We regret to report the death of Klaus Arp, principal conductor from 1981 at the Rheinische Philharmonie and the Opera House in Koblenz and from 1987 to 1995 at the Südwestrundfunk orchestra of Baden-Baden/Kaiserslautern.

He was professor of conducting at the Heidelberg-Mannheim conservatoire and composed may works, including a Miles Davis Portrait and two operas.

He worked regularly at the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

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It’s about 40 years since I shared a night shift with Mary Finnigan, working at television news.

Mary was a single mum with a whiff of mischief and (possibly) marijuana about her. She was a very conscientious journalist with two small kids. I think I was aware she’d hung out with Bowie, but I never thought to ask for details.

Now Mary has written a book – out this Friday – in which she writes how she gave Bowie a room in her home in suburban Beckenham, south London, fell in love with him and started a free rock festival in summer 1969.

mary finnigan bowie

Mary soon found out that Bowie had been sharing his love with people of both sexes halfway round the neighbourhood. ‘It transpired that he had been bisexually multi-timing me for the entire period of our relationship. I was just one among many, of whom Angie was probably the principal,’ she says.

Here’s Mary talking about it on BBC Today.

But that’s not the end of the story. Mary writes: ‘Eventually it is Angie, part angel, part hellcat, who provides the solution to this dilemma, when she sets out with unshakeable determination to seduce me. I guess Angie is testing her acting skills – and my potential as a lesbian lover….’

mary finnegan angie beckenham summer 1969
Mary Finnegan with Angie, Beckenham, Summer 1969

Psychedelic Suburbia – David Bowie and the Beckenham Arts Lab by Mary Finnigan is published by Jorvik Press on 8th January 2016. Buy it here. It’s one of the most honest books I’ve ever read about life with a rock star.

 

theresa vibberts

We hear from the organist Cameron Carpenter that his agent at CAMI, Theresa Vibberts, escaped from her apartment with, literally, just the shirt on her back when fire consumed her Williamsburg home on December 28.

Two people died in the tragedy.

Cameron has joined an appeal to help Theresa out. So far they have raised $14,000 of a projected $20,000.

Do help, if you can, here.

theresa fire

Librarians at the University of Toronto have found a concerto that has been deemed lost for more than a century.

The Norwegian Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) composed it for the Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow (1890-1963), who gave its premiere on August 14, 1909 in Scheveningen, Holland. She gave two more performances that year in Oslo, after which the score disappeared.

Until now.

Henning Kraggerud will revive the work this summer at a musicologists’ convention in Stavanger, Norway.

kathleen parlow

Elizabeth Braw in the Economist spots a trend in Gianandrea Noseda’s Washington appointment. Suddenly, she says, everyone’s buying Italian – the Concertgebouw, Zurich, San Francisco Opera…. and there are more to come:

 

sagripanti

When “The Barber of Seville”, one of the most beloved works in the opera repertoire, opens at the Opéra National de Paris next month, it will be conducted by a young Italian, Giacomo Sagripanti (pictured). The Paris Opera’s production of another favourite, “La Traviata”, will be conducted by yet another, Michele Mariotti, while Mr Luisotti and Pier Giorgio Morandi will conduct “Rigoletto” and Daniele Calligari will conduct “Il Trovatore”.

According to Marco Armiliato, a Genoa-born conductor, Italy is experiencing what he calls the Federer Effect: one famous practitioner inspiring lots of younger people to pursue the same path.

Read here.

Amid an economic paralysis, work continues on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens, which will include a Renzo Piano opera house budgeted at half a billion pounds sterling.

The late Mr Niarchos is paying the builders.

 

athens opera house

 

The indisputable champion of the ongoing projects is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) at Neo Faliro on Athens’s southern coast. The completion of the so-called canopy, an elegant cover soaring above what is soon to be the new premises of the National Library and Greek National Opera, signals the start of the countdown to mid-2016, when the biggest urban revamp in Athens’s modern history is due to be completed. For architect Renzo Piano, who is making his Athenian debut with this project, the symbolic and technical significance of the canopy was huge. The innovative use of ferrocement (consisting of layers of wire mesh and cement mortar) also signals a major technical achievement on an international level. The canopy stands on 30 columns and will be covered with photovoltaic solar panels.

More here.

An educative essay, from the ROH.

‘I have to become them in the moment they are involved in the performance.’

bychkov

bernstein kleiber

Captions, please.

 

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h/t: DH

Eugenia Choi, who has been in the tabloids for other reasons, has filed suit against a former business partner over an unorthodox method of purchasing a violin.

eugenia choi

According to court papers, entrepreneur Samer Hamadeh asked Choi in 2008 to help him identify a pedigree violin that she would perform in high places, thereby ‘removing the instrument from obscurity.’

She recommended a Giovanni Battista Rogeri, which Hamadeh bought from dealer Rene Morel for $353,400.

Choi leased the instrument from April 2008 to March 2012, paying around $28,878.

Hamadeh then allegedly sold it on for half a million, without telling Choi or giving her a cut of the profit.

The auction record for a Rogeri violin is $519,004 in Oct 2011.

More here.

 

An anonymous Norwegian, aged 24, has charted her progress on the violin in a video that has collected 1.2 million viewers. (We’re not quite sure why.)

Anyone recognise her?
viral violinist

Michael Dugher MP tweets: ‘Just been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn. I wished him a happy new year.’

(Who did what first?)

jeremy corbyn

Our Westminster mole adds:

Dugher is what is known in the Westminster Village as a ‘political bruiser’, he was Andy Burnham’s campaign chief during the summer leadership contest – but has been one of the most persistent critics of Corbyn’s leadership – in private… and in public.

Dugher is a capable operator and communicator, but had no previous experience within the culture sector. Unlike Dugher’s immediate predecessor Chris Bryant who clearly adored the role – there was no evidence he had any appreciation or enjoyment of the Culture and Media part of the portfolio (even if he liked the sport part).

With continued cuts to the arts, and with Channel 4 under serious threat of privatisation and a besieged BBC facing a tough Charter Review –we would be better served by a Shadow DCMS Minister who actually has some enthusiasm for the creative industries; and really can stand up and scrutinise highly-experienced and knowledgeable Tory DCMS Ministers John Whittingdale and Ed Vaizey.

 

The formidable jazz pianist Paul Bley has died, aged 83.

He played with Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus, forming the Jazz Composers Guild that fuelled the so-called jazz revolution in 1960s New York. He was briefly married to Carla Bley, who kept his name.

paul bley

Family statement:

Paul Bley, renowned jazz pianist, died January 3, 2016 at home with his family. Born November 10, 1932 in Montreal, QC, he began music studies at the age of five. At 13, he formed the “Buzzy Bley Band.” At 17, he took over for Oscar Peterson at the Alberta Lounge, invited Charlie Parker to play at the Montreal Jazz Workshop, which he co-founded, made a film with Stan Kenton and then headed to NYC to attend Julliard.

His international career has spanned seven decades. He’s played and recorded with Lester Young, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, Jimmy Giuffre, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious [sic] and many others. He is considered a master of the trio, but as exemplified by his solo piano albums, Paul Bley is preeminently a pianists’ pianist.

He is survived by his wife of forty three years, Carol Goss, their daughters, Vanessa Bley and Angelica Palmer, grandchildren Felix and Zoletta Palmer, as well as daughter, Solo Peacock. Private memorial services will be held in Stuart, FL, Cherry Valley, NY and wherever you play a Paul Bley record.