British Petroleum, Barack Obama’s favourite bogeyman now that Osama’s under water, is due to announce ‘a major Olympic project’ in partnership with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the triple-jump record-holder, Jonathan Edwards.
Full details due on Monday. Watch this space.
Here’s a letter sent by the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra to the International Federation of Musicians, which has called a boycott on auditions for new players to be held in London (May 16-18) and New York (May 20-23) by its chief conductor Roberto Minczuk. The OSB has sacked half its players for refusing to reaudition for their own jobs, as described in previous posts on this site. Many eminent musicians, led by the pianists Nelson Freire and Cristina Ortiz, are refusing to work with the orchestra and its conductor.
Here’s the letter:
Av. Rio Branco 135, sala 915 | Centro, Rio de Janeiro, cep 20040-006 | tel. +21 2142 5800 | fax +21 2142 5844Rio de Janeiro, May 4, 2011 To The International Federation of Musicians
Dear Sirs, given the recent demonstration of the FIM on the international auditions of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and in deference to the work and representativeness of the Federation, we have provided some clarification regarding the restructuring process by which the orchestra has been through in the recent months.
We understand that the “Call for an international boycott” to the orchestra auditions reflects a biased interpretation of recent events, to reports released on the Internet that often go beyond and distort reality. In respect to the International Federation of Musicians, we want to position ourselves not only in relation to the process that led to the removal of some of our musicians, but also to clarify the basis on which the new auditions for the orchestra are organized.
Fidelity to the institutional mission to build a culture of excellence around the symphonic music in Brazil led the OSB Foundation to invest in qualifying and broadening its work in 2011. The implementation of performance evaluations for the orchestra was a decision of the Foundation in order, along with the continuing evaluation that takes place in rehearsals and concerts, to recognize the artistic demands of each member of the group, provide suggestions for individual improvement and ensure best conditions for the work of the orchestra.
As emphasized since the announcement of the evaluations, the process did not seek the dismissal of musicians, but a real examination of the artistic situation of the OSB from a feedback on the performance of each member, who also served as official means for repositioning the musicians in their sections.This action was reported earlier this year and, and until the scheduled time for conducting evaluations, some of the musicians of the orchestra had showed dissatisfaction with the OSB Foundation’s decision.
In many negotiations, the Foundation sought to reach a consensus with this group of musicians, meeting with requests such as reducing the required repertoire for evaluations. The FOSB remained steady in relation to the indispensability of evaluations to continue its artistic development, but relaxed various aspects to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the process with the musicians. No decision taken by the FOSB, however, was good enough to meet the needs of this group of musicians, and the worsening relationship with them eventually led to their removal.
The Foundation resisted the most to this extreme alternative, which became the only one possible, given the context of insubordination and public defamation, in which it found itself inserted.The chronological report, which is found attached, shows details of the entire process. After the removal of the musicians, the OSB Foundation also undertook a last effort to resume negotiations and reached a consensus with the group about the necessity of the existence of evaluations. Given their requests, we designed a new format for the evaluations, to be held in June, and prepared a final proposal which called for the immediate reinstatement of all of them.
However, from that time on, the musicians have started to pressure the Foundation no Av. Rio Branco 135, sala 915 | Centro, Rio de Janeiro, cep 20040-006 | tel. +21 2142 5800 | fax +21 2142 5844longer about the evaluations, but on a point that was non-negotiable for the institution: the permanence of conductor Roberto Minczuk at the position of OSB Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.
All attempts made by the OSB Foundation in order to circumvent this situation were not taken, given the requirement of the musicians in dismissing the artistic director of the orchestra. Thus, a polarization of the debate and of the public opinion has been tried, by shifting the attention from the primary focus: to raise the quality standard of the orchestra, which should be its irrevocable and continuous mission.
In five years under the artistic direction of Roberto Minczuk, the OSB has seen its annual budget leap from US$ 4 million to US$ 22 million, expanding its schedule of concerts and raising substantially the overall sonorityof the group, as it can be certified by the testimony of any reviewer who follows the work of the orchestra. The undeniable progress that have been made in recent years underlies the support from the OSB to the artistic project signed by the conductor for the orchestra, which is not guided by what has hitherto been obtained, but by the commitment to develop and further enhance this work over the next five years.In such circumstances, the Foundation made a clear choice to go ahead in the qualification process for its music and its own organizational culture.
Just remember the pressures of the musicians on the artistic directors who preceded Minczuk. By refusing to accept one more constraint from part of its orchestra, the Foundation seeks to break with old institutional vices and strengthen a path in which the value of each musician resides in their own professional merit.That is why the International Selection Process calls for new musicians to the artistic and institutional design of the OSB. For years, we have had about 13 open positions in our orchestra, and that number was recently widened with the removal of the musicians who did not wish to follow the work of artistic enhancement of the OSB.
A total of 33 openings in various instruments are being offered by the Selection Process, with conditions of competitiveness in the international concert music market.By clarifying the whole process that led to the removal of some musicians, we would like to draw the attention of the International Federation of Musicians, not only to the legitimacy of the OSB Foundation’s actions, but as well to the effort in order to build a culture of excellence in the Brazilian symphony music. The auditions that will take place in Rio de Janeiro, London and New York in the coming weeks represent another step in this direction and we await the review of the FIM on the organized boycott to the OSB Selection Process.Sincerely,BRAZILIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDATION
In addition to his May 12 concert in Liverpool, the embattled Brazilian conductor Roberto Minczuk is scheduled to conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales four days earlier in Cardiff. The soloist is BBC New Generation Artist, baritone Hank Neven.
The International Federation of Musicians and several unions in the US have called on players to avoid working with a conductor who had ordered all musicians in the Brazil Symphony Orchestra to reaudition for their jobs and sacked half of them for refusing.
It will be interesting to see how the BBC handles this delicate situation.
We are still waiting to hear dates and details of the auditions Mr Minczuk aims to conduct in London, seeking to rebuild his orchestra. Let us know if you hear anything.
with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Wednesday 08 June 2011, 2pm
BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff CF10 5AL
part of the 2010/11 BBC Hoddinott Hall and Afternoon Concerts 2010/11 series
£7-£10
RACHMANINOV Isle of the Dead
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Shostakovich)Songs and dances of death
RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances
Conductor Roberto Minczuk
Baritone Henk Neven (BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist)
Experience the scintillating energy and joie de vivre of Rachmaninov’s final work, the Symphony Dances, next to one of the greatest and most intense masterpieces of Russian music: Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death.
To be broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
Tickets: BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line: 0800 052 1812
Wales Millennium Centre Box Office: 029 2063 6464
And while we’re compiling charts, here’s one from 247wallst.com on the American orchestras that are deepest in trouble.
Three in the list are already out of business and a fourth has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Here’s the link to the whole article.
And here’s the doom chart. Try not to choke:
1. Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra was driven to seek Chapter 11 last month for the same reasons many private companies do: its expenses ($46 million) were quite a bit higher than its revenue ($33.08 million). . ‘Although The Philadelphia Orchestra has no long-term debt, it is operating at a significant loss based upon declining ticket revenues, decreased donations, eroding endowment income, pension obligations, contractual agreements, and increased operational cost,” The Orchestra said in announcing the bankruptcy. A spat of emergency fundraising was expected to reduce that shortfall to $5 million, but that only covers this season. Undaunted, the Orchestra is planning a $160 million fundraising campaign. The orchestra was without a CEO for 10 months, which surely didn’t help matters.
2. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is faced with the unenviable problem of competing for corporate patrons and ticket sales with National Symphony Orchestra in neighboring Washington, D.C. Its struggles have only gotten worse as the economy slowed down. Charity Navigator shows it has a negative net asset value of $3.3 million. In 2010, musicians agreed to accept a pay freeze for this season and take a 16.6% pay cut for the next two seasons.
3. Columbus Symphony Orchestra
The Columbus Symphony Orchestra calls itself the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ohio. Unfortunately, its modest financial success has come at a steep price. In March 2010, the musicians agreed to $1.1 million in wage cuts through 2011. The organization’s board had threaten to shut its doors permanently unless wage concessions were made.
4. New York City Opera
The New York City Opera was founded to make opera accessible to American audiences, perform new music and to give breaks to U.S. born singers. Think of it as an alternative to the Met. The current season is up in the air. We’re working very hard to get this institution on a sound financial footing,” Board Chairman Charles Wall told The New York Times that he is donating $2.5 million to help cover the deficit and seeking contributions. “The opera has ceded time to New York City Ballet, with which it shares the David H. Koch Theater, in exchange for a reduction in payments,” the paper says.
5. Houston Symphony
In 2009, The Houston Symphony announced sweeping austerity measures including furloughing musicians and staff and reduce the pay of conductors to save $900,000. It didn’t seem to do much good. The organization’s annual report shows that its deficit in 2010 was $14.85 million, the highest it’s been since at least 2006. Revenues were at their lowest level since 2007. As of the 2009 fiscal year, the Orchestra had negative net assets of $16.1 million.
6. Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has had a rough few months, including a six-month long musicians’ strike that was settled this month. According to Dynamic Arts Consulting, the DSO has been caught in an economic maelstrom since the start of the recession as Detroit’s auto industry fell into decline. Its finances are a mess as corporate support withered away. “The financial crisis of 2008 greatly affected the DSO, which subsequently lost $19 million in ticket sales and remains in default on the terms of its $54 million real-estate debt (to build Max M. Fisher Music Center and restore Orchestra Hall),” the company says. The rest of the season has been canceled.
7. Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
One the youngest symphonies in major cities, the Orchestra was hit with a steep drop-off in contributions during the last fiscal year because of the recession. Total revenue for the year was 16.5% below projections. According to the Journal Sentinel newspaper, the Orchestra is as ambitious as ever. “Belt-tightening and staff furlough days have not resulted in a reflexive lack of ambition or innovation,” it says. Nonetheless, the Symphony slashed $500,000 from its expenses for the 2011 fiscal year.
8. Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
The Orchestra has been in life support for a while. “Last summer the arts organization was close to collapse when it was without operating funds. An “angel investor” came to its rescue,” the Syracuse Post-Standard says. “In late January, it announced it faced a similar fate if it didn’t receive an immediate $375,000 to cover February expenses and needed a total of $1.75 million by Aug. 1 to continue its 50th anniversary season. The campaign, which included an orchestral staging of Led Zeppelin songs, fell short. “In plain terms, if there is to be another Symphony, it can start with a clean sheet of paper,” the Orchestra says on its website. The season was canceled, including a concert featuring world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
9. New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on April 21. Like other orchestras, the New Mexico Symphony was caught in the twin vice grips of the economic slowdown and rising costs. Musicians are reportedly owed $800,000. It also was behind in its rent. The orchestra will cease to exist once the bankruptcy is completed.
10. Louisville Orchestra
Weeks before its 75th anniversary in 2010, the Louisville Orchestra filed for protection from its creditors. As the Louisville Courier-Journal noted, the group sought to cut its roster of full-time musicians from 71 to 55 which would be supplemented with that with 16 part-timers to reduce costs by about $1 million. Musicians were, of course, livid and CEO Robert Birman said at the time of the filing that he understood their frustration.
11. Honolulu Symphony Orchestra
The good citizens of Hawaii may get their orchestra back, which was forced in 2010 to liquidate. A group of local citizens bought the orchestra’s assets at an auction. “We’re kind of taking a leap of faith in buying all the symphony’s memorabilia and musical works because we feel that is going to be necessary to restart the symphony,”businessman Mark Polivka told The New York Times. They might just succeed, having reached a 3 year agreement with the musician’s union. A new season is scheduled to start in September.
Jonathan Berr
Read more: The Death Of Classical Music in America – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/05/01/the-most-cash-strapped-classical-music-organizations/#ixzz1LOX8RjqI
You – like me – may be struggling with the new-look Slipped Disc format, but nothing can stop the blog’s steepling rise up the UK user charts.
The latest wikio rankings for music blogs confirm it as number 1 for classical music and number 5 overall.
That’s three places higher than last month, 12 above February’s. We must be doing something right.
Here’s the chart:
Thanks to all for your kindly interest.
That estimable orchestra of the north, The Royal Scottish National – sounds like a railways train, I know, but they’re rubbish at branding up there – anyhow, the RSNO have a new boss, and he’s a good’un.
Michael Elliot his name is, Mick to his Merseyside muckers. He’s the chap that dragged the Royal Liverpool Phil out of the do-dos a few years back. In 2008 he got poached to be Head of Kulcher at the department of culture, media and sports, a very big job indeed and closer than most orchy types ever get in their wettest dreams to the seat of power.
But Mick’s had enough of London and its wicked fleshpots and he’s moving up to Glasgow for a touch of authentic austerity.
Or is that, perhaps, what he’s running away from?
Director of Culture was a good job under the last government, not so good at the moment when you have to say No to all you old chums.
Mick’s a very good catch for the Scots, but I wonder if the real deal for his is getting away from a government with which he has no evident sympathy at all. I’m sure the Scots Nationalists would like to know that.
Here’s the press release:
Michael Elliott appointed new RSNO Chief Executive
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) announces the appointment of Michael Elliott as its new Chief Executive.
Mr Elliott has been Director of Culture at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in London since June 2008 and was formerly Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. He will take up the position with Scotland’s national symphony orchestra on Monday 1 August 2011, succeeding Simon Woods, who assumed his new role as Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in April.
RSNO Chairman Brian Lang led the Search Committee: “It is with great pleasure that we announce Michael’s appointment. His experience and knowledge of orchestra management and the wider cultural sector will be of great benefit to the RSNO. Michael will join the team in good time for the start of Stéphane Denève’s final season as Music Director and will have the pleasure of working with incoming Music Director Peter Oundjian, creating a formidable partnership. Together they will deliver artistic excellence for the people of Scotland.”
New RSNO Chief Executive Michael Elliott: “I am delighted to accept the post of Chief Executive of an organisation of such musical stature and heritage. It is my aim to build on the recent successes of the musicians and staff under the leadership of Simon Woods and Stéphane Denève and to see the RSNO playing a key role in Scottish society, cultural life and education, and in the promotion of Scotland to the benefit of its trade, tourism and economy.”
In 2001 Mr Elliott was appointed Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, driving the organisation’s artistic and financial recovery and contributing to Liverpool winning European Capital of Culture for 2008. In 2006 he was seconded to the role of Associate Cultural Director for Liverpool Culture Company, leading the partnership of Liverpool’s major cultural institutions which was successful in gaining significant additional national investment for the City.
His current post at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport involved senior responsibility for government policy, funding and relationships across the arts, museums, libraries, cultural property, heritage, architecture and design, royal parks and the Government Art Collection.
Mr Elliott currently also serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors at the University of Wolverhampton and has previously served as Chairman of the Belgrade Theatre Trust and Deputy Chairman of the Sheffield Crucible Theatre Trust. He also served as a governor and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
Mr Elliott is a graduate of the University of Sheffield and has a son, Peter, and a daughter, Chrissie, with his wife, June.
Riccardo Muti has just been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in Spain.
That’s on top of the Birgit Nilsson award a couple of months back.
Birgit left him a million bucks. The prince is only worth fifty-k in Euros.
Just about one Chicago concert fee.
I expect he’ll turn up for the ceremony but don’t ask him to conduct as well.
First Dallas Symphony loses its COO, Paul Stewart. No comment all round.
Two weeks later the incoming chief executive, Bill Lively, quits. Health problems, apparently.
Today the music director of the Dallas Opera, Graeme Jenkins, resigns unexpectedly. He says he’s too busy elsewhere. Hmmm.
Just a little local difficulty?
Well, over in Houston, the general director of the opera, Anthony Freud, has upgraded to Chicago.
And in Austin today the director of the Lyric Opera Kevin Patterson has quit, leaving a million-buck hole in the budget.
What the heck’s going on down in musical Texas?
Daniel Barenboim conducted his first concert in Gaza today.
Given that its Hamas Government has simultaneously made peace with Fatah and endorsed Osama Bin Laden as a holy martyr, this could hardly be a more delicate moment to make music. I, for one, can’t wait to see the film.
Here’s the press release:
Reuters – Israeli-Argentine conductor Daniel Barenboim directs the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, which includes …GAZA (Reuters) – Classical musician Daniel Barenboim, a supporter of Palestinian rights, broke new ground Tuesday when he travelled to the Gaza Strip to conduct a concert.
Musicians from some of Europe’s top orchestras entered the coastal enclave from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing amid tight security, to form the “Orchestra for Gaza” and play Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and the Symphony No. 40.
Barenboim’s appearance with the orchestra, players of the Staatskapelle Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and La Scala of Milan, was a first in recent memory in Gaza where traditional Arabic music is more common.
An audience of some 700 attended the hour-long concert at the plush al-Madha center along the beachfront in the northern Gaza Strip.
The event was organized by the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that cares for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
When introducing the event, Barenboim said the concert was taking place because “these are people who care about you, this is why we are here today.”
Barenboim has become a controversial figure in Israel for his vocal opposition to its occupation of the West Bank, where he has performed on several occasions.
Since 1999, he has promoted Arab-Israeli cultural contacts and he leads the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of young Israeli and Arab musicians which is based in Seville, Spain.
In 2008, Argentine-born Barenboim, 68, also took Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his status could serve as a model for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
“As you know I am Palestinian … not (just) because I have a Palestinian passport and I am also Israeli, so you see it is possible to be both, but in order … to have justice and peace we have to do many things.
“Our conflict is a conflict of two peoples who are convinced they have the right to live in the same little piece of land, therefore, our destinies are linked,” he said.
“No people should be expected to live under occupation,” Barenboim added as he received a standing ovation from the audience of academics, foreign guests and schoolchildren.
GAZA POLITICS
The concert comes a day before Islamist Hamas, who rule the Gaza Strip, and the more secular Fatah faction that controls the occupied West Bank, were due to sign a reconciliation agreement they hope will heal a political rift between them.
Israel maintains a blockade of Gaza because it is run by Hamas, who unlike Fatah, are hostile to the Jewish state and refuse to recognize interim peace accords or renounce violence.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, once the dominant Palestinian party, was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas in a brief civil war four years ago.
Barenboim, today considered one of the world’s leading conductors of the operas of Richard Wagner, Hitler’s favorite composer, has further damaged his reputation in Israel where he has tried unsuccessfully to break an unofficial taboo on playing the music of the German composer.
(Writing by Ori Lewis)
Here’s an account of the concert given by the sacked musicians of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, reported by retired oboist, Harold Emert:
Prepare to be disappointed.
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