Places in Berlin radio choir’s annual singalong concert, conducted by Simon Halsey, sold out yesterday in 20 minutes. The waiting list is also booked out. There has never been such a need in Berlin to sing out loud.

 

simon halsey2

The Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca (pictured left), who took Salzburg by storm in La Favorita after prolonged maternity leave, has issued a coded attack on those of her colleagues (I think we know who she means, pictured right) who market themselves on social media.

ãI CAPULETI E I MONTECCHIÒ: NETREBKO, GARANCA

 

Elina tells the Munich Merkur (not online):

Heute ist es üblich, und das wird auch erwartet, dass man mit Selfies, Facebook et cetera ständig Privates nach Außen kommuniziert. Vieles geht aber niemanden etwas an…Man muss aufpassen, dass das nicht unseren eigentlichen Job überlagert. Wir sind Sänger! Natürlich bin ich auch Geschäftsfrau. Ich kenne die Spielregeln und mache das alles gerne. Aber im Alltag ist dieser Rummel für mich oft lästig, andere Kollegen ticken da vielleicht anders.

It is common and expected today that you are constantly communicating your private life outwards with Selfies, Facebook etc. Much of this  is nobody else’s business…. We need to be aware that this does not overlay our real job., We are singers! Of course, I am also a businesswoman. I know the rules of the game and keep everyone happy. But in daily life this hype annoys me, other colleagues may take a different view.

 

… Sydney, Australia.

We gave been sent the pay rates for second violins in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

The going rate for a tutti seat is A$92,135 to A$115,169 (US $85,600-107,027).

It comes with 9.50% superannuation, and 6 weeks annual leave.

That is more than double the tutti rate in most UK orchestras. nd you won’t find comparable pay in the US, outside the top ten.

Other benefits can be viewed below. Audition form here.

australians on beach

 

… Finland.

 

susanna malkki

The Helsingin Sanomat critic Vesa Siren has been looking at the fees for chief conductor in his town, after the announcement that Susanna Mälkki is to take over the Philharmonic from John Storgards.

Vesa has worked out that the Helsinki Philharmonic pays its chief between 10,000 and 15,000 Euros per concert (US $13,000-15,000) and a half-fee for repeats.

Nice work if you can get it. Outside of France and the major German cities, this would seem to be in the upper range of European fees for 2014. Vesa reckons it is average for Nordic capitals.

Let us know if you have further information.

Guy Traviss, the editor of Classical Guitar magazine who’s coming round tomorrow to do some filming, has come up with a remarkable video of Macca getting his fingers around a piece of Bach. Sir Paul was working at the time with Carlos Bonell on a classical guitar concerto.

He demonstrates, among other secrets, how Bach lies at the heart of the Beatles’ song Blackbird.

paul mccartney carlos bonell

The Russian baritone faced the ice-bucket with his ‘good friend’ the Met’s chair in mind. Watch here.

 

hvorostovsky

What price Ann Ziff?

Not the normal scientific metaphor.

In a paper on the use of electric current to boost brain memory, researchers at Northwestern University show that it it necessary to stimulate several different regions of the brain in order to achieve the desired effect. They go on to say:

The electrical stimulation is like giving the brain regions a more talented conductor so they play in closer synchrony.

‘It’s like we replaced their normal conductor with Muti,’ said senior author Joel Voss, assistant professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Report here.

riccardo muti

Nicholas Smitha former head of chorus at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester who pleaded guilty on Friday to sexual abuse of a teenaged girl, has received an eight-month sentence.

nicholas smith

 

Smith, 66, a conductor with a modest career, took advantage of a homesick girl who (the court heard) was being maltreated by other teachers.

He is the second Chets teacher to be jailed for sexual offences with a minor. No school head or board member has been called to account.

Sentencing report here.

chethams 3

 

 

muti beach

He’s back in Chicago September 18.

UPDATE: We understand that the shirt was a gift many years ago from the Federazione Molfettesi d’America and that the church on the shirt is 12-13th century.

You have never seen anything like the terrifying Bäckström Brothers doing the Rite in the raw.

 backstrom brothers

And once you’ve watched, it will haunt your dreams.

John Lynch, associate principal viola of Ireland’s RTE national symphony orchestra, has drowned off the coast of Crete.

lynch-9-390x285

 

He was on holiday with his partner, Kevin Devine, who got into difficulties in the sea. John leaped in to save him. Tragically, both died.

John, 45, was previously a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The accident happened on Friday and the RTE musicians were informed on their return to work today. ‘This morning is the NSO’s first day back after holidays and they are planning a minute silence as they come to terms with this horrible news,’ an RTE statement said.

 

We’ve come across a wonderful project by Jaffa-born ballroom dancing champion Pierre Dulaine and Israeli dancer Miri Shaaf-Levi to ease tensions in the Holy Land by teaching kids from both sides of the divide to dance together.

They’ve made a film about it. Coming your way soon.

Amid the region’s poisoned prejudices and filthy politics, the heart leaps at signs of hope.
pierre dulaine

h/t: Halina Jaworski