An inflammatory speech by Uthman Bader, a justifier of honour killings and other outrages, has been dropped from a ‘Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House.’

Bader tweeted: ‘Hysteria wins out. Opera house cancels my session at . Welcome to the free world, where freedom of expression is a cherished value.’

Festival co-curator Simon Longstaff tweeted: ‘Have not the ‘Islamophobes’ already won the day when a person dare not speak on controversial matters because he is Muslim?’

 

islamist

Merkur has a lovely piece this morning about Joseph Ilg, 65, who is coming up for his 1,000th performance at the Vienna State Opera. All seen from the third row of the standing places. ‘Here stand I,’ he says, quoting Martin Luther.

Joseph has clocked up another 1,000 operas at Munich and elsewhere.

Where does he find the time?

‘I don’t watch TV.’

Read here (auf Deutsch). A truly dedicated follower of opera.

 

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The president of the federal republic, Joachim Gauck, has announced himself as patron of a scheme that will stream Dvorak’s New World Symphony into classrooms across the country on September 19.

Schools will be sent teaching materials well in advance with a view to involving children of all ages in the preparation and interpretation of a musical masterwork. The initiative comes from the main TV channel, ARD, and the NDR orchestra, conductor Thomas Hengelbrock.

hengelbrock247_v-contentgross

 

 

 

Statement from the president’s office: ‘Dem Bundespräsidenten ist die musikalische Bildung als Teil der kulturellen Bildung von Kindern und Jugendlichen sehr wichtig. Aus diesem Grund begrüßt er Projekte, deren Ziel es ist, jedem Kind – gleich welcher sozialen oder ethnischen Herkunft – den Zugang zur Welt der Musik zu ermöglichen. (The President thinks it’s very important for music to be part of the cultural education of children and adolescents. He welcomes projects that will give every child – regardless of social or ethnic origin – access to the world of music.’

Why can’t more countries be a bit like Germany? And more broadcasters like ARD?

 

Just in. No resemblance to any living characters, &c.:

Rebekah+Wade+BBC+notw+closure

 

 

 

Wednesday 25 June

 

GREAT BRITAIN, a new play by Richard Bean, directed by Nicholas Hytner, opens at the Lyttelton Theatre on Monday 30 June, playing until23 August

 

Tickets on sale now

 

GREAT BRITAIN, a new play by Richard Bean, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will open at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre on Monday 30 June (which will also be its press night).

 

Richard Bean’s fast and furious new play is an anarchic satire about the press, the police and the political establishment. Billie Piper plays Paige Britain, ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.

Tickets for the first two weeks of performances (until 12 July) go on sale this morning, with the rest of the run (14 July – 23 August) on public sale from 26 June.

 

The full cast is: Sarah Annis, Ross Boatman, Robert Calvert, Oliver Chris, William Chubb, Dermot Crowley, Jo Dockery, Robert Glenister, Ian Hallard, James Harkness, Scott Karim, Barbara Kirby, Nicholas Lumley, Maggie McCarthy, Iain Mitchell, Miles Mitchell, Aaron Neil, Billie Piper, Nick Sampson, Kellie Shirley, Kiruna Stamell, Harriet Thorpe, Rupert Vansittart, Joseph Wilkins and Andrew Woodall.

Two days of frantic phone-arounds have resulted in a promising, if untested, Desdemona at Opera Australia.

Having dropped Tamar Iveri over homophobic sentiments posted on her facebook page, the company is calling in Lianna Haroutounian, an Armenian who made her Covent Garden debit last year as a last-minute sub as Elisabeth in Don Carlos.

She’s good.

lianna haroutounian

Message from the maestro:

51 years ago today !
My first Don Jose in Tel Aviv.

¡ Hoy, hace 51 años !
Mi primer Don Jose en Tel Aviv.

 

young domingo

 

 

Michael Francis, the LSO double-bass player who got his breaks deputising for a late or absent Valery Gergiev, has been named music director of the Florida Orch.

 

Michael Francis Conductor<br /><br />
Photo: Marco Borggreve

 

It is less than three years since Michael Elliott became chief executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, but today it was announced he is moving on. Again.

Elliott is more a mover than a shaker.

He became chief exec of the troubled Royal Liverpool Phil in 2001. Five years into that job, he took a second post as co-director of the successful bid to win the City of  Culture title. In 2008, he left Liverpool to run the culture side of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

When the Labour government fell, he took the Scottish job. Three years later, he is moving on to a decidedly unsexy job as head of the music examinations body, ABRSM.

That’s a very busy c.v., busier than anyone in the business.

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Our exposure of Chicago’s non-paying Beethoven Festival has drawn all manner of confessions from musicians who took part. It’s not just the injury of being ripped off by the organiser, but the added mistrust of discovering that some of your colleagues were paid while you were not.

Here’s a pungent, highly readable account from Ellen McSweeney, who’s no great fan of Slipped Disc and seems unsure to be glad or sad that we lifted the lid on this scam. Read Ellen here.

beethoven fest

Sample:

Why were the wronged musicians and their friends still so quiet? And, come to think of it, why did we maintain silence for nine months as we awaited sums of money that, to us, make or break our ability to pay the rent?

For me, the story of the Beethoven Festival is a story of vulnerability: my own individual vulnerability, that of my colleagues, and that of our entire musical community. Much of the most artistically adventurous work in Chicago isn’t unionized, and we take a leap of faith every time we work for each other.

There’s a whole new breed of opera commentators who spout before they see.

Lots of them about The Death of Klinghoffer. Here’s one.

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Robert Poulton was tragically killed in a car crash after a performance run at Glyndebourne two years ago. He was a hugely popular performer on the British and European opera circuit. Now Philippa, his widow, is raising money, partly to help city kids to learn how to sing.

Do help her, if you can, with a donation.

Here’s what she writes:

Robert Poulton low res

 

 

My husband Robert Poulton was an operatic baritone who was tragically killed in a road accident in Sussex in October 2012. We were extremely happily married, and are the parents of two beautiful sons.

Rob was a wonderful father, and a very successful opera singer, but he was also so much more than that. If you were ever lucky enough to spend time in his company, you will know exactly what I mean; he had an innate ability to share his love for life, his charm and his integrity with everyone that he met. 

Whilst on stage he was able to engage with the emotions of his audience in a way that eludes many classical singers of this generation. He was not only able to reduce the most challenging of audiences to tears with the timbre of his mellifluous baritone, but he could also evoke intense laughter, with merely the lifting of an eyebrow, or the twinkling of an eye. When he sang he made you feel good; it’s as simple as that!

In launching Rob’s charity, my aim is to pass on his love of singing, and its ability to change lives for the better. I know that this is both greatly needed and entirely possible, in a world that can often be challenging.

At first we shall be focussing on 2 areas:

1. To send a specialised singing tutor into 2 schools based in Inner London. These schools have yet to be identified, and we will be concentrating on whole class sessions involving Key Stage 2 children.
2. To set up and fund a Community Hospice Choir in East Sussex.

 

We hear that Colston Hall in Bristol – named after a 17th century English MP and trafficker in human misery – is looking for a sponsor who might relieve it of past associations.

By neat coincidence, the hall will host a performance next season by the Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra, Africa’s bravest.

 

kinshasa symphony