The maestro is throwing open his opera rehearsals at Ravenna next month. He aims to teach ‘the Italian tradition’ to budding conductors, repetiteurs and singers, and wants the audience to appreciate the difference.

He says so on the video, below.

riccardo muti

The singer, who cancelled engagements for the past few weeks to be at his sister’s bedside in Boston, has just tweeted: ‘RIP my beloved sister ! I love you. May God bless you. Your brother. Plàcido’

domingo and sister

UPDATE: He added later on Facebook:

It is with my upmost profound sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved and adored sister Maria José. She left us last night at 7:45 PM at Massachusetts General Hospital in the city of Boston, surrounded by the entire family.
She is survived by her devoted husband; my brother-in law Alfonso, 4 amazing children, José Luis, Pili, Maite and Alfonso; 6 beautiful grandchildren, Rodrigo, Francisco, Andoni, Paola, Constanza, Iker and their respective extraordinary parents, Monica, Paco and Marcela.
Maria José rest in peace and may God welcome your precious and kind soul into heaven. You will be tremendously missed and I know our dear parents would have been extremely proud to see how caring, devotedly and above all unselfishly you led your life, always thinking and putting everyone else before you. I love you Gordita, your brother… Plácido.
I thank everyone in advance for your kind consideration and understanding during our family’s time of mourning.

The season’s closing concert has been dedicated to Unicef relief aid for thousands of Syrian children who have been forced out of their country by the civil war. The orchestra, Simon Rattle and Lang Lang will kick off the whipround with a joint donation of 60,000 Euros ($67,000).

lang lang rattle

press release:

Anlässlich ihres traditionellen Saisonabschlusskonzerts am 28. Juni 2015 in der Waldbühne rufen die Berliner Philharmoniker gemeinsam mit Chefdirigent Sir Simon Rattle, Solist und UN-Friedensbotschafter Lang Lang sowie UNICEF-Schirmherrin Daniela Schadt zur Hilfe für syrische Flüchtlingskinder auf. Die Spenden fließen in ein UNICEF-Flüchtlingsprojekt im Südosten der Türkei. Per SMS mit dem Text „SYRIEN” an die Rufnummer 81190 kann jeder ab sofort die Aktion mit fünf Euro unterstützen und dazu beitragen, dass syrische Flüchtlingskinder wieder zur Schule gehen können und einen sicheren Platz zum Lernen und Spielen haben. Das

Orchester mit Sir Simon Rattle und Lang Lang spenden zusammen 60.000 Euro.

In dem schon mehr als vier Jahre währenden Bürgerkrieg in Syrien wurden bislang über 10.000 Kinder getötet, rund zwei Millionen Kinder und Jugendliche mussten ihre Heimat verlassen. „Die Kindheit ist die wichtigste Zeit im Leben eines Menschen. Wir dürfen nicht zulassen, dass hier eine verlorene Generation ohne Hoffnung heranwächst“, ruft Starpianist und UN- Friedensbotschafter Lang Lang zur Unterstützung der Aktion auf.

„Millionen Flüchtlingskinder brauchen dringend unsere Unterstützung. Mit unserer Hilfsaktion möchten wir den Kindern in der türkischen Region Mardin die Möglichkeit geben, wieder in die Schule zu gehen und in einer sicheren Umgebung zu spielen und zu lernen“, so Sir Simon Rattle.

„Ich finde es großartig, dass die Berliner Philharmoniker gemeinsam mit Sir Simon Rattle und Lang Lang ein Zeichen für die syrischen Flüchtlingskinder setzen und hoffe sehr, dass diese Initiative viele Herzen öffnet“, so UNICEF-Schirmherrin Daniela Schadt.

Seit 2012 flüchten mehr und mehr Menschen aus Syrien unter anderem in die Türkei. Heute halten sich allein dort etwa 1,7 Millionen syrische Flüchtlinge auf. Viele Kinder kennen nichts anderes als Gewalt, Vertreibung und Flucht. Die Familien kommen vorwiegend in den Gemeinden unter, einige auch in den insgesamt 22 Flüchtlingslagern der türkischen Regierung.

UNICEF sorgt dafür, dass die Flüchtlingskinder in die Schule gehen können und Zugang zu psychologischer und gesundheitlicher Betreuung haben. In einer sicheren Umgebung können sie ungestört lernen und spielen – die Voraussetzung dafür, dass sie wieder Hoffnung fassen und ihre schrecklichen Erlebnisse verarbeiten können.

Seit 2007 sind die Berliner Philharmoniker internationale UNICEF-Botschafter – als erste Institution, die sich in dieser Funktion engagiert. Das Orchester unter der Leitung von Sir Simon Rattle hat sich für unterschiedliche UNICEF-Projekte eingesetzt.

Der chinesische Pianist Lang Lang wurde 2004 zum internationalen UNICEF-Botschafter ernannt und ist seit 2013 UN-Friedensbotschafter. Bei seinem Einsatz für benachteiligte Kinder interessiert er sich besonders für die Rolle der Musik im Hinblick auf die kindliche Entwicklung.

Daniela Schadt, Lebensgefährtin des Bundespräsidenten Joachim Gauck, ist seit 2012 Schirmherrin von UNICEF Deutschland. Bei einer UNICEF-Projektreise nach Jordanien sowie bei gemeinsamen Besuchen mit dem Bundespräsidenten in einem syrischen Flüchtlingscamp in der Türkei und Flüchtlingsheimen in Deutschland ist sie vielfach mit Menschen zusammengetroffen, die vor dem Bürgerkrieg in Syrien geflohen sind.

Unter www.unicef.de/waldbuehne-konzert werden alle Informationen rund um das Konzert zusammengetragen.

Das Waldbühnenkonzert der Berliner Philharmoniker mit Sir Simon Rattle und Lang Lang am 28. Juni 2015 ist ausverkauft. 3sat, rbb Fernsehen und rbb Kulturradio live ab 20.15 Uhr. 

Speight Jenkins Way, a one-way stretch of Fourth Avenue North, between Republican and Mercer streets, has been unveiled, honouring the formative General Director of Seattle Opera from 1983 to 2014, putting it on the world map.

Speight pronounced himself ‘thrilled.’

Now Salzburg needs a Gerard Mortier Platz and Munich a Sir-Peter-Jonas Strasse. And why did Covent Garden never push for a David Webster or Garret Drogheda Road?

jenkinsstreet-750xx1616-909-0-86

 

I am extremely saddened to learn of the death of Ellen Hughes, a warm personal friend who kept the arts alive and on air in a corner of Pennsylvania where they could not thrive without encouragement.

Ellen was a radio announcer, actress and PennLive columnist. She was also a boundless enthusiast, ever curious for new cultural experience. On my only visit to Harrisburg, I saw at first hand how essential her spirit was to the arts ecology. She had a radio programme, Desert Island Discs, and told me to bring my own CDs since the station’s classical stock was minimal and relenetlessly MOR. Ellen dedicated her soul to opening minds and ears.

Stricken by pancreatic cancer, she died quickly, aged 68.

God rest her soul.

ellen-hughes-bb8dc1da2cd57704

Message from the Violin Society of America:

We have just been notified by VSA and Federation member John Montgomery that an organized violin theft ring is operating in the Southeast US. The criminals have been moving violins between the Atlanta area, Nashville and Raleigh, and may be branching further afield now.

One thief, “Steve Sincere”, was arrested yesterday in VSA/Federation member Pablo Alfaro’s Atlanta area shop, however there are two remaining individuals at large: “Gary Crouse”, age 61, 5’ 10” tall, 185 lbs., Caucasian; and “Edward Fields”, 40’s, 5’11” tall, heavy-set, African-American; both men claim to be from Atlanta. “Fields” is well-dressed in a suit, steals the violins and hides them under his suit coat, and then travels to other shops to sell the violins. Thus far the ring has stolen instruments from Atlanta Violins and Ron Sachs’ Atlanta area violin shop, and presumably began operating in April or earlier.

John Montgomery has confirmed that these men are not ‘violin-people’, and he first saw “Gary Crouse” in his Raleigh shop on April 24th, followed by “Edward Fields” on May 21st and again yesterday afternoon, after “Fields” had been in Nashville that morning.

John gave the names of three violins stolen by the ring to alert you to:
Landolfi label violin
“Lawrence Lamay” violin, circa 1977
“Angelo Marin” violin, circa 2006

If either of these men come into your shop, call the Police and if you can try to stall them safely until the police arrive.

Please distribute this information to as many people as possible.

Sincerely,
Lori Kirr
VSA President

strad stolen

 

(We have been sitting on this story for a month, waiting for the contract ink to dry. Now, all can be told.)

The Orchestre de Paris is about to announce Daniel Harding as its next music director.

It’s a subtle, sophisticated, highly promising appointment.

Harding, 39, is a vastly accomplished conductor who was mentored by Rattle and Abbado, conducts regularly in Vienna and Berlin, but has yet to land a major international band. His children live in Paris, he is fluent in French and au fait with the culture (his predecessor Paavo Järvi never got past parlez-vous). Harding will take a much-rejuvenated orchestra into new musical territory.

The OdP have a history of turbulent relationships with conductors, an ability to give a Gallic shrug to the best of musical intentions. But they have many foreign players nowadays. As a group, they generally appreciate Harding and enjoy his agreeable, collaborative rehearsals and the combustion he adds in performance.

In sum, the delicate balance seems well-adjusted.

Daniel Harding may be the first Englishman to conquer Paris.

daniel harding

He is presently music director with the excellent radio orchestra in Stockholm.

For reasons that could probably fill two whole episodes of W1A, the BBC has let an Austrian company organise the live-streaming of one of its most prestigious music productions, the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

This will be Cardiff’s first screening outside the UK.

It may well be that the BBC, which used to be in the forefront of broadcast innovation, felt that its constitution, governance and technology did not permit it to undertake live-streaming on the internet. Or it may just be another example of the BBC’s inability under Tony Hall to tie its own shoelaces without spending a year in committee.

Either way, it’s a tremendous coup for Vienna-based Sonostream, who say:

cardiff singers

 

For anyone who can’t make it to Wales this month, Sonostream.tv will be offering the first international broadcast outside the UK of one of the opera world’s most prestigious events: the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. The competition has launched the careers of major artists such as Bryn Terfel, Karita Mattila, Anja Harteros, Dmitry Hvorostovsky and Valentina Nafornita.

‘Every two years, a new star is born. Over 300 young singers from around the world applied to participate in the current edition, but only twenty artists were selected to perform with orchestra at St David’s Hall in Cardiff, Wales. You can follow the first four rounds via Sonostream every evening at 7:30PM GMT from June 16-19.

‘Then tune in for a live broadcast of the final round on June 21, featuring five promising singers. The winner will take home not just a cash prize and the Cardiff Trophy but sing a planned world premiere by composer John Lunn in 2016. In what will no doubt be the start of a major career.

‘Parallel to the main competition, there is also the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize, in which singers perform art songs to piano accompaniment at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and St. David’s Hall.   Sonostream brings you exclusive access to the final on June 20.’

 

UPDATE: Here’s the BBC’s press release, rippling with WIA jargon:

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World returns from 14 – 21 June to showcase the world’s most promising classical singing talent. As they take to the stage in the Welsh capital to compete for the coveted title, the 20 singers will not only be seen and heard across the BBC on television, Radio 3 and online but for the first time anyone in the world can sign up to watch all the BBC broadcasts following a new partnership with subscription service sonostream.tv

 

As well as making the world class performances available internationally, the partnership means even better value for UK audiences, with the BBC reinvesting revenue from the deal back into home-grown programming and content.

 

The biennial competition known throughout the classical music world as the premier showcase for opera and recital singers at the start of their careers is in its 32nd year, with David Jackson as Artistic Director for the first time.

David Jackson commented, ‘We’re really keen to make the best use of the licence fee and for many years we’ve had requests from music-lovers all over the world asking if they can see the competition for themselves. Now, for the first time, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to say Yes – if you have online access, Cardiff Singer can be yours to watch and enjoy. And with the value of the partnership reinvested into BBC programmes, it’s great news for UK audiences who love BBC content.’

France’s most successful film composer has accused its dominant musical modernist of shutting him out of the nation’s concert halls. In an all-out attack on France Info, Legrand said:

Pendant quarante ans Boulez et sa famille ont fermé toutes les possibilités pour tous les compositeurs d’être joués. Il a décidé qu’on allait oublier tout le passé de la musique jusqu’à aujourd’hui et qu’on allait repartir à zéro. Il a fermé la porte à tous les autres compositeurs. Les compositeurs comme moi ne pouvaient pas vivre puisqu’on n’avait pas accès à la salle de concerts.

‘For 40 years Boulez and his ‘family’ have closed all possibilities for all other composers to be performed. He decided that the musical past would be wiped out and we would start from scratch. He shut the door to all other composers. Composers like me could not have made a living because we had no access to the concert hall.’

Legrand added: ‘Il a agi, et c’est très grave, comme un fasciste. Il y a sa musique et rien d’autre. He has behaved – and this is very serious – like a Fascist. There is his music, and nothing else.’

Legrand, 83, is the grand old man of French cinema music.

Boulez, 90, was a power-broking modernist. He is presently in poor health and is unlikely to respond to the charges.

michel legrand vspierre-boulez-540x304

 

James Last, who wrote ‘happy music’ and sold 80 million albums worldwide, died today aged 86.

He learned to play brass instruments and piano in the Wehrmacht and formed his band in 1948. He retired just three months ago.

james last

A Brooklyn teenager who is presently in a juvenile detention facility has been announced as one of four winners of the StringQuest Student Promise Award.

He wins a professional violin and the chance to put his life back on track.

The young man, whose name in withheld, earned his place among the winners with an essay describing how he held a violin for the first time, when he was seven years old. It felt, he wrote, ‘like I had a different world in my hand … I would be lost in the sound of the violin.’

He was entered for the award by music educators at Carnegie Hall whom he had contacted through school. ‘He demonstrated such a commitment to studying the violin and exploring music that we wanted to be sure he could continue his interests,’ said Elizabeth Ferguson of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

Read the full human story in the New York Daily News (not the Times, needless to say).

black kid violin

unrelated image: Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra

A few weeks ago it was announced that Lisa Milne, one of Scotland’s best-known sopranos, was taking up a teaching post at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow. Today, Lisa has followed up with an interview in which she makes it clear that she won’t be singing opera again. Lisa is in her 40s, very much in her prime. So why?

It’s to do with human priorities.

 

lisa milne

During a period of family bereavements – among them her partner and a parent – she had to cancel some engagements. ‘Performing internationally can be a lonely old life, especially when you’re away from home worrying about your loved ones. Just weeks after Mum died I was singing Don Giovanni at Scottish Opera. It meant I lost touch with the grief that the rest of my family was going through at home.’

She also struggled with what she calls ‘industry image standards’. She underwent a gastric sleeve operation and breast reduction ‘in order to look right for the stage’, and got fed up with ‘constantly being told I wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t slim enough, wasn’t tall enough. Eventually I thought, ‘s*** to this’. At some point I just want to be me.’

The loss is considerable. Lisa was a lovely singer who lit up a stage and refused to play the game. She spoke her mind where others mumbled euphemisms. She hit back at critics who spouted irresponsible abuse. She spoke in the vernacular, with plenty of unprintable words. She never held back, on stage or in life. She was real.

And now she’s gone. Dammit.

Read her interview with Kate Molleson here.