That’s the claim being made for the outstandingly business-oriented US band, Aerosmith.

Could it work for classical?

Are there any classical video games?

Where are they?

Interviewed this week on NYC-Arts, the manager of the Metropolitan Opera made the following statement (at 05:55 on the video):

The box-office sales are down because box-office sales in every city in this country are down for classical music and opera. This is an endemic problem that America faces and that is faced in Europe as well.

This is untrue, and Peter knows it is untrue.

The Lyric has just reported record results. So have Vienna, Amsterdam, Dresden and more. We’ve reported these results on slippedisc.com over the past couple of weeks.

Peter Gelb is out there telling the world that opera is doomed when others are getting off their butts and making it bigger and better.

If everyone else thinks opera is growing and Peter Gelb alone insists it is doomed, what we have here is not an artistic crisis but a clinical dysfunction at the top of the Met.

At the start of the interview, Gelb is asked what responsibility he bears for the Met’s bad figures these past seven years. He refuses to answer the question, three times.

Watch below.

We have received an exclusive insider’s report from the Castleton Festival on Lorin Maazel’s recovery. Maazel has been out of action for several months after an unspecified medical procedure. We’re delighted to hear he’s on the way back.

Maestro Maazel has been overseeing many of the rehearsals and has worked with singers, directors, and the Orchestra. All signs show that he is continually getting stronger and that his health is improving steadily. Although he has not conducted yet, everyone at the Festival, particularly those such as myself who have been performing with him here for years, feel his presence (and often picture him on the podium!); we are also inspired by such gorgeous physical surroundings.

In ‘Madama Butterfly,’ for example, he showed everyone involved exactly how he wished the “Flower Duet” between Cio-Cio San and Suzuki in Act II to be shaped and paced in such a beautiful sensitive manner; we are all the richer for it, as this sort of detail is the kind of thing that makes his Puccini performances so special.

Another memorable session with the Maestro took place a few weeks ago. It was a rehearsal for one of his compositions in which I am performing as soloist, “The Giving Tree,” for narrator, solo ‘cello, and orchestra. In this half-hour rehearsal were Maestro Maazel, his wife Dietlinde Turban-Maazel who is narrating, Kensho Watanabe (the highly gifted young conductor who will lead this in concert), and me. Maestro was barely in need of the score, and illustrated all nuances of this work both verbally and by conducting. He seemed to be having a good time, and we were of course thrilled to have such a detailed personal rehearsal with him.

Naturally things are not the same without him on the podium, and everyone here (and millions around the world) reiterate our support for him and hope he is conducting soon again. In the meantime, in beautiful Rappahannock  County, Virginia on Maestro Maazel’s farm, we all will strive to approach the very high quality standards that are a given at any Maazel concert or opera performance.

Daniel Lelchuk
Principal ‘Cellist; Castleton Festival

(c) picture and text Daniel Lelchuk/www.slippedisc.com, all rights reserved

Eilene Hannan, who sang Natasha in the production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace that inauguarated the great shell-shape in the sea, has died at the age of 68. She went on to repeat the role in London and at the Met.

A much-loved colleague, her international career encompassed the roles of Rusalka, Pamina, Susanna, Cherubino, Dorabella, Zerlina,  Lauretta , Mimì, Tatyana, Mélisande, Micaela, Blanche, Léïla, Kát’a Kabanová, Jenůfa, The Vixen, Eboli, Pat Nixon (Nixon in China), the Governess, Sieglinde, Venus, Marzelline, Oscar, Salome , and Poppea.

In recent years, she was a much sought-after teacher. Many will mourn Eilene’s passing.

First they gave one to a singer.

Then to a guitar player.

Now, at last, to a conductor.

(Do you think they’ve got one left for Gergiev?)

Press puff: Pablo Heras-Casado has partnered with Piaget, marking a remarkable period of his career that has included being named Musical America’s Conductor of the Year and one of El País’s “100 Iberian-Americans who have shaped 2013.” The Spanish maestro has chosen the Swiss luxury watchmaker’s Altiplano model—the thinnest automatic watch in the world. As the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Principal Conductor since 2011 and a regular guest conductor with leading international orchestras, Pablo notes ?the resonance between his daily music-making and this treasured craft: “Time is a fundamental part of my work. I must measure each minute so that the concert turns out perfectly.”?

Pablo Heras-Casado is a proud international friend of Piaget.

An authentic master class.
 

Sharon Eckman, a professional singer, has written a moving account of the work she does with elderly people in care facilities. Many are in advanced stages of memory loss. Sharon demonstrates how music alone can reach their mortal souls.

Read, reflect, remember. Click here.

We mourn the death today in Jerusalem, aged 85, of Amnon Shiloach, professor of musicology at the Hebrew University and an unrivalled authority on Jewish traditions in music. I had hoped to include him in my recent series on Music and the Jews, but he was sadly unavailable.

He did an immense amount of groundbreaking fieldwork and published a magnum opus, ‘The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings ca.900-1900′.

Other works include: The Musical Tradition of Iraqi Jews,Music Subjects in the Zohar, Text and Indices, Jewish Musical Traditions, The Dimension of Music in Islamic and Jewish Culture, Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study.

Away from Jerusalem, he taught at the University of Illinois. Amnon was a paramount teacher who never failed to answer student queries, no matter how dumb. May his rest be sweet, as we say.

Peter Sykes, a professor at Boston University, has announced on his Facebook page that he is joining Juilliard:

Today I am very happy to share the news that I will be joining the faculty of the Historical Performance Department of the Juilliard School in New York City as its teacher of harpsichord, starting in September. I will continue at Boston University and First Church in Cambridge, commuting to New York at regular intervals. I am very honored to have been invited to help train our next generation of fine harpsichordists, and will look forward to working with them in the fall.

No word about this from Juilliard, or what it means for the incumbent, Kenneth Weiss.

Our informants, who insist on anonymity, sound none too pleased.

Our operavores Elizabeth Frayer & Shawn E Milnes were at the first night of HGO’s production of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s masterpiece. They weren’t overwhelmed (as we were), but this is an opera that takes time to eter the soul. Click here for their report – ahead of all New York media.

Second review’s just in – George Grella on New York Classical Review is impressed by Weinberg’s musical restraint. Click here.

The French contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, who became a conductor under Seiji Ozawa’s mentorship, has a label deal. Warner has also signed a French harpsichordist. You don’t speak French? Find another label.

Press release:

July 2014 – Warner Classics & Erato are honoured to announce the signing of an exclusive recording contract with one of the most versatile musicians of our time, Nathalie Stutzmann, and with the young French harpsichord sensation Jean Rondeau, who is currently recording his debut album dedicated to Bach.

The revered French contralto and conductor brings with her the dynamic chamber orchestra she founded in 2009, Orfeo 55. Nathalie already has an extensive discography of more than 40 recordings to her name, having performed as soloist under the batons of Herbert von Karajan, Sir Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner and Marc Minkowski among others. These luminaries must have left a lasting impression on the contralto, who has since developed a parallel career as a fine maestra in her own right under the guidance of her two mentors, Sir Simon Rattle and Seiji Ozawa.

Her next venture with Erato marks a homecoming – she had signed her first contract as a singer with the label in the early 1980s – but also a new chapter now that Nathalie’s rich vocal gifts have matured and she has mastered the rare skill of singing and conducting simultaneously. It is a combined art she will continue to explore on her first recording for Erato with Orfeo 55,Heroes from the Shadows, slated for release in October 2014. The new album shines light on the secondary roles in Handel operas; the lesser characters who are in fact often given the plum arias, and features countertenor superstar Philippe Jarousskyin a duet with Nathalie. Heroes from the Shadows will be launched with a concert at the Wigmore Hall on 17^th October.

In Addition, Erato will reissue Nathalie’s three classic Schubert lieder cycles – originally recorded with Inger Södergren for the Calliope label – in conjunction with her upcoming tour of the same repertoire.  “I have known Nathalie Stutzmann from her earliest performances,” recalls Warner Classics & Erato President Alain Lanceron.  “Her debut on disc on EMI was the complete opera Guercoeur under the direction of Michel Plasson in 1986. I followed with great interest the rise and evolution of her magnificent career. I am very proud to welcome her to Erato along with Orfeo 55. She is not only an exceptional contralto, but also a truly unique musician.”

Jean Rondeau is one of the most promising and innovative artists of his generation. His debut recording, dedicated to the music of JS Bach, is slated for release in February 2015 on the Erato label.  At just 21, Jean Rondeau won the First Prize at the Bruges International Harpsichord Competition, where critics praised “a virtuosity that allows him to dash off lightning appogiaturas, phrasing that nourishes and refreshes the drama, lively, ardent, captivating and always dynamically charged” (La Libre). He is also a recipient of the European Union Baroque Orchestra Development Trust, awarded to Europe’s brightest young performers. At the Paris Conservatoire he received a broad education across various disciplines: harpsichord, of course (with Olivier Baumont, Blandine Rannou and Kenneth Weiss as mentors), but also piano, jazz and improvisation, composition, orchestral and choral conducting. Rondeau continued his training at London’s Guildhall School of Music and in several masterclasses with Christophe Rousset, among others.

The memoir by Aaron Rosand, which we published earlier this week, has opened the floodgates to reminiscences by musicians who claim to have suffered at the hands of the superpower violinist Isaac Stern. Most were fellow violinists, but other artists did not escape his attention.

The ensuing discussion on www.slippedisc.com has prompted the Israeli-born pianist Mordecai Shehori to raid his own painful memories.

Mordecai, from 1971 to 1982, was the piano teacher of Isaac’s children. Vera Stern called him ‘almost nightly’ to discuss the events of the day. Why did Isaac turn against him? we asked. ‘Maybe Stern wanted to sever my good relationship with his children? Maybe I upset him because I had a more intellectual and artistic approach to music?  Stern’s taste in music was very narrow. In any case I was dropped and erased. Then Vera was assigned to intimidate my mother and try to deport me back to Israel.’

Read his account below. You may find it disturbing.

My life with Isaac Stern

by Mordecai Shehori

After Stern “saved” Carnegie Hall he did not go home and practice the violin. Instead he appointed himself as the President of Carnegie. It was meant to be an honorary position but it was not. Stern brought to the board of Carnegie Hall many of his wealthy friends who were loyal to him. … Stern, along with his 2^nd wife Vera, also maintained complete control over the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Many of the large donors to this organization also gave money to Carnegie….

In 1982, I gave a successful piano recital at the 92^nd Street Y to a full house, played four encores and received a very good New York Times review. I could hear during the second half of the program Stern’s unique voice “clearing his throat” repeatedly.  But I thought that he had just caught a cold.

Two weeks later, I received a call from him: “Mordecai I need to speak to you”.  I was happy. It was 10:00 PM and ran right away over to 81^st Street.

Stern told his wife: “Please no phone calls”.  He looked at me with an ice cold stare and started repeating the most devastating phrases that no one should ever have to listen to.

He said: “Mordecai look, some people have it and some do not and YOU just don’t have it.” He continued: “You do not have the looks and personality to be a musician.” This wasfollowed by: “No one EVER will be interested to listen to your piano playing.” And then: “NO conductor or orchestra will EVER be interested to work with you.”

At one point, Stern scolded me for not playing the Promenade from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition like a military March. I explained to him that the focus is on Mussorgsky’s feelings when strolling at an exhibition of drawings by his dead friend, artist and architect Victor Hartmann.  And that is why there are bars containing meter of 6/4 and 5/4 alternately, whichcancels the possibility of a march. When Stern heard this, his face became red and he screamed: “If you speak like this you DO NOT have a right to call yourself a musician.”

After more than an hour and many more insults, I stood up and thanked him for his time and said: “Mr. Stern just to let you know and in spite of everything you have said, you must understand that I love music, I have a talent for it and I will always play piano.”

Few months later, in Tel Aviv, there was a knock on my mother’s door.  There stood Vera Stern and her Israeli side kick Meira Ghera. My mother thought that I haddied but this was not the case.  Vera refused to sit down and shouted: “Mr. Stern demands that you will exercise your influence over your son and force him to go back to Israel and teach in a Kibbutz. He has NO BUSINESS being in the USA”.

(So now Stern was in the deportation business…by the way he successfully deported others who were not as stubborn as me.)

Shortly afterwards, and I know this for a fact, Omus Hirshbein, then the director of the 92^nd Y who was my friend, received a donation check (tax deductable-like all other incidents of Stern “giving money”) for $1,500 with the understanding that Mordecai will never perform again at the 92^nd Y.  I could neverreach Hirshbein again and the 92^nd Y was closed to me forever.

Eight years later, (1990), I rented Weill Recital Hall where Iplayed a recital for which I received a rave New York Times review. As a result I received two engagements: one at the Lotus Club in New York and the other in Unity Concerts in New Jersey. I was told by the directors of both venues that they then received calls from Stern “demanding” (his favorite expression) to cancel my signed contracts.

Until today I can not understand why Isaac Stern spent so much time and effort in order to destroy me…I really can not understand it at all…after all I was not even a violinist.

And I was a dedicated piano teacher to his children for eleven years.

The only possible explanation that he had a powerful need to control other people’s lives. Same as Caesar with thumb up but mostly down. Instead of practicing his great violins in his gorgeous Studio on 81^st Street and amazing country house in Connecticut,  he spent all day on the phone and in meetings, practically betraying his profession. As Horowitz told me many times: “Isaac just plays out of tooon (tune).”

Isaac Stern holds a unique place in music’s history.  Other well-known musicians help those that they feel are deserving and ignore those that do not appeal to their taste. Heifetz and Horowitz helped a number of young talented musicians over the years but they did it in private and refused any public recognition.  In contrast we often joked in Israel that “Isaac does not even go to the bathroom without a TV crew.”

Stern’s destruction of worthy musician that he perceived as rivals or threatening is well known among professional musicians and these reports are NOT rumors but the painful truth…

In the end, ironically enough, the man who “saved” Carnegie Hall actually destroyed its acoustics forever as a result of the 1986 thoughtless renovation.  Vladimir Horowitz was very upset when he played for five minutes in an unannounced performance at the beginning of the re-opening ceremony. Horowitz’ name was not printed in the evening program and he never returned to Carnegie Hall.  He said: “Isaac killed Carnegie Hall for me.” The last recitals by Horowitz were given at the Metropolitan Opera House.

(c) Mordecai Shehori/www.slippedisc.com (all rights reserved)