No boys were harmed in the making of this video…

Research at Michigan University suggests that the circadian rhythms that govern our sleep and waking patters are more complex than previously assumed. It had been thought that eight neurons controlled our body clocks. Now it seems the process is more chaotic.

‘The finding shows that instead of the entire orchestra following a single conductor, part of the orchestra is following a different conductor or not listening at all,’ says Orie Shafer, assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

Now where have we heard that before?

boy conductor

Aside from his conducting studies in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky (who taught Abbado, Mehta and many more), Ed Forner also spent time with Nadia Boulanger, Igor Markevitch and Pierre Monteux – quite a roster of influences.

He worked at the Stadttheater, in Rendsburg, Germany, and with the orchestras of Netherlands Radio and Radio Madrid and Monte Carlo. In 1970, he took up teaching at Macalester College and became conductor of the St. Paul Civic Symphony. He later served as resident conductor of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and music director of Opera St. Paul.

Louis Edouard Forner died on March 20, aged 78.

ed forner

Lionel Bringuier, 27, incoming music director of the Zurich Tonhalle, has announced the appointment of a senior colleague as Creative Chair. The man he has chosen is Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Finnish maestro who brought Bringuier as his own assistant to the Los Angeles Philharmonic eight years ago.

This may seem a little cosy. The pair also share the same agent. On the other hand, they are engaged in constant creative discussions and it may be that Lionel felt a need to add ballast to his team for the conservative Zurich audience. Look on it as an insurance policy (they’re big on insurance beside Lake Zurich).

The potential drawback is that the need for cover may be perceived as lessening the music director’s authority. And a loss of courage by the Swiss, stunned by their daring in hiring so young a chief conductor.

lionel-bringuier

 

The board met all day yesterday and decided to suspend the company’s intended closure on April 14. It will take another fortnight to see if the company can raise $10  million to put on another season, presumably under new management.

The vote for postponement was 35-4. The previous vote for closure was 33-1.

A lot of minds were changed yesterday, some of them by a personal appearance by Opera America president and CEO Marc Scorca.

Public protest has also made an impact.

This is not over, yet.

Read more here and here.

san diego opera

 

Message received

Trumpeter to Teach Gibbons the Blues

BBRSC and Arts Council to fund project by Nick Malcolm on Gibbon Island at Bristol Zoo

STRICTLY EMBARGOED TILL 00.01am on April 1st 2014

nick malcolm

Bristol-based trumpeter / composer Nick Malcolm will be involved in a pioneering ear-training project with the two gibbons at Bristol Zoo. He will work with the pair, named Samuel and Duana, on Gibbon Island at the zoo every day for six weeks, starting today, according to a joint statement from Bristol Zoo, and the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) and Arts Council England, who will jointly be funding the work.

The project will involve taking a musical phrase based on the BBSRC acronym (Bb / Bb / Eb / D / C ) and teaching it to the gibbons.

lt lead to an academic paper in peer-reviewed journal Nature, and also to a live event on Gibbon Island with Malcolm’s quartet, featuring rising jazz star, pianist Alexander Hawkins.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Nick Malcolm

Nick Malcolm is a trumpeter/composer based in Bristol. His quartet will be on tour playing material from his second album Beyond these Voices after this work is completed, from May 21st . Dates from www.nickmalcolm.com. He comments: “I am very honoured to receive this grant. There is already extensive work on gibbon vocalisation (Geissmann, 1999; Geissmann & Orgeldinger, 2000; Haimoff, 1984; Leighton, 1987), but this will be, I believe, the first attempt to teach them a blues riff in C. Subsequent research may involve the gibbons teaching me their advanced brachiation techniques.”

BBSRC

BBSRC is the lead funding agency for academic research and training in the biosciences at universities and institutes throughout the UK, Dr April Day said. We had a sneak preview of the track “It’s Alright, we’re Going to the Zoo” from Nick’s next album ‘Beyond these Voices’ and we thought he the was right person to carry out this exciting work, and to document the results.“

Arts Council England

For Arts Council England, spokesman Roland Poisson said: “Two aspects of Nick’s proposal really grabbed us. Firstly, we love site-specific work. Secondly, work with gibbons has always tended to cross art-forms – from ‘The Cries of London’ in the early seventeenth century and the carvings in St Pauls Cathedral in the 1690s, through to the ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ (1776-88), stamp collecting and ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ (1932). We look forward to Nick Malcolm building on this important legacy and engaging new audiences in an innovative way with this work at Bristol Zoo.”