No outsider understands what’s going on at present in Brazil.
It is reported in Sao Paolo that the former arts centre director general, José Luiz Herencia, under investigation for money laundering and price fixing, has cited music director John Neschling in his defence submission.
There is no independent testimony to support his allegation.
However, in the swirl of Brazilian political scandals, innocent people are being falsely accused. That is a symptom of the present crisis.
There is no reason to suspect any artist of wrongdoing.
UPDATE: A theatre insider tells Slipped Disc that Neschling blew the whistle on a corrupt official, kicking off the present investigation.
The first production of Peter Ruzicka’s new administration at the Easter Festival was strictly makeshift.
Jose Cura stepped in for the intended Johan Botha in the title role and Carlos Alvarez for the indisposed Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Iago. Dorothea Röschmann was Desdemona and the costumes were by Lacroix. Thielemann conducted. The audience was subdued.
See Nachrichten headline here.
The national orchestra of Belgium has shown artistic director Jozef de Witte a quick route to the door.
The media have been informed of irreconcilable differences.
De Witte, a political appointee, had no recent orchestral experience. For the past 11 years he had been running an anti-racism organisation.
The position is presently critical since the orchestra is under threat of being merged with La Monnaie opera orchestra.
Vadym Kholodenko, the pianist who found his two children dead and his wife stabbed at their Benbrook, Texas, home on Thursday, has issued the following statement:
‘The loss of my children will be with me forever. I feel the support of the Fort Worth community and all people who are sending me messages all over the world … Wherever I go after this tragedy my heart will stay with the people here of Fort Worth and my daughters will rest in this soil.’
Vadym’s statement did not mention his estranged wife Sofia Tsygankova, who is recovering in hospital and s under mental health evaluation.
The police say they are not seeking a suspect.
ACE said its Grantium portal is designed to be a money-saving way to apply for subsidy.
Its clients say it’s ‘intimidating, off-putting and inaccessible’.
They’re furious.
Read here.
The Seoul Philharmonic, abandoned by its music director after a hate campaign by the former CEO, is still being refused by more artists than it can sign.
It has announced a list of four conductors to replace Myung Whun Chung next season.
They are: Eliahu Inbal, Christoph Eschenbach, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Alexandre Bloch.
Draw your own conclusions.
Geoff Edgers has written a fine feature in the Washington Post on how a misfit student stole a teacher’s violin and carried on playing it for the rest of his miserable life.
Philip Johnson’s fingers are no longer strong enough to play any violin, never mind one so unforgiving. So he keeps the Strad in a plastic crate. The instrument is the only thing he has of value. It is also his biggest secret.
When he’s gone, the news will shock them all, from the FBI to his family to the daughters of Roman Totenberg, who stand to inherit the instrument. They will ask how this once-promising, later penniless eccentric stole an 18th-century violin worth millions — and got away with it. After all, he was the only suspect when it was taken in 1980.
Read on here.
pictured: Roman Totenberg
Double bass player John Martin, 48, has been found guilty in Manchester of the murder of his wife, the pianist Natalia Strelchenko, 38, on their second wedding anniversary.
Martin, who is Norwegian, also acted as her agent.
Sentence will be passed on Monday.
Court report here.
Police chief David Babcock of Benbrook, Texas, has just confirmed that Cliburn winner Vadym Kholodenko is not a suspect in the tragic deaths of his two daughters.
His estranged wife, Sofya, is being treated in hospital for multiple stab wounds and is facing a mental health evaluation.
Babcock also told the Associated Press that it was Vadym who found the bodies when he came round to visit the children.
The Fort Worth Symphony have confirmed that Vadym Kholodenko will not be playing this weekend.
Vadym has suffered the appalling tragedy of the death of his two daughters and the stabbing of his estranged wife at the family home in Benbrook, Texas.
Police have yet to issue a statement.
Vadym is replaced in Forth Worth by the Italian pianist, Alessio Bax.
The orchestra auditioned yesterday for a tutti second violins seat, we hear.
Two women and a man made it to the second round, but the audition was called off when it was felt that they were not compatible with the sound quality the orchestra was seeking.
Not sure how this claim can be refuted, but here’s what the Montreal music director says in an interview with our pal Michael Johnson.
‘Here in Montreal our audience is now statistically among the youngest in North America. We sell out every concert, and the OSM has become a meeting point for sharing values and esthetic discussions. That’s at the core of what the identity and definition of a symphony orchestra is and should be. From that point of view it is very exciting here.’
Go on, trump that.
