Trouble last night in Valencia, where the tenor Ivan Magri started the performance with an inflammation of the vocal cords that got progressively worse. He was replaced on stage by a stage manager in costume who went through the moves, and offstage by another tenor plucked from a Walküre rehearsal. The show went on. Read here.

The  sbustitute was the Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukoff. The stage manager has not been named

The widely-hyped and widely-disputed violin that supposedly went down on the Titanic has fetched $1.45 million in a country auction. The buyer is said to be British. Most other items in the smallhouse sale went for two and three-digit sums. The auctioneer’s efforts over seven years have plainly paid off. This is, however, unlikely to be the end of the controversy.

titanic

It’s a blogpost of national significance on the Canadian Broadcasting site.

Top10_under_20_CBCMusic_16x9_620x350

You can’t guess the classical contender? It’s him.

Our WQXR colleague Brian Wise fears the worst for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. They are not returning calls to potential bookers. The music director’s contract has expired. The website is ‘closed for maintenance’. And insiders speak of ‘severe financial difficulties’.

In the richest city on earth. Read Brian here. It’s a sad old song.

Brooklyn-2-working16f_scaled1-178x176

 

First policy statement from new Semper Oper boss here. Don’t expect to see music director Christian Thielemann on the Qantas shuttle any time soon.

serge-dorny-dresden-104~_v-image512_-6a0b0d9618fb94fd9ee05a84a1099a13ec9d3321

Er, why? And so what? The shoe has yet to drop.

 

 

dutch clog

 

 

De Nederlandse Opera, The Dutch National Ballet and

The Amsterdam Music Theatre

move forward together under the name

 

Dutch National Opera & Ballet

With the following specifics:

  • De Nederlandse Opera will be renamed Dutch National Opera
  • the Dutch National Ballet will retain its current English name
  • the Dutch National Touring Opera will become Dutch Touring Opera
  • the new visual identity and house style for Dutch National Opera & Ballet is the work of graphic designers Lesley Moore, to be presented mid-February 2014.

 

About the institute’s new name

Starting 17 February 2014 the institute, which became a single organization on 1 January 2013 as the result of the merger of De Nederlandse Opera, Dutch National Ballet and The Amsterdam Music Theatre, will operate under the name Dutch National Opera & Ballet. This will also be the new name for the venue itself.

Els van der Plas, general director:

“It is good that the new name Dutch National Opera & Ballet clearly reflects what happens on stage, and that the names of the opera, ballet and venue form a single, logical entity. In this way we position ourselves as an (inter)nationally recognized top-notch institute for opera and ballet. The strength of our house is that we create, produce and present opera and ballet of the highest calibre. Our productions often travel the world over. As a single organization we are better able to place our message of first-class quality and craftsmanship in the limelight.”

About the opera and ballet brand names

 

The organization retains separate brand names for opera and ballet, whereby De Nederlandse Opera will continue under a new name, both in English (Dutch National Opera) and Dutch (De Nationale Opera).

Pierre Audi, director of opera:

“The opera’s name change is a big step for us and for our audiences. It is, however, a logical step in light of the choice for the new overall name. Together with the new name for the opera and the ballet’s current name it creates a unified whole. Furthermore, in this way we are better able to promote ourselves as the leading opera house for and in the Netherlands. We will use the name Dutch National Opera abroad. In both languages we retain the trusted abbreviation DNO.

We are pleased to be getting a new house style and identity, and are excited to include our visitors in these new developments.”

Ted Brandsen, director of ballet:

 

“We are pleased to preserve our brand name Dutch National Ballet as well as its Dutch version, Het Nationale Ballet. Dutch National Ballet will be the Netherlands’ only classical dance company to present top-notch productions both at home and abroad. What will change is our logo. We are delighted to continue our tradition of innovative graphic design by engaging the Lesley Moore agency. The motto of ‘superior simplicity’ developed by Lesley Moore is perfectly suited to the ambitions of the Dutch National Opera & Ballet. We will unveil this beautiful new house style in mid-Febuary 2014.”

New house style and design by Lesley Moore for Dutch National Opera & Ballet

The Amsterdam-based graphic design agency Lesley Moore has created the Dutch National Opera & Ballet’s new house style and design. The agency recently designed the new identity for the Central Museum in Utrecht, for which it won the Dutch Design Award – Graphic Design 2012.

Dutch National Touring Opera (Nationale Reisopera) becomes Dutch Touring Opera

The Dutch National Touring Opera (the current Nationale Reisopera), will be called Dutch Touring Opera abroad and Nederlandse Reisopera at home. The ‘adjective reversal’ in the Dutch names of the two opera companies was brought about in mutual agreement. Both companies continue their commitment to co-operation in the area of talent development.

Nicolas Mansfield, director Nationale Reisopera:

“It is fantastic that two key players in the field of opera in the Netherlands close ranks in this way. The Nationale Reisopera considers it entirely logical that we actively contribute to a clear-cut opera structure in the Netherlands. Additionally, the fact that we are the Netherlands’ principal touring opera company is reflected in our new name. We will use the name Dutch Touring Opera abroad. Together with DNO we have a mutual interest in preserving, renewing and rejuvenating this art form. Talent development is an essential building block of this vision, and together we will meet this challenge.”

NB: until 17 February 2014, De Nederlandse Opera, Dutch National Ballet, The Amsterdam Music Theatre and Nationale Reisopera will continue to operate under their current names and corporate identities.

 

Ann Summers Dossena, who managed the careers of  George Shirley, Shirley Love and Louis Quilico, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Claremont String Quartet, and most recently pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, pianist Haiou Zhang and clarinetist Kornel Wolak, is giving up her agency. Extracted press release below.

annsummersJan2012

 

Toronto, October 16, 2013 – After 55 years as an artist manager, Ann Summers Dossena of Ann Summers International has announced her retirement from artists’ management.  Honoured by her industry in 2012, she has had a distinguished career in which she created and oversaw many innovations in music and the other performing arts.  She intends to devote herself to fulfilling her vision for one of these – the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists (IRCPA), the non-profit, charitable organization she founded in the 1980s to help singers, dancers and other performing artists develop their full potential.
Summers Dossena and the IRCPA Board of Directors will be able to move forward with IRCPA projects.  Chief among them is to fundraise and acquire space to accommodate libraries of donated scores, mentor artists one on one and in groups, hold round-table discussions exchanging ideas and challenges, and to continue the workshops Career Moves and Encounters with Employers.  These workshops provide, amongst other things, a place for artists to try out new directions for advice, without risk to their career.  Such celebrated Canadian singers as sopranos Adrianne Pieczonka and Isabel Bayrakdarian, and tenor Colin Ainsworth were helped bythe IRCPA.  More information is at www.ircpa.net.

 

A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology aims to show how people”s choices in music change over the course of a lifetime, from Teddy Bear’s Picnic to Abide with Me, via Bach, Blur and Lady Gaga. We’ve extracted a summary below.

On the whole, a more precise and useful picture might be yielded, we think, by analysing social media metrics across a much smaller sample.

journalpsy

Researchers say the study is the first to “comprehensively document” the ways people engage with music “from adolescence to middle age”. The study is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Using data gathered from more than a quarter of a million people over a ten year period, researchers divided musical genres into five broad, “empirically derived” categories they call the MUSIC model – mellow, unpretentious, sophisticated, intense, contemporary – and plotted the patterns of preference across age-groups.

These five categories incorporate multiple genres that share common musical and psychological traits – such as loudness and complexity.

“The project started with a common conception that musical taste does not evolve after young adulthood. Most academic research to date supported this claim, but – based on other areas of psychological research and our own experiences – we were not convinced this was the case,” said Arielle Bonneville-Roussy from Cambridge’s Department of Psychology, who led the study.

The study found that, unsurprisingly, the first great musical age is adolescence – defined by a short, sharp burst of ‘intense’ and the start of a steady climb of ‘contemporary’. ‘Intense’ music – such as punk and metal – peaks in adolescence and declines in early adulthood, while ‘contemporary’ music – such as pop and rap – begins a rise that plateaus until early middle age.

“Teenage years are often dominated by the need to establish identity, and music is a cheap, effective way to do this,” said Dr Jason Rentfrow, senior researcher on the study.

“Adolescents’ quest for independence often takes the shape of a juxtaposed stance to the perceived ‘status quo’, that of parents and the establishment. ‘Intense’ music, seen as aggressive, tense and characterised by loud, distorted sounds has the rebellious connotations that allow adolescents to stake a claim for the autonomy that is one of this period’s key ‘life challenges’.”

As ‘intense’ gives way to the rising tide of ‘contemporary’ and introduction of ‘mellow’ – such as electronic and R & B – in early adulthood, the next musical age emerges. These two “preference dimensions” are considered “romantic, emotionally positive and danceable,” write the researchers.

“Once people overcome the need for autonomy, the next ‘life challenge’ concerns finding love and being loved – people who appreciate this ‘you’ that has emerged,” said Rentfrow.

“What we took away from the results is that these forms of music reinforce the desire for intimacy and complement settings where people come together with the goal of establishing close relationships – parties, bars, clubs and so on.

“Whereas the first musical age is about asserting independence, the next appears to be more about gaining acceptance from others.”

As we settle down and middle age begins to creep in, the last musical age, as identified by the researchers, is dominated by ‘sophisticated’ – such as jazz and classical – and ‘unpretentious’ – such as country, folk and blues.

Researchers write that both these dimensions are seen as “positive and relaxing” – with ‘sophisticated’ indicating the complex aesthetic of high culture that could be linked to social status and perceived intellect, while ‘unpretentious’ echoes sentiments of family, love and loss – emotionally direct music that speaks to the experiences most will have had by this life stage.

“As we settle into ourselves and acquire more resources to express ourselves – career, home, family, car – music remains an extension of this, and at this stage there are aspects of wanting to promote social status, intellect and wealth that play into the increased gravitation towards ‘sophisticated’ music,” said Rentfrow, “as social standing is seen as a key ‘life challenge’ to be achieved by this point”.

“At the same time, for many this life stage is frequently exhausted by work and family, and there is a requirement for relaxing, emotive music for those rare down times that reflects the other major ‘life challenge’ of this stage – that of nurturing a family and maintaining long-term relationships, perhaps the hardest of all.”

Adds Bonneville-Roussy: “Due to our very large sample size, gathered from online forms and social media channels, we were able to find very robust age trends in musical taste. I find it fascinating to see how seemingly trivial behaviour such as music listening relates to so many psychological aspects, such as personality and age.”

A report in the impeccably named Non-Profit Quarterly suggests that the last production staged by New York City Opera was actually the nail in its coffin:

As a somewhat bizarre coda to these events, the final production put on by the NYCO may have led to its demise. The last work performed was “Anna Nicole,” a paean to the tragic life and death of blonde model/actress/reality-show-diva Anna Nicole Smith. Although the show drew fairly large audiences and generally positive reviews, those in a position to know say that it alienated billionaire donor David H. Koch. Why? Because Anna Nicole Smith was married to J. Howard Marshall II, an oil tycoon who had owned 16 percent of Koch Industries before his death—and the Marshall clan loathed her, fighting bitterly to keep her from inheriting any of J. Howard’s estate.

anna nicole roh

Surely not?

Malcolm Layfield, who was forced to resign as head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music after being accused of the rape of three teenaged students at Chetham’s, has been rearrested in connection with another case.

The Guardian reports the he was released on bail, without being charged.

Police investigations continue into sex abuse charges at Chet’s and RNCM. Presumptions of innocence apply.

 

 

malcolm layfield

The Austrian-born Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti was helped off stage in Florida last night after meandering and repeating passages during a Beethoven recital. A medical emergency was identified and he was taken by ambulance to hospital.

Here’s an eyewitness account from our friends at South Florida Classical Review:

Kuerti’s growing disorientation and numerous stops and starts during the second of the Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119, signaled clearly to the large audience that something was terribly wrong.

Santiago Rodriguez, professor of keyboard performance at the Frost School of Music, gently approached Kuerti mid-piece, and eventually succeeded in coaxing him off the stage to a standing ovation.

 

kuerti

It’s time to start assembling a long list. Five new releases rush to the top of the pile. Please add your own.

1 Ms Wang shot to attention with a skirt that barely covered her essentials. Now she’s wearing a fin de siècle lampshade. What  gives?

yuja wang

2 What’s that man doing with an upside-down umbrella on a misty pile of rocks Playing a concerto, is he?

saint-saens

3 British works? All we see is a fat sheep waiting for a shave. Missing something, are we?

chandoschan10792

4 Ah, the irresistible glamour of an airport floor

 

pahud

5 This is supposed to be 1789: spot the anachronisms. Did anyone in 1789 wear two shirt buttons open. Or buy a folded newspaper?

knauser

The space below is for your nominations…

 

Here they come….

6 What’s that towering in Josh Bell’s lap? Answers, please, to Sony Music.

 

joshua bell

 

7 Anna meets the airbrush

anna netrebko airbrush

 

8 That flute just blew and blew

 

bezaly