The aged composer, in his 90th year and unlucky with his health, has pulled out of his last remaining engagement – a teaching presence at the Lucerne Festival.

Here’s the overnight statement:

boulez lucerne

 

Owing to a shoulder operation from which he is still recuperating, Pierre Boulez, the Artistic Director of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY, must forego his trip to Lucerne for the time being, to his great regret. He still hopes to be able to come at the end of the Festival. Boulez had planned to be present in Lucerne during this year’s Academy, though without taking on conducting duties.

 

(photo: last year’s festival)

 

The faux-1920s series takes great care over its period costumes, less over the authenticity of period speech and apparently none at all over mantelpieces. What’s that to the right, between the urns?

 

downton abbey

Downton Abbey publicity photo, released last night

 

A 21st century plastic water bottle. Well done, Downton. Can’t wait for the mobile phones.

The international voice coach Mikhail Hallak runs a boutique studio on the Upper West Side where opera singers are able to record in customised conditions.

But do the artists come prepared? Not all of them. So Mikhail has posted a few essential tips about shoes, scores, pianist, snacks.

For instance:

– Avoid Bärenreiter, it’s a great study guide but the piano reductions are terrible to play! You can use a score during a session; just make sure the page turns do not make noise. It has been our experience that one can create a better imaginary world/experience for themselves by not using a score but that is a personal choice.

– Bring whatever snack you love and make sure to take breaks. Use our kitchen if you want. Lots of people try to “race against the clock” and get as much music “in the box” as possible but sometimes a break, closing your eyes for a second and a shot of espresso will do so much more good than recording the same passage ten times.

… and more. Click here for the full guide.

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At 7.30 Central Europe time tonight (1230 NY) from Grafenegg:

Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria perform Richard Strauss. Click here for live stream.

grafenegg

At 4pm Central Europe time tomorrow (11am New York):

netrebko domingo 2014
Verdi’s Trovatore live from the Salzburg Festival, starring Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli and Marie-Nicole Lemieux.

Click here – and share!

 

 

When we challenged the BBC last week over the absence of its own commissions from television relays of the Proms, what we got in response were overlong emails from hyper-anxious press officers, offering to ‘explain’ the corporation’s position, as well as a meeting with one of its supernumerary executives.

Lord, give us strength…

Now, however, Radio Times has joined us on the barricades

Radio Times stands in relation to the BBC as Pravda to the Kremlin, or Opera News (in the past) to the Met. It is a house organ.

So when a reviewer in Radio Times complains (below) about the elimination of new music from TV, it’s a sign all is not well at BBC Music under its new ‘inclusive’ leadership.

RT: A shame that BBC4 is omitting Roxanna Panufnik’s Three Paths to Peace. It doesn’t fit their masterwork package, but a thoughtful work by a British composer – both living and female (pictured) – demands a wider audience. 

roxanna-paufnik

 

Just in:
Proms Chamber Music 5 (18 August)

We are sorry to announce that, due to illness, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote (pictured) has had to withdraw from this Prom, and the programme with pianist Julius Drake will no longer take place. We are very grateful to soprano Anne Schwanewilms and pianist Malcolm Martineau for taking their places at short notice. They will perform songs by Debussy and Strauss.

Coote-Alice-04

Prom 43 (18 August)

We are sorry to announce that Luba Orgonasova has had to withdraw from this Prom owing to illness. We are very grateful to soprano Albina Shagimuratova who will sing in her place.

Proms Saturday Matinee 4 (6 September)
We are sorry to announce that Christine Rice has withdrawn from this Prom. We are very grateful to contralto Hilary Summers for taking her place.

It was gusty, said the airline.

Read here.

gusty landing

 

A body found in a suitcase in a luxury resort on Bali has been identified as that of Sheila von Wiese Mack.

Mrs Mack, 62, was the widow of James Mack, a prolific Chicago composer who composed and made arrangements for both jazz and classical orchestras, which he often conducted on record.

Among his greatest hits, with jazzman Ramsey Lewis, was ‘Classical Encounters’ recorded in 1988 with the London Philharmonic. James Mack was head of the music department at Harold Washington College and music director of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago in Hyde Park. He died in 2006.

His wife, Sheila, worked as a researcher for Senator Ted Kennedy and did a PhD in literature under Saul Bellow’s supervision.

The Macks’ teenaged daughter has been arrested as a suspect in the murder, together with her rapper boyfriend.

 

sheila mack

They don’t like to be called the clowns of the orchestra. Or an ill wind.

They have feelings.

Hundreds of bassoons, literally hundreds, gathered at the 43rd annual meeting of the International Double Reed Society at New York University.

Read (and here) more here.

 

double reed

Georges Pretre made his conducting debut at the Opéra de Marseilles in 1946, at the Lyric Opera in 1959, at Covent Garden in 1961.

He was briefly music director of the Paris Opéra (1970-71) and the Vienna Symphony (1986-91), but mostly he was just happy conducting around.

Bon anniversaire, Maitre!

No time to rest. In October, he will conduct both the Vienna Symphony and the Philharmonic.

 

georges pretre


The young Chinese pianist, whose patience is as short as her skirt, opens a fascinating new series of Zsolt Bognar’s ‘Living the Classical Life’. It is a remarkably intimate and reflective self-portrait at the piano.

What will surprise people? asks Zsolt, a fellow-pianist.

‘That I have no boyfriend?’ laughs Yuja. ‘That I like girls?… That’s pretty dumb, the question.’

‘What do you want most in life that you don’t have?’

‘Lots of things. Louboutin shoes…. Also lots of feelings, a certain quality of life that I can’t have because of my lifestyle. I’d love to be on vacation for a year.’

She’s fabulously entertaining. But she goes very introspective when she talks about working with Claudio Abbado.

Zsolt’s interview website launches next week, when the Yuja interview will go on Youtube. This is an exclusive preview for Slippedisc.com readers.

Watch. Enjoy.

Restoration work started at Notre Dame de Paris in 2012. Some 8,000 pipes had to be individually cleaned and the facade completely renewed.

The job is finally done and the organ will sound again from September 20. See here.

 

organ notre dame