Not long ago, the principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, Gareth Davies, accosted a fresh-faced student on the steps of the Royal Academy of Music. The conversation went something like this:

‘Hey, Walker!’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Do you know who I am?’

‘Yes, sir. You’re Mr Davies, sir, principal flute of the LSO.’

‘Right. Well from now on, you are going to be my co-principal.’

(Or that’s how we heard it.)

adam walker gareth davies

It was one of the smartest recruitments we’ve ever seen.

As of today, Adam Walker (left, above, with Davies) becomes visiting professor of flute at the Royal College of Music.

A professor, at 27.

Simon Channing, RCM Head of Woodwind, says:  “I am delighted that Adam will be joining the Woodwind Faculty at the RCM. He is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding musicians of his generation, a wonderfully charismatic player and teacher. We will never forget the masterclass he gave here last year which combined rare insight and generosity of spirit – the ideal combination for a great teacher.”

Drinks all round.

They just can’t announce it yet.

A press conference had been called for next Monday, but it appears the maestro can’t attend.

So the announcement has been postponed indefinitely. We can confirm that the new music director is male.

He succeeds the late Claudio Abbado.

Lucerne is very Swiss.

lucerne festival

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

With regret, the media conference in the KKL Luzern originally planned for this coming Monday (24 November) has had to be postoned due to unexpected scheduling reasons. We will be back to you in due time. Thank you for your understanding.

With kind regards 

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

mit Bedauern müssen Ihnen mitteilen,  dass die für den kommenden Montag  (24. November) geplante Medienkonferenz im KKL Luzern aus kurzfristigen terminlichen Gründen leider nicht stattfinden kann. Wir werden zu gegebener Zeit wieder auf Sie zukommen. Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis.

Mit besten Grüssen

A dedicated Fleming watcher has sent us this interview with the diva, from littlerock.com. The news-making quote is:

As the conversation drew to a close, Fleming revealed the next “out of the box” undertaking on her to-do list: She hopes to star on Broadway in a production of “Living on Love,” a farce she performed in this past summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. Her face brightened as she discussed the play, which is based on Garson Kanin’s “Peccadillo” (1985) and cast Fleming as a fading opera diva.

“It was really fun and very challenging for me,” Fleming said. “I was so ignorant that I didn’t even realize how hard farce is, because it’s all about timing and things have to go very quickly. I also didn’t realize what happens when you’re not supported by music. It’s a different part of your brain.

“Right now we’re waiting on a Broadway theater to become available,” she said. “I’ve got to tell you, I’m super-happy. I feel very fortunate to be able to broaden what I’m doing in this way. It’s a real gift. I’ve been singing opera now for almost 25 years, so it’s time to think about other things. I can concertize for a long time, and I have a lot of options, which is very exciting.”

renee-fleming-play-williamstown-20140-001

 

Ms Fleming goes on to say:

“I felt very straitjacketed until about 10 years ago, and all of my career before then, because there was this idea that, if you didn’t follow this specifically European template of what an opera singer is … First of all, that was a risk, because you didn’t want to lose your stature as some highbrow performer, and, secondly, you didn’t want to dilute what you were doing. The more successful classical musicians have been specialists. I was already not a specialist, because my interests in music, in classical music, were too broad.

“Then I thought, ‘I grew up listening to all kinds of things and singing different styles,’” she said. “I even sang country-western at a C.B.-radio convention once. I really felt, with jazz, that I had some credibility, because I’d sung for two-and-a-half years with a trio. I sang a lot of folk music as well, and played guitar quite well when I was young. I learned all of Joni Mitchell’s songs, and she was my idol.

“So I wanted to branch out a little, and I’ve resisted that pigeonholing.”

 

 

The sacking of Jonathan Meese as director of Parsifal is more significant than it first appeared. We’ve been hearing – under oaths of extreme anonymity – that much has changed at Bayreuth since Eva Wagner-Pasquier was shoved off into Valhalla twilight earlier this year by her younger half-sister, Katherine.

Katie is taking no prisoners.

A production team which presented its ideas to both sisters in the most amicable of atmosphere found, when facing Katie alone, a total, inexplicable frost. ‘The model showing took place in the iciest atmosphere,’ one team member tells Slipped Disc. ‘I couldn’t believe that it was possible to invite an artist and to treat him in this way. Not even a polite word of interest in his proposition or any appreciation of the work on the model.’ Eva Wagner, apparently, sat in a back row, saying nothing.

At no point were the team given a budget, despite discussing the project for months with the Geschäftsführenderdirektor, Heinz-Dieter Sense.

One designer speaks of total incompetence, ‘an incapacity to deal with artists.’

An independent director (not Meese) tells us: ‘The Wagner’s told Meese his concept was too expensive. Forced him to rethink it. He did. Cutting it down substantially. They refused to show him figures. Told him it was still too expensive. Expecting and hoping he would withdraw so they would not have to pay him. This is the third time the Wagners have fooled around with directors.

‘Castorf was third choice after Van Trier and Wenders. Baumgarten was second director for Tannhäuser, after Sébastien Nubling was announced and forced to withdraw. Now Parsifal…’

Welcome to Katie’s world. Bring extra blankets.

 

katharina wagner thielemann

 

The Mayor of Rome published a blog tonight on the peace settlement reached with the orchestra and chorus at Rome Opera. The final lines read: The mayor underlines that Riccardo Muti will carry on as honorary conductor of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

That sounds promising.

Read news of today’s deal here.

riccardo muti solemn

press release:

The Boston Symphony Orchestra will release its first CD and digital download with Music Director Andris Nelsons on BSO Classics in early December, featuring  Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture—the first piece Mr. Nelsons conducted as BSO Music Directorand Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, recorded from live performances during Andris Nelsons’ first few programs as the BSO’s new music director. Wagner’sTannhäuser Overture was recorded during Andris Nelsons’ inaugural concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on September 27, 2014, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 was recorded November 6-11, 2014.

nelsons boston

Jaap van Zweeden, music director in Dallas, is talking about Shostakovich 8 and remembering his grandma who fought in the Dutch resistance.

He quickly adds: ‘She was not proud of  it. She said: these young men had a future and I took that away.’

van zweeden1

He’s conducting Shostakovich 8 in New York this week.

After appearing on Dancing with the Stars, all Time for Three wanted to do was get home.

No, said US Air. We won’t take the bull-fiddle.

Outcome? In the end, the boys flew Delta.

Mind you, if you let them aboard, they’re likely to start playing. And that, as the pilot likes to say, ‘could interfere with the instruments’.

time for three

This is Jennifer Panebianco, 9 years old, playing a Kreisler allegro at the Farnham Competitive Music Fest in London, this weekend.

Words fail.

jennifer panebianco

 

 

 

Click on blue word ‘Post’ if the video fails to pop out.

During the night, agreement was reached between the unions, the sovrintendente Carlo Fuortes and the mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino.

The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma  has withdrawn the letters that fired its orchestra and chorus. The unions have agreed of a pay cut of 120-200 Euros a month.  The musicians will vote on the deal next week.

First report (in Italian) here.

roma

 

An increasingly desperate Labour Party has trotted out its latest election-year pledge.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, is about to announce a plan for a £10 entry charge to citizens of the US and 55 other countries. The money will go to pay for extra border guards.

Just what we need right now, a fortress mentality.

Read here.

 

 

airport shoes

 

Richard King is only 46, but after 17 years he’s tired of the responsibility. ‘There’s never really an easy concert. It’s time to let someone else have a chance at it,’ he tells Zachary Lewis.

Richard will play fourth horn in the Cleveland Orchestra from now on.

Has that happened before in a frontline orchestra?

richard king