Guido Masanetz wrote an operetta, In Frisco ist der Teufel (the devil’s in Frisco) that greatly pleased the regime and was staged in almost all the country’s opera houses. He died on Thursday at a great age.
Looks like he’s switching brand.
From the Xinhua news agency:
GENEVA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — Combining classical music with the luxury timepiece, the renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang has offered his talent to a Swiss watch maker.
Prior to delivering his solo concert to audiences here on Friday night, Lang first impressed Swiss watch experts with his ideas and innovation in watch design.
After intense discussions and an exchange of ideas, the young pianist and watch experts worked out the plans for two new watches, which highlight the musician’s signature and musical notes.
Asked about his design philosophy, the 33-year-old pianist said he hoped the watches would be distinguished by their musical elements, as well as be modern, fashionable and high-quality.
The special watches will be manufactured by Hublot, a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980. Hublot expects the “Lang Lang watch” will hit the market in March 2016 after an unveiling at the annual Basel World Watch Exhibition.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is in Brisbane this week, investigating allegations of sexual abuse against a former music teacher at St Paul’s.
Details here.
Vasily Petrenko has renewed with the Oslo Philharmonic until its centenary in 2020.
Vasily, who turns 40 next year, has been principal conductor in Oslo since 2013 and in Liverpool since 2006.
He is also in charge of the EU Youth Orchestra.
press release:
Vasily Petrenko, Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, has renewed his contract with the Oslo Philharmonic up to the end of the 2019/2020 season. This is the season the orchestra will celebrate its 100 year anniversary. It is hoped that 2020 might also be the year in which the orchestra realizes its plans for a new concert hall on the waterfront in Oslo.
39 year old Petrenko’s first two seasons with the Oslo Philharmonic have been very successful, and audience numbers are steadily increasing. Intense and inspiring, the dynamic partnership between Petrenko and the orchestra in Oslo has attracted critical acclaim and audience ovations at home and abroad. International highlights so far have been two concerts at the Proms in 2013, ten concerts inToshiba Grand Concert Series in Japan in March 2014 and two concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2015.
“The Oslo Philharmonic is one of Europe’s finest orchestras with a great tradition”, comments Vasily Petrenko. “After two seasons with me at the reins, I think we have freshened up the orchestra and introduced some great music that hasn’t been heard in Oslo for many years. The idea is that we should always embrace the audience and be embraced in return by the audience, to be part of one large family and break down the artificial barrier between musicians on stage and the public in the hall. Creating this special energy between orchestra and audience, I think, can play a vital role in society today.”
Good news and bad from Hong Kong.
The Sinfonietta concertmaster, James Cuddeford, has been discharged from hospital without lasting damage after falling off stage in the middle of a concerto on Saturday, landing on top of his violin.
News of the instrument is less happy. A violinist in the orchestra who picked it up after the accident tells Slipped Disc that ‘the violin is pretty badly damaged with two long cracks on the top and a gash on the top right rib… It will need major repairs (and may never sound the same again). James must be heartbroken.’
The golden baritone has given an interview to Welsh media, ahead of his 50th birthday tomorrow (Monday).
The best advice he’s ever been given? ‘Grow your hair (I looked like a farmer early on).’ But he’s counting no chickens.
Read the full interview here.
Andrei Eshpay (r.), a classic Soviet-era composer, died today aged 90.
He leaves 9 symphonies, 4 violin concertos, 2 piano concertos and a host of film scores and patriotic songs.
He won both the Lenin Prize and the Order of Lenin in the 1980s, just before Lenin became irrelevant.
The Chicago music director is in colourful mood, chatting in Milan at the opening of a Toscanini exhibition.
He complains that young conductors urn up unprepared and insufficiently aware of their responsibilities. ‘We have forgotten the lessons of Toscanini, his way of thinking about theatre.’
Read here (in Italian).
David Ferree Jenkins was music director at the Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and conductor of a host of national and international touring shows.
David, who was 39, died in his sleep on Thursday, three weeks after getting married.
Our sympathies to his widow, family and wide circle of friends and colleagues.
A big personality in Cleveland and beyond, the cellist Merry Peckham has a heterogenous career as a soloist, teacher, quartet player and radio host. She does not hold back on her opinions, some of them startlingly original.
Meet Merry, a one-off, here on the latest episode of Zsolt Bognar’s Living the Classical Life.
The great baritone, who has been receiving treatment for brain cancer, gave a full concert last week with Elina Garanca. The Latvian mezzo is returning from several months mourning for the death of her mother. The concert has just been uploaded.
Fashion notes from cellist Inbal Segev:
When I play, I can’t wear any buttons, unless they’re covered, because they’re going to buzz on the cello, and you also don’t want to ruin the wood. You need soft fabric, at least on the front of your shirt. You can’t wear tight skirts, or mini skirts, because you have to sit with the cello between your legs. With heels, if they’re super high, you’re also uncomfortable because the whole angle of the legs with the chair. It’s tricky. And since I travel a lot, I always look for things that don’t wrinkle easily.
Read full interview here.
Photo by Andrew Ingalls