Saad Lamjarred is currently the hottest commodity in North African music, with (according to Guiness) the most-viewed Arab video on Youtube, 325 million hits and climbing.
Fame, however, has its drawbacks. A woman who accused him of raping her in New York saw the video and reminded police, through her lawyers, that he had skipped bail six years ago.
Jonathan Conklin, one of two down-and-outs who murdered orchestral violinist Mary Whitaker in August 2014 at her upstate summer home, has been handed a 25-year jail sentence.
His accomplice, Charles Sanford, will be sentenced tomorrow.
The agony is almost over for Mary’s many friends, but the sense of loss will never fade.
The serious German press is full of appreciations for Moidele Bickel, one of the most respected and influential theatre and opera costume designers of the past half century. Moidele died on May 16, aged 79.
She worked closely with Patrice Chéreau, Peter Stein, Luc Bondy, Robert Wilson and George Tabori.
Moidele Bickel backstage with singer Vesselina Kassarova preparing Patrice Chéreau’s “Don Giovanni” at Salzburg Festival 1994 (c) Marion Kalter/LebrechtMusic&Arts
The Ruhr Triennale, founded by Gerard Mortier in 2002, is changing hands for the next three years.
The new team for 2018-20 are Stefanie Carp, intendant, and Christoph Marthaler, director-in-chief.
Stefanie, 6o, is a protégée of Marie Zimmermann, whose early death prevented her from becoming head of the Ruhr Triennale back in 2008.
© Edi Szekely/Ruhrtriennale
On the eve of his last production, the outgoing music director is interviewed this morning by Anna Picard for the Times (firewall).
Two key quotes:
I said to them, if you can find £750,000 to protect the full-time chorus, I will stay. When I discovered that was not an option, I began to wonder whether the choice was neither financial nor artistic but political. And once I felt it might have been a political choice, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to continue.
*
I don’t think it is ever naive to stand up for what you believe in. I felt a huge responsibility to try and protect the musicians and the musical qualities of the company. I cannot imagine a music director who cares about his musicians feeling any different.
Defending the musical quality of the organisation is the job. It stands to reason that when you can no longer maintain that defence, you are no longer able to do your job. I have lost the debate, and am incredibly sad about that, both for myself and for what I believe to be the needs of the company.
Nicola Luisotti has announced he is stepping down as music director of San Francisco Opera in July 2018, after 11 years in the job.
That puts him in line automatically for vacancies at the Met, Munich and, potentially, Covent Garden.
Luisotti, 54, is also music director at San Carlo in Naples, He has been quietly effective in San Francisco, much appreciated by singers but not gaining the wider recognition he deserved.
Becky Hickmore, who was personal assistant to Paul Daniel when he was music director of English National Opera, has been tragically killed with her three year-old daughter, Milly, when her family car came off the M4 motorway and hit a tree.
Becky’s husband, John Taylor, and their elder daughter, Abby, escaped serious injury.
Becky, who was 37, had worked at ENO from June 2004 to February 2007. A friendly and popular member of the company during stressful times, she went on to set up her own executive services firm.
Our shocked condolences to Becky’s family.
The next head of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is to be Patrick Dickie, an independent UK opera producer.
A second professor at the Munich Academy of Music is reported to be facing trial for sex offences.
The teacher, named as ‘Hans-Jürgen B.’, has been suspended. He is accused of raping a female student.
He will be brought to trial shortly after the conclusion of the process against the former rector Siegfried Mauser, described by the judge as ‘a groper.’
It’s the album’s 50th anniversary and the Phil are taking it on bootleg tour.
Full Phil programme announced tonight:
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 2016-2017 Season Announced
He’s speaking on the subject at the Omera America conference in Montreal tomorrow.
Should be interesting. Feel free to feed highlights to Slipped Disc.
OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation’s leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce details of Opera Conference 2016: Global Strategies/Local Actions, to be held in Montréal, Québec, from May 18–21. Hosted by Opéra de Montréal in association with Opera Volunteers International, this annual gathering of opera professionals — the largest in North America — will convene at Le Westin Montréal and venues throughout the metro area. This marks the first time in OPERA America’s 46-year history that the conference will be held in Montréal and the fifth time in Canada.
With more than 500 industry leaders in attendance, OPERA America’s annual conference presents a unique opportunity to examine issues affecting the opera community from a variety of perspectives. With the theme “Global Strategies/Local Actions,” conference attendees will examine global trends — from within and outside the opera world — that can inform the bold decisions needed to amplify opera’s civic impact and bring vitality to both time-honored and new repertoire.
OPERA CONFERENCE 2016 HIGHLIGHTS
Topics planned for opera conference attendees cover all facets of the art form and address the concerns of creators, administrators, trustees and supporters. Highlights of the many conference-wide sessions, performances and showcases include the following:
Thieves broke into the Vienna State Opera and plundered 53 safe boxes in the artists’ area on Sunday, it was admitted today.
They stole cash, phones and small items, leaving instruments untouched.
Musicians discovered the theft just before Sunday’s performance of Mayerling.
The police were called.
