The pianist will receive a major German media award, nationally televised from the Potsdamer Platz, on November 13.
He will share the award with the entertainer Helene Fischer, the tenor Jonas Kaufmann and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. (Maybe one of them could speak up for the orchestra her government is abolishing.)
The Senate of Berlin has voted to increase public subsidy to the city’s opera house by 14.5 million Euros, to a total 135.3 million for the years 2015 to 2018.
The reason, it said, was to keep them internationally competitive.
The money is divided between the Deutsche Oper (43.8m), the Staatsoper (47.4m), the Komische Oper (34.3m) and the state ballet (8.5m).
Much of the increase will be swallowed up by high social costs on an payroll of 1,900 personnel.
Alison Moyet has just called off a European tour, tweeting: I’m so sorry to let down those who were coming to see me in Europe these next 2 weeks. Forgive me. Loved one departs & these are their days.
Listen, in sympathy, to her performance of Dido’s Lament.
Cantabile, also known as The London Quartet, have replaced one of their boys, Richard Bryan, with a card-carrying girl.
Sarah-Ann Cromwell said: ‘When I received the invitation to join The London Quartet I thought it may be a wind-up… A GIRL? After more than three decades? Are they mad? … Yes, they are. They are also a family of funny, charming, hard-working, exceptional performers who sing repertoire with an equal balance of seriousness and humour. Am I scared to join such a well-oiled team? No, I’m terrified! Would I turn down the opportunity to sing with them? Not on your life!’
It’s been a while…
press release:
Sony Classical is proud to announce an exclusive long-term contract with Martin Fröst. The Swedish clarinettist has gained world-wide recognition for his technically astounding playing, his consummate musicianship and his versatility as a performance artist.
Photo: Mats Backer
Sadly not.
Despite prime time network TV, oodles of print media and an international social media hoopla, Joyce DiDonato’s current album sold just 86 copies in the US last week, coming in at number 15, two spots behind the Danish String Quartet.
The only album that sold in respectable numbers – 3,952 – was an Andrea Bocelli rehash compilation.
This is, by any measure, profoundly depressing for the music industry.
What does an artist have to do nowadays to sell records?
Nothing’s too kitsch for Christmas.
Beare’s the stringed instruments specialists, have conducted their first online auction, in directo competition with Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Results:
Beares Auctions Full Auction Results
OCTOBER 2014 SALE RESULT :: £3,719,162.48
Sold rate by Lot – 66%
Sold rate by Value – 71%
Average Lot price £119,972.98
SOLD IN “BUY NOW”
Lot 2 Pierre Husson – SOLD
Lot 5 Paul Emile Miquel – SOLD
Lot 7 Eugene Sartory – SOLD
Lot 11 Vuillaume School – SOLD
Lot 16 Dom Nicolo Amati – SOLD
Lot 19 Charles Maucotel – SOLD
Lot 27 Lorenzo Arcangioli – SOLD
Lot 28 Ernesto Pevere – SOLD
Lot 30 Johannes Cuypers – SOLD
Lot 34 Felice Mori Costa – SOLD
Lot 35 Romeo Antoniazzi – SOLD
Lot 37 Giuseppe Ceruti – SOLD
TOTAL SOLD IN BUY NOW :: £447,271.57
SOLD IN AUCTION
Lot 3 Jean Joseph Martin – £8,260
Lot 4 Charles Peccatte -£8,260
Lot 6 Joseph Alfred Lamy – £10,915
Lot 10 Alfred Lamy – £7,670
Lot 13 Felice Beretta – £88,500
Lot 14 Carlo Giuseppe Testore (with C.A) – £65,490
Lot 18 Amati Mangenot – £4,779
Lot 20 Lupot School – £14,160
Lot 21 Postiglione Workshop – £15,635
Lot 22 Luigi Azzola – £11,800
Lot 24 Anselmo Gotti – £17,700
Lot 25 Rodolfo Fredi – £21,240
Lot 36 Riccardo Antoniazzi – £59,000
Lot 38 Nicola Gagliano – £119,150
Lot 39 Lorenzo Storioni – £110,920
Lot 40 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume – £141,000
Lot 41 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume – £124,233.60
Lot 46 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini – £730,166.59
Lot 47 Antonio Stradivari – £1,713,011.70
TOTAL SOLD IN AUCTION :: £3,271,890.90
The Mayor of London has given a kicking to a Parliamentary committee please-my-constituency report, urging the Arts Council to spread more cash away from the capital.
Boris Johnson said the report ‘is based upon spurious calculations and a partial consideration of how the arts are funded. Arts Council England funding represents only one third of the public investment in the arts and more than half of the organisations it regularly funds spend 80 per cent of their time outside the capital.
‘London is one of the great world cities for culture, attracting visitors in the millions which helps generate billions the economy of the whole country. Sacrificing this particular golden goose for a bit of glib London bashing will do little to improve cultural provision in the regions and would be an act of sabotage for one of our country’s greatest assets.’
Northern Ireland’s Arts Minister Caral Ni Chuilin, a Sinn Fein member, has never attended a symphony concert. Faced with the abolition of the Ulster Orchestra, which will run out of cash in four weeks’ time, she says it’s ‘not my job’ to help out. Read here.
It was the walkout of the year, the moment Anna Netrebko decided she could not work a moment longer in Manon Lescaut with the German conceptual director, Hans Neuenfels.
So she made the exit, pursued by entourage. Except one.
We hear that Anna’s fiancé, the Azeri tenor Yusif Eyvazov, has stayed behind to understudy Joan Kaufmann in the role of Des Grieux.
Jonas has been unwell of late. This could be Yusif’s big chance.
The Hollywood actress spoke tellingly today at the state funeral of the late Australian prime minister. She quoted him:
He said of his government: ‘In any civilised community the arts and associated amenities must occupy a central place. Their enjoyment should not be seen as remote from everyday life. Of all the objectives of my government, none had a higher priority than the encouragement of the arts; the preservation and enrichment of our cultural and intellectual heritage. Indeed, I would argue that all other objectives of a Labor government — social reform, justice and equity in the provision of welfare services and educational opportunities — have as their goal the creation of a society in which the arts and the appreciation of spiritual and intellectual values can flourish.
“‘Our other objectives are all means to an end. The enjoyment of the arts is an end in itself.’
Watch. Share. 
