material is an additional blow to authors who are already facing long-term disruption of their income because of the pandemic. Uncontrolled Digital Lending lacks any legal argument or justification.

UPDATE 4/9/20: The Chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Thom Tillis, has sent a letter to the Internet Archive, pointing out the many voluntary initiatives by authors, publishers, and libraries to expand access to copyrighted materials, and expressing concern that this be done within the law. 

I am not aware of any measure under copyright law that permits a user of copyrighted works to unilaterally create an emergency copyright act. Indeed, I am deeply concerned that your "Library" is operating outside the boundaries of the copyright law that Congress has enacted and alone has the jurisdiction to amend.

The letter ends by punting "discussion" until "some point when the global pandemic is behind us." So, basically, carry on and maybe at some point we'll talk.

UPDATE 4/15/20: Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle has responded to Sen. Tillis's letter, claiming that the National Library is needed because "the entire physical library system is offline and unavailable" (even though libaries' legally acquired digital collections are still fully available) and that "the fair use doctrine, codified in the Copyright Act, provides flexibility to libraries and others to adjust to changing circumstances" (there's no such language in the actual Fair Use statute).

Kahle also notes:

In an early analysis of the use we are seeing what we expected: 90% of the books borrowed were published more than ten years ago, two-thirds were published during the twentieth century. The number of books being checked out and read is comparable to that of a town of about 30,000 people. Further, about 90% of people borrowing the book only looked at it for 30 minutes. These usage patterns suggest that perhaps that patrons may be using the checked-out book for fact checking or research, but we suspect a large number of people are browsing the book in a way similar to browsing library shelves.

But this is hardly a compelling argument. Large numbers of these books are certainly still in copyright, and many are likely still "in print" and commercially available (in digital form as well as hardcopy). Just because a book was published more than ten years ago or prior to 2000 doesn't magically cause it to become so hard to find it must be digitized without permission in order to save it. "But they're older books" sidesteps, rather than addresses, the thorny copyright issues raised by the IA's unpermissioned scanning and digitizing.

This passage also tacitly confirms the IA's abandonment of the one-user-at-a-time restriction that is a key feature of the rationale for the Controlled Digital Lending theory. If the basis for your enterprise is a legal theory whose strictures can be jettisoned at will, how credible is that theory really?

Kahle also claims that "No books published in the last five years are in the National Emergency Library". As it happens, the example I provide above (Katherine Harbour's Nettle King) handily disproves this statement: it was published in 2016, and was digitized by the IA in 2018 (you can see the scan here). I seriously doubt it's the only instance. Either Kahle is being disingenuous, or he doesn't know his own collection.

As a sop to creators, Kahle reiterates that concerned authors "need only to send us an email" and their books will be removed. As I've pointed out above, this is yet another inversion of copyright law, which explicitly gives creators control over the use of their work. In other words, it's the IA, not authors, who should be the petitioners here.

UPDATE 4/16/20: This terrific, comprehensive article from the NWU's Edward Hasbrouck examines the multiple ways the Internet Archive is distributing the page images from its unpermissioned scanning of print books--"[o]nly one of [which] fits the Internet Archive’s and its supporters’ description of so-called Controlled Digital Lending (CDL)."

Bombay To Barcelona Library Cafe in Marol and a tray of herbs

While many high-end restaurants in the city are struggling to execute the farm-to-table experience, street kid-turned-author Amin Sheikh has found a way to add fresh herbs into the fare prepared at this four-month old Bombay To Barcelona Library Cafe in Marol. Sheikh, who launched the café to help provide employment to street boys and girls and give back to society, has installed a vertical garden in the premises. “At the café, everything is made-to-order.

We wanted to enhance the organic experience by adding fresh produce,” says the 35-year-old, who received the modular, four-tier, self-watering system from the Mumbai-based start-up Enverde, specialising in urban farming. The owners happen to be regulars at the cafe.

“I bought herbs like basil, lemongrass, parsley, oregano, coriander and even spinach from a nursery at Bhavan’s College, and planted them last week. We get ample sunlight so we will wait for the plants to grow and then use them in the food,” informs Sheikh, who had earlier visited farmers’ markets but found the produce too expensive.

The café was launched with the funds Sheikh had gathered from the sale of his autobiography Bombay Mumbai Life Is Life I Am Because Of You (self-published in 2012), which captures his gritty success story. Run by seven staffers, it serves Spanish tapas, Spaghetti, sandwiches, rolls, muffins as well as Indian fare — all the dishes are priced under `200. “A friend of mine in Spain, a chef, just finished a nine-day training with the boys,” shares Sheikh, who plans on launching the café in Barcelona too.

Time: 10 am to 10 pm
At: 3 and 4, Gold Nest Housing Society, Marol Naka, Andheri (E)
Call: 9820212029

Peter Aspden visits the basement treasure-house where recordings of Florence Nightingale, 1940s electronica and other rarities are stored alongside some equally exotic audio technology  

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See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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The actress, 48, said she's a big hit with students when it comes to story time. 'I read a book and they like it because I do a bunch of accents and they think that's funny,' she said.

Entrepreneur and social activist Pradeep Lokhande’s project of setting up a library every day across rural schools in Maharashtra is helping many poor students see the light of a new day. Ramesh Menon reports on this unique initiative.

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Launched after a successful international pledge campaign in 2007, the Bakul children's library in Bhubaneshwar is slowly turning into a node for various kinds of volunteering. Professors, young artists, students, organisers and others have started chipping in. Sailen Routray has more.

March 27, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US Gershwin Prize Concert: Garth Brooks Watch Promo Clip Here The concert will air this Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 9:00 ET, on PBS. Watch the performance of Garth Brooks here. Early this month, The Library of Congress celebrated the 2020 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song honoring the mega country music star, Garth Brooks. Brooks is one of the significant changemakers in the history of country music. His music weaves the beauty of poetry, the universality of the human experience and the inclusiveness of other musical genres, making him one of the most influential performers in country music today.  If you no longer wish to receive emails from the Music Division of the Library of Congress, feel free to update your subscription HERE.

March 30, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US Hello Music News subscriber! The music never stops at Concerts from the Library of Congress. You can enjoy many FREE videos of past performances from the Library of Congress. To guide you through your options, the Concert Office has created Pick of the Week. Every week, we will send you a list of performances for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home. But remember, these are our suggestions, there are many more options at Concerts from The Library of Congress.  Kristian Bezuidenhout In 2016 fortepiano phenomenon Kristian Bezuidenhout brought this unique instrument to life in a rare treat for Coolidge audiences. Known for his thoughtful and energetic performances of concerti, Lieder, chamber music and solo repertoire, Bezuidenhout trains his eye on some of the riches of the mid-1790s for his appearance at the Library. Doric Quartet In 2018, The Doric Quartet performed Beethoven’s op. 130 with its original finale, the still avant-garde Grosse Fuge at the Concerts from the Library of Congress. Charismatic, commanding performances and eloquent recordings of the complete Schumann and Korngold quartets explain Gramophone’s description of the group: “musicians with fascinating things to say.” Europa Galante Concert Revived the 2018 performance of Europa Galante.  Founded by the brilliant violinist and conductor Fabio Biondi, Italy’s Europa Galante is one of the world’s most admired period performance ensembles, particularly known for masterly performances of the music of Antonio Vivaldi. The concert highlighted two of his dazzlingly imaginative Concerti dell’ Addio, the Farewell Concertos written in the final year of his life, and works by Venetian and Viennese contemporaries who may have influenced him. Donate to Friends of Music

April 3, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US The weekend is here and Concerts from the Library of Congress brings you...Pick of the Weekend, free video performances to keep you company.  This weekend's pick is dedicated to our colleague Larry Applebaum who is retiring from the Music Division after four decades of creative and innovative work.  For this Pick of the Weekend we are sharing with you some of his great interviews with jazz masters and the artists' performances at the Library.  For more of Larry's story at the Library of Congress, here is a link to his most recent blog post.  Abdullah Ibrahim & Larry Appelbaum in Conversation Abdullah Ibrahim talks with Larry Appelbaum about jazz as part of the Library of Congress Jazz Scholars program. Abdullah Ibrahim Concert Jazz pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim celebrated his Library of Congress residency with a captivating concert that left the audience in awe of his authenticity as a performer. A onetime protégé of Duke Ellington, Ibrahim has become a cultural icon in his native South Africa, through his commitment to expanding music education opportunities and developing the nation’s unique jazz scene.   Maria Schneider & Larry Applebaum in Conversation Jazz artist Maria Schneider discusses her approach to the creative process and her collaboration with David Bowie in an interview with Larry Appelbaum. Recorded in conjunction with the world premiere of Schneider's Library of Congress commission "Data Lords," presented in association with the Reva and David Logan Foundation. Maria Schneider Concert Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” The multiple GRAMMY® award-winning composer and bandleader spent a packed week at the Library on the spring of 2016 for a special residency project. On the agenda were explorations of the Library’s treasure trove of scores and memorabilia, plus workshops for students and conversations with curators. Schneider conducted her terrific orchestra—a crack 17-member collective made up of many of the finest jazz musicians performing —and unveiled her new Library of Congress commission, created through the support of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, in memory of David Logan. A Conversation With Dafnis Prieto and Larry Appelbaum Host of WPFW's "Sound of Surprise" Larry Appelbaum of the Library of Congress' Music Division, interviews Dafnis Prieto. Dafnis Prieto SÍ O SÍ Quartet Concert with guest artist, Christian Howes, violin “Prieto’s music explodes with energy… original compositions with a singular passion and intensity.” Cuban-born composer and drummer Dafnis Prieto is unquestionably one of the most important leaders of the New Latin Jazz movement.  He has wonderfully blurred the line between traditional Latin-jazz and 21-century postbop, fusing Afro-Cuban rhythms and modern jazz harmonies. Donate to Friends of Music

April 6, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US Hello Music News subscriber! The music never stops at Concerts from the Library of Congress. You can enjoy many FREE videos of past performances from the Library of Congress. To guide you through your options, the Concert Office has created Pick of the Week. Every week, we will send you a list of performances for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home. But remember, these are our suggestions, there are many more options at Concerts from The Library of Congress.  Minguet Quartett Regulars at major music festivals and concert halls across the globe, this award-winning quartet takes its name from 18th-century Spanish philosopher Pablo Minguet, who wished to make the arts accessible to everyone. Champions of contemporary composers like Rihm and Stockhausen, the Minguet is equally at home with Romantic masters. Treasures both new and well-known are on offer in this beautiful program, including favorites by Czech composers and a transcription of one of Gustav Mahler’s most affecting lieder. Ensemble Signal  In 2017, our season opened with an extraordinary evening of chamber works by a pioneering composer whose music has profoundly influenced composers and musicians worldwide. The Library and Washington Performing Arts joined forces to present this special concert featuring the East Coast premiere of Runner, for winds, percussion, strings, and two pianos. Brad Lubman conducts the fearless supergroup Ensemble Signal, which has enjoyed a long and cordial relationship with the composer. Roger Steffens: Oral History of Bob Marley Reggae historian and collector Roger Steffens’ new book So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley (W.W. Norton Press) is“a rich new oral biography” (New York Times) offering the author’s intimate, revelatory interviews with Marley’s family and musical partners. Steffens speaks from the expert viewpoint of a journalist, musician and producer known for four decades of reggae scholarship as well as tours with the artist, and the impressive resources of his own Marley collection of recordings and memorabilia, the world’s largest. Donate to Friends of Music

April 10, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US The weekend is here and Concerts from the Library of Congress brings you...Pick of the Weekend, free video performances to keep you company.  For this Pick of the Weekend, we are sharing with you the 2016 Martha Graham Festival at the Library of Congress. Concerts from the Library of Congress celebrated the long partnership between the Library of Congress and Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance. A fun fact, did you know that Martha Graham danced at the Coolidge Auditorium? We hope you enjoy! Isamu Nogushi's Dance Set Dakin Hart discussed Martha Graham and Isamu Noguchi's explorations of the archetypal spaces of myth, including the American west, the Minotaur's labyrinth and the "cave of the heart." Martha Graham Dance Company  In April of 2016, the Martha Graham Dance Company presented three performances in our festival week, offering a trio of the five Graham ballets commissioned by the Library: Appalachian Spring (music by Aaron Copland); Cave of the Heart (music by Samuel Barber) and Dark Meadow (music by Carlos Chávez). Martha Graham Dance Company: Discussion with Pontus Lidberg and Janet Eilber Anne McLean leads a discussion with Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg and the Martha Graham Dance Company's artistic director Janet Eilber. Lidberg received a dance commission from the Library of Congress and Martha Graham Dance Company, which resulted in the work "Woodland," set to the Notturno for strings and harp by Irving Fine. Eilber discusses the long and storied history of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and its ongoing relationship with the Library of Congress, which commissioned "Appalachian Spring." Conversation with Pontus Lidberg Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg discusses his career and his Library of Congress/Martha Graham Dance Company co-commission, "Woodland," with Nicholas Brown. Set "Notturno for strings and harp" by Irving Fine, "Woodland" was commissioned for the 90th anniversary season of "Concerts from the library of Congress." Part of the "Martha Graham at the Library" Festival and presented in association with the Embassy of Sweden and Swedish Arts Council. Donate to Friends of Music

April 13, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US The week has started and Concerts from the Library of Congress brings you...Pick of the Week, free video performances, lectures and conversations to keep you company.  This Pick of the Week takes us back to 2016 when the Library of Congress celebrated Bibliodiscotheque,  a series of programs that explored the legacy of disco and its impact on popular culture. We hope you enjoy.  Tim Gunn on Disco Fashion In April of 2016, Deputy Librarian of Congress Robert Newlen interviewed fashion icon and native-Washingtonian Tim Gunn about the history of fashion in the disco era and its impact on modern fashion. Gunn is a past chair of fashion design at Parsons School of Design, where he was on faculty from 1982-2007. He is a design mentor and host of the hit television show Project Runway, which has garnered him a primetime Emmy Award. Gunn is the author of five books. Bibliodiscotheque Symposium, featuring Gloria Gaynor As part of the series, the Library explored the history of disco music, dance and culture in an afternoon symposium that featured appearances by Gloria Gaynor, Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, distinguished music scholars Martin Scherzinger and Alice Echols, photographer Bill Bernstein, and Yolanda Baker, the only disco ball maker in the United States. Lecture: "Disco's Influence on European Dance Music" Music Specialist James Wintle of the Library's Music Division lectured on the influence of disco on European dance music. Donate to Friends of Music

April 17, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US Pick of the Weekend, free video performances, lectures and conversations to keep you company.  This Pick of the Weekend takes us back to our 2016-2017 season. We have a robust selection of performances, including tenor, Mark Padmore, Musicians from Marlboro, and a performance by musicians from the Santa Fe Music Festival, including Brett Dean, Tony Arnold, Juho Pohjonen, and the Orion Quartet. In addition, we paired these performances with their pre-concert lectures. We hope you enjoy it.  Mark Padmore, tenor | Andrew West, piano English tenor Mark Padmore is one of the most revered artists on the international touring scene, and was recognized with the 2016 Musical America Vocalist of the Year Award. Padmore’s exquisite artistry was on display in an intimate evening for voice and piano. He was joined by frequent recital partner pianist Andrew West who has collaborated with the likes of Florian Boesch, Alice Coote, and Roderick Williams, and is on faculty at the Royal Academy of Music. “Gentlemen Prefer the Taubenpost: Love and Longing in the Songs of Beethoven and Schubert”  In conjunction with a recital by tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Andrew West, David Plylar of the Music Division lectured on love and longing in the songs of Beethoven and Schubert. Musicians from Marlboro Alexi Kenney, violin  |  Robin Scott, violin  | Shuangshuang Liu, viola Peter Stumpf, cello  |  Zoltán Fejérvári, piano The Viennese schools were well-represented in this season’s final appearance of the Musicians from Marlboro. In addition to several classics by old friends, we heard a comparably expansive early quartet by Anton Webern, a composer renowned for his economy of means. The manuscript of Webern’s 1905 quartet is housed in the Hans Moldenhauer Archive in the Library of Congress. Presented in association with the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series of the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries Musicians from Marlboro Interview Members of Musicians from Marlboro discuss their work as chamber musicians, the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and the creative environment at summer music festivals. This interview was presented in conjunction with a performance by Musicians from Marlboro at the Library. Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival: Orion String Quartet, Brett Dean, Tony Arnold, and Juho Pohjonen Orion String Quartet Brett Dean, viola   |  Tony Arnold, soprano  |  Juho Pohjonen, piano This concert highlighted the music of Australian composer and violist Brett Dean, who premiered a new work for viola and piano—a Library co-commission—with Juho Pohjonen.  His arresting monodrama “And once I played Ophelia” featured the remarkable soprano Tony Arnold as protagonist. Striking, imaginative effects in both vocal and string writing sketched a passionate figure the composer calls a “feistier” Ophelia. The manuscript for Schoenberg’s second quartet was given to the Library of Congress by Gertrude Clarke Whittall. Presented in association with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Santa Fe Music Chamber Festival Interview  Anne McLean of the Music Division discussed the Library's collaboration with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, which culminated in a concert at the Library. Joining her were violist/composer Brett Dean, pianist Juho Pohjonen, and Steven Ovitsky, executive director of the festival. The discussion covered the performance program and special projects. Donate to Friends of Music

April 20, 2020 MUSIC NEWS CONTACT US Pick of the Week, free video performances, lectures and conversations to keep you company.  This Pick of the Week brings you two great jazz concerts, Pérez, Cohen, Potter Quintet and the Saiyuki Trio with Rudresh Mahanthappa.  In the Jazz Conversation section, we have Puerto Rican saxophonist and composer, Miguel Zenón discussing his career, education and latest projects. To close, Larry Applebaum from the Music Division engages in an interview with legendary jazz double bassist Ron Carter. As always, Pick of the Week is full of energy and fantastic music. We hope you enjoy! Pérez, Cohen, Potter Quintet with Larry Grenadier and Nate Smith The Pérez, Cohen, Potter Quintet is a new collaborative project by a remarkable trio of bandleaders: pianist and composer Danilo Pérez, trumpeter Avishai Cohen and über saxophonist Chris Potter. It’s an all-star lineup at the forefront of jazz today. You’ll sense  the chemistry that grew out of the trio's Jazz 100 tour in 2017 celebrating the centennials of Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonious Monk and hear some great new compositions written especially for this tour. The Saiyuki Trio with Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone “ …daring and rewarding fusion…a genuinely international music.” The New York Times This concert brings “sound magic” from a trio whose name means “Journey to the West.” French jazz guitarist Nguyên Lê studied visual arts and philosophy before working with artists like Ornette Coleman, Ray Charles, and Mauricio Kagel. Influences from Jimi Hendrix to the traditional music of Vietnam meld harmonies from East and West to paint “an Asia without borders.” Jazz Conversation: Miguel Zenón  Multiple Grammy nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón talks about his music, his work as an educator, and his latest recording "Tipico."   Jazz Conversation: Ron Carter Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz history, with more than 2,200 albums to his credit, an accomplishment honored in the 2015 Guinness Book of World Records.  Donate to Friends of Music