A performance of the great choral masterpiece at the Tirol Festival was twice disrupted by external manipulation of the lighting system. The music director, Gustav Kuhn, stopped the concert and apologised to the audience.

The Festival says its systems were hacked and has called in the police.

 

tirol festspiel

Just in from Opera Nederland:

The Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and her dog Ruby were refused by KLM due to the increased weight of the dog.

Eva-Maria Westbroek had the intention to fly to the Netherlands for Christmas. She had booked a flight with KLM to travel from London Heathrow to Schiphol after the matinee performance of ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ on 21 December 2015 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

But her dog Ruby was not allowed on board by the KLM because of her increased weight. Due to recent surgery she appeared to be heavier than the permitted eight kilos. For a world famous soprano as Eva-Maria Westbroek the KLM did not wish to make an exception. The devastated Westbroek said she was laughed at by the ground crew. She stated that she will not fly KLM ever again.

westbroek dog

UPDATE: Read KLM’s response here.

 

The mayor of Leipzig has announced that the former Gewandhaus Kapellmeister will be brought back for burial from the United States, where he spent most of his last years.

There will be a memorial concert in Bach’s church, St Thomas’s, and Kurt Masur will be laid to rest in the grove of honour in the city’s southern cemetery.

The funeral will take place in mid-January.

bach thomaskirche

The great cellist is getting engaged with Chicago’s neighborhoods, working with the University and the Civic Orchestra. Watch.

yo yo ma civic

‘As long as I’ve come to Chicago, I’ve wanted to really get to know the South Side the way that a guest knows a host,’ Ma said. He told the musicians that by exploring new venues for their art, ‘You are doing something society doesn’t encourage us to do very often. You’re opening yourself to being vulnerable. And the vulnerability becomes your strength… Our job is to join people in the greatest possible communal experience.’

The outgoing Spanish government has authorised a 10 percent grant increase to the Real in the next fiscal year.

The theatre will receive a subsidy of 48,161,775 euros in 2016 – around three times the public grant to London’s English National Opera.

Details here (in Spanish).

 

teatro real

h/t: Dianne Winsor

That’s what one past student wrote on Rate My Teachers about Keiran Hope, former head of music at Sandon School, in Chelmsord, Essex.

Hope, 33, was jailed last week for 11 and a half years for seducing a 13 year-old student, among other offences.

The judge said: ‘You are clearly a gifted and inspirational teacher. You knew the rules, but you arrogantly broke them and ignored the warnings you were given. Young women need to be protected and society will not tolerate behaviour such as yours. You are a sexual predator who pressurised those young girls to give in to your sexual requests.’
keiran hope

The wonderful Michele Zukofsky, who retired yesterday after 54 years as principal clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has been sharing further reminiscences in a second instalment of her conversation with C K Dexter Haven.

Don’t try to identify the young German conductor she bawled out. There are many more nuggets to be found in her unbuttoned chat. Click here to read.

michele-zukovsky

This is the first Slipped Disc prediction for 2016 and it is founded on solid inside information.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is in the hunt for a successor to Andris Nelsons and the players’ favourite at this moment is very talented young woman whose identity wild horses will not extract from us.

One other UK orchestra is also looking beyond its present arrangements. There, too, a prime candidate is non-male.

Barring accidents and agent malpractice, 2016 will bring a new feminine face to the British podium.

SymphonyHallInside

 

And about time, too.

He fought with Tito’s partisans in Bosnia and settled in Belgrade after the war, forming the Belgrade Trio. Andreja Preger, who performed well into his 90s, died on December 18.

 

Andreja Preger

A revealing survey by the University of Maryland exposes a discrepancy between would-be musicians and the people who teach them how to play.

The first large-scale study of the demographic profiles of prospective music teachers indicates that the overwhelming majority of music teacher licensure candidates are white.

Using data from the years 2008-2012, the survey shows that 86 per cent of the applicants registered as being white. Of the rest, 7 percent were black and below 2 percent each were Hispanic or Asian.

More details here.

the-violin-teacher-bia-lefevre_069-050
A striking exception

Ayham al-Ahmed, 27, played on in a Palestinian camp outside Damascus until ISIS shelling made life impossible. In September, he fled to Germany.

This weekend the classically trained pianist was awarded the International Beethoven Prize in Bonn.

DW report here.

 

ayham

The Strad reports that Tomo Keller has been appointed leader (concertmaster) of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He succeeds Ken Sillito, who retired in February 2012.

Tomo, 41, has been front-desking since 2009 in the London Symphony Orchestra.

 

Tomo-Keller

UPDATE: He was recently appointed concertmaster at Swedish Radio and will shuttle between the two jobs.