A survey of the UK music industry, published today, shows that it adds £4.1 billion to the British economy.
That’s nice.
But a remark by UK Music chief executive Jo Dipple gives cause for considerable concern. Jo writes in her introduction that ‘35% (of musicans) are not paying into pension schemes, and 21% … had undertaken work for free during the past year with the aim of furthering their career.’
That’s not economic growth, it’s charity.
Read her introduction here.
Roxanna Panufnik has been commissioned to write a ‘people’s opera’ for the 2017 Garsington Festival, it was announced today. Silver Birch will be sung by professional singers with community and children’s choruses.
Rox is the daughter of the Anglo-Polish symphonist Andrzej Panufnik and prolific explorer of religious themes. She and I have worked together on The Song of Names oratorio.
What took them so long?
press release:
One of classical music’s highest honours, the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, has been awarded to the distinguished Argentinian-born pianist, Martha Argerich. She becomes the 101st recipient since the medal was founded in 1870 in celebration of the centenary of the birth of Beethoven (London’s Philharmonic Society commissioned Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and enjoyed a close association with the composer).
RPS Chairman, John Gilhooly, awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal to Martha Argerich at Wigmore Hall, London. In its citation, the Royal Philharmonic Society says:
“Martha Argerich’s combination of technical mastery and passionate artistry make her one of the most compelling and expressive pianists, and her extraordinary live performances are a musical and intellectual tour de force.
She is a consummate chamber music collaborator. It is this spirit of collaboration that led to the Progetto Martha Argerich at the Lugano International Festival, now in its 15th year, through which she demonstrates her enduring generosity and personal commitment to emerging musicians and by mixing established and up-and-coming artists has created many inspirational chamber music partnerships.
Gabriele Baldocci, one of her long- standing duo partners, pays tribute: “She says everything through music. I’ve never had a formal lesson with her, but she is my greatest teacher.”
John Clark, former director of music at Aldro School in Shackleford, Surrey, committed sexual offences in the 1970s against four boys, aged eight to 13. More here.
… Toronto student Emily D’Angelo.
She blew away the competition to win the coveted Nex Opera Star title at last night’s COC gala.
A concert has been announced this Saturday in which four star chefs will prepare a meal on stage while the Minnesota Orchestra performs ‘matched’ symphonic works. Have they totally lost the plot?
Read here.
It is a tradition in the Royal Air Force to burn a piano in commemoration of fallen pilots.
Where does that come from?
A social engineering mechanism, apparently.
Read here. Absolutely fascinating.
Katy Perry has just been named the highest earning female performer by Forbes, with 2015 revenues of $135 million.
Who, we wonder, tops the classical field?
It could be Anna Netrebko, if only she was inclined to accept some of those pressing invitations to private oligarch parties. It could also be Angela Gheorghiu or Renee Fleming.
But, on the basis of statistics received, we believe it is Cecilia Bartoli, by far the highest selling female classical singer on record and a highly successful touring artist in her own productions.
No-one else, we believe, comes close.
Louly Psichouli, the first Greek woman to achieve an international conducting career, died on October 29.
A student of Hans Swarowksy in Vienna, Louly conducted at the Bolshoi in Mosow and many orchestras across the Balkans, as well as playing a prominent role in Greek musical life. In 1974 she founded the Maria Callas Grand Prix to support young artists.
The death has been announced of Richard E. Plaster, who played bassoon and contrabassoon in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops for 40 years.
Richard, who was in his 80s, studied at Juilliard with Simon Kovar. After U.S. Army service, he played in the New York Woodwind Quintet, before joining the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops in 1952. He was a faculty member at Boston University, the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory.
First pics of the maestro with the revitalised Filarmonica Scala.
Wagner loyalists in Leipzig are putting up a petition to stop the city from accepting a Green Party proposal to rename the square that honours the city’s most famous son.
While we recognise the need to acknowledge Wagner’s birthplace, there would be a certain poetic justice in deposing the old racial supremacist in favour of a multicultural kindlier, Deutschland.
Here‘s the pro-Wagner petition.
Anyone care to put up an opposing one?
