The Orquesta Juvenil Cifan and Fundación Cifan in Chile have been left destitute by fire.

No lives were lost but the kids have no spare clothes or anywhere to sleep. An international appeal has been raised.

Full report here (in Spanish).

Contact details:

Foundation Cifan, Ruth: 65.073.925-6
Current account, BANK SANTANDER NOT: 68634660
Contacto@Cifan.Cl

The French conductor Bertrand de Billy and an unnamed clarinet player in the Orchestre National de France have been hit by stones and small rocks thrown by feral children while they rehearsed Il Trovatore in the ancient open-air theatre of Orange.

De Billy was hit in the shoulder, the clarinet player in the hip. Neither injury is serious.

Roberto Alagna , Marie-Nicole Lemieux , Hui He and George Petean appear in the title roles of the production, which opens this weekend.

For want of anything better to occupy their time, musicologists are now playing with their cellphones. It’s for a freebie in Paris. Not one paragraph of the invitation below is coherent, in the normal sense of the word.

CALL FOR PAPERS –

“Music on the Move: Sounds and New Mobilities”

PARIS, 8 DECEMBER 2015

CRAL/EHESS – University of Cambridge

Keynote speaker: Prof. Micheal Bull (University of Sussex)

Breathing to sing, echoing screams in a cave, plucking guitar strings, applauding and clapping, surfing the web to download, dancing to music, performing foreign scores, translating an opera, chanting in protests or in religious processions. Sound is movement and music is on the move.
Since the end of the 20th century, the notion of ‘mobility’ seems to be ubiquitous in social sciences as a prominent cross-disciplinary agenda. Many scholars even refer to a new mobilities paradigm or a mobility turn (Sheller and Urry 2006; Adey et al. 2013; Faist 2013) stressing the importance of movement when studying historical or contemporary societies and individuals (Cresswell and Merriman 2011; Dureau and Hily 2009). If the entire world might seem to be on the move, it has become crucial to understand ‘how the fact of movement becomes mobility’, i.e. how ‘movement is made meaningful’ (Cresswell 2006, 21).

The mobility turn draws on theories already present in the social sciences, such as the work of Georg Simmel and his analysis of the human ‘will to connection’, the research on the hybrid nature of sociotechnical systems in science and technology studies (e.g. transport), the postmodern notion of spatiality (which conceives the essence of places, societies and states as constantly in motion), or the increasing centrality of the corporeal body as a way to explore the world.

Today, ‘mobility’ is seen as related to the idea of ‘circulation’ (of people, goods, ideas, cultures), which includes ‘movement’ and ‘nomadism’ but surpasses these notions. Firstly, it is based on the assumption that people and places are interconnected, where the latter are not fixed locations but are constituted from a variety of flows that circulate through them continuously. Secondly, ‘mobility’ implies reciprocity; as a consequence, fixed notions of identity and of ‘passive’ reception are disregarded in favour of a permeable notion of national boundaries and the complexity of cultural exchanges. Thirdly, ‘mobility’ comprises the concepts of travel and of transport, conceived as the core of social and cultural life. Fourthly, ‘mobility’ involves centralities and exclusions: this new paradigm considers the emancipatory quality of some kinds of motilities as opposed to the exclusive character of others. Finally, ‘mobility’ is materialized: a complex set of material tools is necessary in order to perform a networked society.
Issues of ‘mobility’ have been present in the field of musicology. Nevertheless, as a part of the social sciences, musicology has explicitly incorporated ‘mobility’ through the growing field of sound studies (Bull 2013; Sterne 2012), i.e. the investigation of ‘the primacy of sound as a modality of knowing and being in the world’ (Back and Bull 2004, 3). Michael Bull argues that mobile audio technology, instead of cutting us off from the world we live in, allows us to explore and construct the spaces of our everyday life (Bull 2007). This is in resonance with the concepts of ‘soundscape’ (Murray Schafer 1994) and ‘soundwalking’ (Westerkamp 2007), with the aesthetics of environmental sound (Pecqueux 2012; Biserna and Sinclair 2015), with ‘contemporary transnational practices of technologically-mediated sound production, consumption, and diffusion that are at the heart of popular music studies’ (Chapman 2013), and, finally, with recent research projects developed in France (such as Musimorphoses). Mobility studies are now broadening their perspectives into new territories belonging also to musicology, such as musical migrations, receptions, transfers as well as music history (Gopinath and Stanyek 2014a, 2014b).

This conference seeks to join this existing number of approaches and methodologies that have been taking place especially in English-speaking academia: we aim to support the presence of ‘mobility’ in continental musicology and to discuss its limits and advantages. For this purpose, we welcome proposals for 20-minute papers (in English or French) that provide new insights on music through mobility, without any geographical or historical limitations. The suggested areas of research are the following:
– CULTURAL AND SOCIAL MOBILITIES: class, identities, political movements, reception of musics and musicians, cultural transfers, consumption;
– GEOGRAPHICAL MOBILITIES: migrations and circulation of musicians and musical goods (recordings, scores, musical instruments);
– TECHNOLOGICAL MOBILITIES: portability and materiality (walkmans, iPod, mp3 players), streaming, web music, videos;
– MOVEMENT IN MUSICAL AESTHETICS AND PRACTICES: librettos and operas about mobility, movement in musical composition (repetition, rhythm, serialism, spatiality), mobility in the history of western music, music encompassing several genres and cross-genre music, movement as art form, immobility.

Abstracts of no more than 400 words should be sent both to violeta.ng@ehess. fr and nicolo.palazzetti@ehess. fr by 15 September 2015. Please include title, name, affiliation, email address, AV requirements and a short biography (150 words). The Committee will notify applicants of the outcome by 15 October 2015. Submissions from graduate students and early career researchers will be particularly welcome. If you have any further queries, please contact the organising committee by emailing violeta.ng@ehess. fr, nicolo.palazzetti@ehess. fr, af504@cam. ac. uk or vw261@cam. ac. uk.

THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Violeta Nigro Giunta (PhD Candidate, CRAL/EHESS) Nicolò Palazzetti (PhD Candidate, CRAL/EHESS) Amparo Fontaine (PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge) Vera Wolkowicz (PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge)

Sixty years ago this month, Buddy Emmons arrived in Nashville to work for Little Jimmy Dickens. Overnight, the Nashville sound changed forever. Buddy died last night, at the age of 78.

Down the years, Buddy played pedal steel guitar on hundreds of Nashville recordings, working with Judy Collins (Someday Soon), Bob Dylan, John Sebastian, Linda Ronstadt, Roger McGuinn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Arlo Guthrie and John Conlee. He also toured with Simon and Garfunkel and recorded a series of solo albums including Steel Guitar Jazz (1963),Steel Guitar (1975) and Minors Aloud (1979).

In the ruins of Berlin, the man who restored music making at high performance from 1948 on was the brave and extraordinarily musical conductor Ferenc Fricsay.

His first position was as music director of the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin, but it was as head of the US-funded RIAS radio orchestra that he achieved performance standards of a consistency as transcendent, if not higher, than the Berlin Philharmonic.

Fricsay fell sick in 1961 and died two years later, aged 48. His Berlin reputation was swiftly eclipsed by Herbert von Karajan.

But those who know his work will be in no doubt which gave more valuable service to the city, and which was in most respects the more musical conductor.

DG have just issued Fricsay’s collected works.

Don’t hesitate.

Terrence Wilson, who lost his most valued possessions in a Montclair, NJ, fire at the weekend has posted this message in response to a global wave of support:

I want to express my immense gratitude to every one of you who have reached out to check on my well-being during this crisis. Family, friends, reporters, colleagues, acquaintances, and even non-acquaintances named and anonymous have left consoling messages, offers to help, and have made donations. I am at a loss of words to express my humbling thanks to everyone.

It will take me some time to get back to everyone of you individually as I grapple with immediate must-dos, but in the meantime, I need you all collectively to know how much your support has helped to get me through this. I also need you to know that despite being in a dumbfounding shock over this current predicament, I am OKAY.

We reported the dismissal of Awadagin Pratt as artistic director of the Cincinnati World Piano Competition on July 8.

Guess what? He was reinstated today.

The managing director who sacked him has quietly ‘resigned’.

Janelle Gelfand has the full story here. At least, the visible parts of it.

The E. J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron, Ohio, hosts many classical performers, particularly soloists who draw audiences from the Cleveland-Columbus corridor.

Yesterday, its director and staff were made redundant and the hall was mothballed.

The University of Akron is no longer a place of culture.

Read here.

UPDATE From Jack Harel, oboe professor, University of Akron:

The School of Music is still in great shape. There are two other halls on campus that we use for performances, and the School of Music hasn’t used Thomas Hall as our main venue for several years. I really appreciate your efforts to draw attention to the status of EJ Thomas, but would like to avoid the implication that the School of Music has been lumped in with the hall.

The reclusive Radu Lupu, never an easy hire, has been enticed by the Cleveland Orchestra into joining its European tour and Vienna residency. Details below.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Thursday, October 15, 2015, at 8:00pm
Palais des Beaux-Arts
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano

MESSIAEN  L’Ascension: 4 méditations symphoniques
MESSIAEN  Couleurs de la cité céleste
STRAUSS  Also sprach Zarathustra

LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG

Friday, October 16, 2015, at 8:00pm
Philharmonie
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

MESSIAEN  Chronochromie
STRAUSS  An Alpine Symphony

MILAN, ITALY

Teatro alla Scala
Sunday, October 18, 2015, at 9:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Radu Lupu, piano

MESSIAEN  Hymne
BEETHOVEN  Piano Concerto No. 4
STRAUSS  Also sprach Zarathustra

PARIS, FRANCE

Philharmonie de Paris
Monday, October 19, 2015, at 8:30pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano

Women of the Choir of the Orchestre de Paris

Maîtrise de Paris, children’s chorus
MAHLER  Symphony No. 3

COLOGNE, GERMANY

Philharmonie
Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 8:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano

MESSIAEN  Hymne
MESSIAEN  Couleurs de la cité céleste
STRAUSS  An Alpine Symphony

DORTMUND, GERMANY

Thursday, October 22, 2015, at 8:00pm
Konzerthaus Dortmund
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

MESSIAEN  Chronochromie
STRAUSS  An Alpine Symphony

REGENSBURG, GERMANY

Saturday, October 24, 2015, at 8:00pm
Audimax, University of Regensburg
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

MOZART  Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”)
STRAUSS  An Alpine Symphony

MUNICH, GERMANY
Sunday, October 25, 2015, at 8:05pm

Philharmonie am Gasteig
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Radu Lupu, piano

MESSIAEN  Hymne
BEETHOVEN  Piano Concerto No. 4
STRAUSS  Also sprach Zarathustra

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Tuesday, October 27, 2015, at 7:30pm
Musikverein
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano

MESSIAEN  L’Ascension: 4 méditations symphoniques
MESSIAEN  Couleurs de la cité céleste
STRAUSS  Also sprach Zarathustra

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Wednesday, October 28, 2015, at 7:30pm
Musikverein
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

MESSIAEN  Chronochromie
STRAUSS  An Alpine Symphony

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Thursday, October 29, 2015, at 7:30pm
Musikverein
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Vienna Singverein
Vienna Boys Choir

MAHLER  Symphony No. 3

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Saturday, October 31, 2015, at 7:30pm
Musikverein
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Genia Kühmeier, soprano
Vienna Singverein

MOZART  Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”)
STRAUSS  Four Last Songs
VERDI  Four Sacred Pieces

The masonry keeps falling off the fraudster’s failing agency.

Agent after agent, artist after artist, the big fish are finding their way to the IMG fire escape.

Today, IMG lost one of its biggest international earners, the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Press release below.

Effective October 1, 2015, HarrisonParrott will take on the worldwide representation of internationally acclaimed pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Thibaudet’s artistic depth and natural charisma have made him one of the most sought-after pianists today. He has performed around the world for more than 30 years and recorded more than 50 albums, including three popular film scores. The New York Times recently wrote of his playing, “Every note he fashions is a pearl…the joy, brilliance and musicality of his performance could not be missed.” In 2010 the Hollywood Bowl honored Thibaudet for his musical achievements by inducting him into its Hall of Fame. Previously a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Thibaudet was awarded the title Officier by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012. This season, he tackles three artist-in-residencies: at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, and the Colburn School of Music.

Thibaudet comes to HarrisonParrott – to be represented by Joint Managing Director Lydia Connolly – after a tremendous 30 years of professional growth and collaboration with Mastroianni Associates and IMG Artists. He writes, “I leave my colleagues with nothing but fond feelings. I am blessed to have had a multi-decade career, and I look forward to the decades to come! I am thrilled about this new and fruitful partnership with Lydia Connolly and HarrisonParrott as I look to the future.”

Until October 1, all inquiries should continue to be directed to Kristin Schuster at IMG Artists.

The troubles of Simon Keenlyside continue.

Ordered last December to observe ‘complete vocal rest’, he had hoped to return in the new season. Today, however, he pulled out of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in October and November. George Gagnidze and Željko Lučić will share the title role.

We wish Simon a speedy return.