His argument? Jacob married two sisters in the Bible, so why can’t I marry a man?
The all-important Pisa results are in for year-10 maths and science performance.
China and Singapore top the tables. Finland, which has come second for most of the past decade, remains a top-four nation in science but has slipped badly in maths, overtaken by Poland, Canada, Netherlands and Lichtenstein. Must try harder in Suomi.
Check out the new Alka-Seltzer ad (below). Beside the sneezing girl is a sleeping man who looks very much like a former tenor of our acquaintance. That sweater looks familiar, too. Can’t be… can it?
A group of Croats has taken exception to remarks he made last year in Rolling Stone magazine and filed suit in France, where the courts are happy to spend months in cultural contemplation.
We have been informed of the death, aged 75, of John White, a founder of the Alberni Quartet and former head of instrumental studies at the Royal Academy of Music. John was the biographer of Lionel Tertis and a promulgator of viola legend wherever he went. Our sympathies to his family, students and many friends.
Couldn’t resist. Read here.
Our pair of New York ingenus, Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes, went to see Der Rosenkavalier for the first time. Hardened Marschallin fanciers may find their observations a tad naive. But they’ve found a useful way of getting i to the Met at weekends for little more than the price of a movie. You don’t want to read how they do it? Oh yes, you do. Read here. But be warned: you get what you pay for.
MTT gets a Carnegie date after the Canadian fails to recover from persistent winter ailments. The San Francisco conductor comes with free lozenges. Press release below:
Carnegie Hall today announced that conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has graciously agreed to step in for Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading The Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage this Friday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m.Mr. Nézet-Séguin has cancelled this appearance as well as concerts this week in Philadelphia on medical advice that he not travel for the next few weeks due to sinus-related problems. Pianist Hélène Grimaud is soloist for this performance; Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 will replace the previously-announced Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at her request. The second half of the program, featuring Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, remains as announced.
The Purcell School has announced the death of a bassoon player, Toby Davies, who joined the school in September and was a popular member of several ensembles. He died in Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge, on Friday 22 November. We publish the announcement below. All thoughts and sympathies at this moment should be with Toby’s parents.
We are sorry to announce the very sad death of Lower Sixth form bassoonist Toby Davies.
Toby, who joined The Purcell School in September from Reading School, was a member of the National Youth Wind Ensemble, Berkshire Youth Orchestra and the Acer Minor Bassoon Sextet. He studied bassoon with Sarah Burnett, piano with Daniel King-Smith and composition with Simon Speare. Toby was taken ill suddenly last week and sadly died in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.
Headmaster David Thomas said: “The whole school is extremely upset at Toby’s sudden death. He was a very popular and talented pupil, who brought a love of life, a love of people and a love of music to the school. In his short time here, he gave a great deal to the life of the school, and he will be much missed.”The school is planning various events to celebrate Toby’s life, more details of which will be published in due course.
Vasily Sinaisky, an excellent and experienced conductor, walked out today. No reason was given. A terse statement from Bolshoi general director Vladimir Urin said: ‘I decided to grant his request. Vasily Seraphimovich Sinai is not working at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia.’
The resignation came two weeks ahead of a new production of Do Carlo that Sinaisky was supposed to conduct.
The Bolshoi is plunged once more into chaos. UPDATE: Here’s why he quit.
photo: Ria/Novosty/Lebrecht Music&Arts
The conductor Frédéric Chaslin has put together a pre-concert symposium with the Jerusalem Symphony on issues affecting Wagner and the Jews. From the lineup of eminent speakers, it promises to be a fest of free speech.
But in the concert that follows, not a note of Wagner will be played. The unofficial ban prevails.
A draft communication, dropped into our box, appears to come from the terrestial celebrity. It is addressed to the former chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. We cannot vouch for its veracity, but it seemed worth sharing as a sign of our troubled times.
Hey Mae
So cool you totally liked my bathroom shots. I mean a big guy like you and little ole me. Wanna see some more? Like more, more?
Hey, listen, Mae. Things are a bit quiet for you’n’me right now in the runup to the holidays, right? Since we both big in social media, why don’t we, you’n’me, yunno, get it together like that other maestro, Hokey, and the majormajor Hollywood star, wasername, Greaser Garbo? (I got this from my new intern, Wuja, cool name, huh? Like, Wuja really do it?).
Yunno? Like we don’t have to do anything yukky…. Just make a few headies and break it off? Waddaya say, Mae?
Heart.
Kimmy