The Greek soprano, Dimitra Theodossiou, was discharged today from hospital in Lecce where she was taken by helicopter from the burning ferry, Norman Atlantic. At least 10 people died in the disaster. Dimitra describes scenes of total horror:
‘I had a berth in the first class, I was asleep and woke up to the smell of burning. There was smoke in the cabin. I got up, put on a sweater, took money and identity cards and ran out. I knocked on all the other cabin doors, shouting: get out, get out there is a fire!
There were men – Iraqis, Turks, Pakistanis – who were sent below to give priority to children, the elderly and to women, but they climbed back up and beat people, tugging, pulling them away, pushed their way to safety. I, too, was beaten, but I reacted to reach the helicopter, I got into a great rage, I thought : now or never.’
Read full interview here (in Italian).
Luise Rainer, German born and in latter years London based, has died aged 104.
She won best actress Oscars in 1936 and 1937.
Arnold Schoenberg refused to write the score for her second winning film (below).
Life story here.
The Deutsche Oper – the one in west Berlin with Donald Runnicles as music director – has returned from a period of refurbishment with a series of record returns.
During its wanderings around town, tickets sales hit 98 percent.
For the full year of 2014, the average was 82 percent.
There may be troubles elsewhere – and no shortage of dissatisfaction with director-driven Regietheater – but opera is alive and thriving in Berlin.
The composer Galina Ustvolskaya was possibly the closest to Dmitri Shostakovich: he asked, at one point to marry her.
But Galina had her own voice and retreated progressively into religious contemplation. According to her website, he gave only three interviews in her life, one of them to the Dutch journalist, Thea Derks.
She flares up when asked about Shostakovich. Read here. A compelling snapshot of an essential personality.
Extraordinary documentary below.
h/t: DSCH Journal
Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, was asked on the BBC’s Today programme about equality in orchestras. Here’s what he said:
My view is that the objective is to get the best player and to be fair, and so that’s what you’ve got to address. So the way we used to do it at the LSO, to be fair, was to make sure that we had a woman on the audition panel. We always had breadth of people on the panel so that one was absolutely looking after the fact that there could be no prejudice of any sort within the discussion.
Er, yes.
Gender imbalance is no longer much of an issue in UK orchs, but this may help explain why so few minority players, Asians excepted, are to be found in London orchestras.
Let alone the US.
Their voice is simply not heard.
This app could be a life-saver.
Harvard startup Sonation has taken over the Music Minus One catalogue. They created an app, called it Cadenza, and made it available a few weeks ago in the App Store with 180 movements and pieces to play. Full details here.
Members of the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, which is moving into a 380 million-Euro new hall next month, have discovered a painful anomaly. The conductor gets paid, the musicians likewise, so too the head of the chorus. However, not a cent goes to the 220 singers. Can that be right?
Here’s their open letter:
À l’attention : de la Présidence de la Philharmonie de Paris, de la Mairie de Paris, du Ministère de la Culture, du Ministère du Travail, de l’Inspection du travail
Amis chanteurs, lyriques ou non, professionnels ou pas,
Amis instrumentistes, comédiens ou danseurs,
Cher public,À la Philharmonie de Paris, dans quasiment tous les spectacles, le chef d’orchestre sera rémunéré, le chef de chœur sera rémunéré, les chanteurs solistes seront rémunérés, les techniciens seront rémunérés, la dame de l’accueil sera rémunérée, la femme de ménage sera rémunérée, les instrumentistes de l’orchestre seront rémunérés et les chanteurs du chœur ne le seront pas.
Tout simplement parce que cet édifice prestigieux conçu par Jean Nouvel, pourvu d’une grande salle comparable en capacité à celle de l’Opéra de Paris (2 400 places), qui ouvrira ses portes dès le mois de janvier et coûtera quelque 380 millions d’euros aux contribuables (http://www.philharmoniedeparis.fr/), a décidé d’accueillir en résidence le chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, un chœur amateur dont les 220 chanteurs, non professionnels, ne sont, par définition, pas payés.
Depuis quelques années déjà, à la faveur d’une crise économique dont nous ne voyons pas la fin, les spectacles produits par des compagnies amateurs, et coûtant de ce fait beaucoup moins cher que des spectacles professionnels, se multiplient. Pourquoi pas ? Si chanter est notre métier, nous concevons bien évidemment que ce puisse être un loisir pour d’autres, exerçant diverses professions par ailleurs. Loin de nous l’idée de vouloir leur interdire l’accès à une scène.
Ce qui nous semble inacceptable, c’est l’introduction d’un ensemble amateur dans un cadre professionnel tel que celui-ci. Ce mélange des genres – hélas déjà existant en maints endroits, notamment en province – occasionne une concurrence déloyale, absolument insupportable à l’heure où les chiffres du chômage ne cessent de grimper, et une attaque sans précédent de notre profession d’artistes lyriques. Car chacun des chanteurs non rémunéré de la Philharmonie de Paris occupera une place normalement réservée à un chanteur professionnel salarié.Cette évolution scandaleuse est-elle un avant-goût du sort réservé aux grands chœurs professionnels, tels ceux de l’Opéra Bastille ou de Radio-France ? On peut le craindre. Car enfin, en suivant cette logique, pourquoi continuer de payer ce que l’on peut obtenir gratuitement, fût-ce au mépris de la qualité du spectacle et du droit social ?
Aussi, nous demandons solennellement l’arrêt du recours abusif à des artistes des chœurs amateurs dans les structures professionnelles subventionnées.
Rappelons à ce titre qu’un chanteur professionnel qui ne travaille pas, c’est aussi un chômeur de plus à financer.
Nous demandons également :
1. Qu’un chœur professionnel soit en résidence à la Philharmonie de Paris, avec, comme dans toute grande maison qui se respecte, un noyau dur en CDI et des artistes supplémentaires engagés en CDD.
2. Que les pouvoirs publics légifèrent enfin de manière claire afin que la pratique artistique amateur soit encadrée et ne puisse plus occasionner de concurrence déloyale vis à vis des artistes professionnels. Car, de même que dans n’importe quel autre métier, il est indécent qu’un travailleur bénévole (amateur, stagiaire, etc.) occupe un poste qui devrait être attribué à un salarié. Et ce qui est vrai dans une pizzeria, un bureau de poste, une salle de rédaction ou une compagnie d’assurance ne l’est pas moins sur une scène, qui plus est abondamment subventionnée !
À l’heure où le travail est si rare, nous estimons tout simplement qu’il ne peut se permettre d’être gratuit.
Le Collectif Colère lyrique
The fine Irish pianist John O’Conor tells a wonderful story about Claude Frank, who died this weekend. John remembers Harold Schonberg, the New York Times chief critic, approaching Claude at the Leeds piano competition and asking why he’d only played once with the Philharmonic.
Claude never raised his voice but gently answered ‘Because of your review Harold I was never invited again.’
Well, si non e vero, e ben trovato and we’d be the last to ruin a good dinner-party tale. But let’s consider the facts.
1 Claude Frank was a terrific pianist and teacher, but he was never a box-office draw.
2 The New York Phil, as a monopoly operator, exercises huge power in its market, but is limited in the number of concerto slots it can offer. American soloists do not figure high in its lists. Hilary Hahn, definitely popular, went 10 years without a call.
3 Harold wrote blistering reviews about Bernstein for years without affecting Lenny’s position in NY.
4 One bad review can’t kill a career.
Can it?
Well, here’s what really happened.
As predicted, Park Hyun-jung has resigned as CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, effective immediately. She made the announcement to a packed press conference after weeks of tension arising from leaked memos that she had bullied and abused staff.
‘I am to blame for a large part (of the allegations) and I sincerely apologize for that,’ said Park. ‘Restoring my personal reputation is more important than anything, but I could not bear the abnormal state of the Seoul Phil, which is run on taxpayers’ money.’
Argentine media have announced the death of Leopoldo Federico, virtuoso of the bandoneon and founder of a tango orchestra. He was 87.
Despite a huge petition for the iconic Paris hall to be retained for classical concerts, the website has been taken down. Visitors are redirected to the new Philharmonie de Paris, on the suburban periphery. The city authorities have reaffirmed their determination to ban classical concerts from the central venue.
It was not easy in 2014 to pick one album that will last the test of time.
An industry that is in transition from physical product to virtual cannot be expected to match the glories of its heyday and it is generally agreed that the year just ending has not been a golden one for classical records.
Nor was it at all expected that I would pick a work by a composer who has never ranked among my personal immortals.
So it was with a good deal of hat-eating, astonishment, revelation and humility that I let myself be blown away by an epic interpretation and bowed to an inevitable choice as my Album of the Year on sinfinimusic.com.
Click here and all will be revealed.
