This conversation with the composer Philip Glass and me discusses an exciting project in partnership with OpenAi, in which we trained a neural net on a corpus of Glass' work. He offers commentary on the music created by "his AI", as well as insights on composition and creating art. We then talk about the different limitations and capacities of humans and Artificial Intelligence–if and how neural nets can help us create art, appreciate art, and find the same things humans find meaningful. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, this call took place over video conference in December 2020. Art and tech are both captivating to me because they frame the elevation and the limitations of being human. Art is also closely intertwined with technological advancements, as movement shifting art seems predicated on tech. For example, the photography of Martin Munkacsi from the 1920s and 1930s revolutionized the art, as he is often credited for being the first photographer to explore dynamic and candid styles. The emergence and ability of these new forms of creation coincided with the technological advancements at the time that enabled flash and faster shutters–candid and spontaneous movement shots wouldn't have been technically possible to make with the cameras that existed before. The advancements in machine learning today, likewise, excite me for the possibilities and new forms in art and creation. The goal of this project is to explore the capacities of artificial intelligence as a new medium (or instrument or tool?) for art, and to create a collaborative music composition with Philip Glass and "his AI." More details about the project can be found below. Philip: Nice to see you.

Paul Matthews, freelance tech writer, writes about examples of machine learning across the the healthcare, entertainment, marketing and education industries. From front end development to the automotive sector, the applications of machine learning for business purposes is bigger than ever. Examples of machine learning in the real world include recommendation engines, object detection, natural language processing, and more. Let's analyse five interesting examples of how ML is being used to deliver better online experiences and advance healthcare and education. Companies like Universal, Sony and EMI have gone through a massive digitalization in the past 10 years, evolving from "selling a certain number of records" to "streaming that record for'n' number of times". Monetization via ads through plays on portals like Youtube, Spotify and Soundcloud is something sought after.

To the editor: I first saw Andre Previn at the Hollywood Bowl in 1965, and it was love at first sight. I remember going backstage after the concert, where it was crowded with movie stars -- but the autograph I wanted was Previn's. I still have the album of his jazz variations on the "My Fair Lady" score that he signed for me so many years ago. I saw Previn many times at the Hollywood Bowl after that, especially while he was music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the late 1980s. I remember so well Previn conducting Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor and Gershwin's Concerto in F from the keyboard.

We never need to go far for a little -- or a lot -- of Beethoven in our concert halls. The Los Angeles Philharmonic (with help from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela) wasn't kidding when it began its season last year with Gustavo Dudamel conducting all nine Beethoven symphonies by calling the festival "Immortal Beethoven." Last weekend, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra opened its season with Beethoven's Seventh. Next week, Esa-Pekka Salonen begins a West Coast tour with his London orchestra, the Philharmonia, playing Beethoven's "Eroica" in Costa Mesa, Northridge and Santa Barbara. Thursday night, the L.A. Phil did it again, opening another season with a Beethoven program at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the orchestra living up to its venturesome reputation by including John Adams in its definition of Beethoven.