The Boston Symphony is claiming a world record for 17 married couples taking part in this weekend’s Tanglewood performance of Aida.
Six of the couples are players in the orchestra, eight are in the Tanglewood chorus. An associate concertmaster has engaged his freelance wife.
Violeta Urmana, who sings Amneris, is married to tenor, Alfredo Nigro.
And the whole enterprise is topped by Mr & Mrs Maestro – music director Andris Nelsons, whose wife Kristine Opolais sings the title role.
Beat that, anyone?
Nevill Holt opera in Leicestershire has submitted plans to build a permanent, 400-seat opera house on its stable block.
The company has been staging summer opera since 2013.
It expands the countryhouse opera scene which consists of Glyndebourne, Garsington, Longborough, two rival Grange Park companies and a couple more, all of them functioning without state subsidy.
The Nevill Holt estate is owned by David Ross, who funds the opera company. Its manager is Rosenna East and its chief aim is to foster emerging talent.
We have been informed by friends who visited him this month that Neil Black, principal oboe of four London orchestras, has died at the age of 84.
Neil was successively principal of the London Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, English Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. By our reckoning, he appeared on more big-label recordings than any other oboist.
In Neil’s heyday, Neville Marriner made more records with the Academy than any other conductor-orchestra pairing except Karajan with Berlin, and the London Philharmonic were effectively house orchestra for EMI Classics.
(c) Godfrey MacDomnic/Lebrecht
Birmingham born, Neil played from 1948-51 in the newborn National Youth Orchestra before reading history at Oxford University. He never intended to be a professional musician, but by the late 1950s he was London’s go-to oboist, showered with engagements and concerto dates. Conductors of every type, modern or period, asked for him by name, and he never let them down.
He was a quiet authority at the heart of London’s orchestras.
photo (c) Anthony_Woodhouse, Neil Black with Itzhak Perlman, South Bank summer festival, 1980
From a Slipped Disc reader:
We have a group from school in South West London, who are travelling to the USA on a performing arts tour this October, and are flying Virgin Atlantic. This will be the trip of a lifetime for some of these talented kids, but at the moment they’re getting kicked in the teeth by Virgin at every turn
They wish to take 5 (expensive) violins with them in the cabin, and Virgin’s totally intransigent attitude is that ‘computer says no’, and all they are doing is quoting their ‘standard’ terms at us repeatedly, and wish to force this school to purchase extra seats or be required to place the violins in the hold with all the dangerous implications this has for the instruments.
This despite:
– The violins’ volume is far less than that of the maximum allowed hand luggage case (13 x 30 x 85 cm for a violin, 23 x 36 x 56 for a standard hand luggage case)
– The violins weigh on average 3-4 kg each, as opposed to the maximum allowed 10kg
– The violins would be their only item of hand luggage
– This is a group of 30+ individuals all of whom are paying full fare for a seat.
Come on Richard Branson. Remember when you were in the music business?
Now her label-sister Anne-Sophie Mutter follows suit:
I’d like to invite you all to join me in the creation process of my upcoming album on Deutsche Grammophon. I’ve come up with a track list and a title. Now I’d be thrilled if I could open up the floor to you for the album cover design. Join the contest on 99designs!
The new man is Gary Hanson, who retired last year as head of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he spent almost his entire career.
Hanson, whose origins are in Toronto, is a safe pair of hands at the tiller, allied to a strong strategic mind. He secured Cleveland’s various residencies at European festivals and in Florida, and he formed a secure partnership with music director Franz Welser-Most.
His first task will be to conduct a music director search. Peter Oundjian departs next year.
The next fires he will have to fight are the detritus left behind by his capricious predecessor, Jeff Melanson, who departed after a issues of staff relations and a social scandal.
It’s a big job. But Gary Hanson wears big shoes.
UPDATE:
waffly press release:
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) announces that Gary Hanson has been named Interim CEO of the TSO. Gary Hanson, a Toronto native, was chief executive of The Cleveland Orchestra until his retirement at the end of 2015. Mr. Hanson was appointed at a special meeting of the TSO Board of Directors, on Wednesday, August 17, and will begin his term on September 26, 2016. He will serve in the role for up to two years.
Mr. Hanson joins the TSO following the successful 2015/16 season and the achievement of a third consecutive year-end surplus of revenues over expenses.
Going forward, Mr. Hanson will champion and continue the TSO’s successful work in fundraising and community outreach, and will play a key role alongside the Board of Directors in creating a comprehensive vision and strategy for the TSO’s future. Mr. Hanson will manage the ongoing search for the TSO’s next artistic leader in collaboration with the Music Director Search Committee. He will also support the TSO Board in engaging a leader to succeed him as permanent CEO.
“On behalf of the Board, I am very pleased to welcome Mr. Hanson to the TSO family. Gary’s superb track record, the esteem he has across the industry, and his well-proven management skills will help sustain and advance our positive momentum as we prepare for the future,” said Richard Phillips, Chair of the TSO Board of Directors.
In addition to working with the Board, Mr. Hanson will lead the TSO staff and will partner with the Orchestra’s musicians to ensure continuing artistic excellence, collaborating closely with Peter Oundjian during his final two seasons as Music Director.
Mr. Hanson said, “I am deeply honoured to accept this position and feel privileged that I can play a role in the future success of my hometown orchestra. I look forward very much to working with the outstanding musicians and staff of the Toronto Symphony. Likewise, I am excited by the opportunity to partner with my long-time friend Peter Oundjian and joining in the celebration of his extraordinary tenure.”
Board Chair Richard Phillips thanked Sonia Baxendale who temporarily stepped off the TSO Board of Directors in March 2016 to lead the organization. “Sonia’s leadership and dedication at the TSO this year was instrumental in achieving our third year of positive results and in supporting the growing engagement of the Orchestra with the community. The organization is on a strong footing financially and operationally and her contribution has positioned us to select the right transitional leadership for the TSO. With Gary Hanson in that role, the Board now has ample time to identify a permanent CEO and ensure that the TSO continues the successful momentum we’ve established,” said Mr. Phillips.
Ms. Baxendale responded, “I was pleased to step in and assist the TSO as it becomes the vibrant organization that we all desire. I was privileged to work alongside a very talented team of senior leaders and musicians and I look forward to returning to the Board of Directors and continuing to support Gary and the TSO in the years ahead. It’s a very exciting time at the TSO and there are many wonderful initiatives ahead.”
In addition to finishing its 2015/16 fiscal year with an operating surplus, the TSO also reduced its accumulated deficit by approximately $4 million (from $12 million to under $8 million). These results were possible through an increase of more than 1,000 new donors versus last season, growth in all donor categories, the donation of a 1703 Amati viola, and strong support from the Toronto Symphony Foundation. In 2015/16, the TSO was able to achieve a 20-year record high in donations.
The summer news drought is over.
Finnish National Opera and Ballet has just announced that it has appointed composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen to be Artist in Association, a newly created, five-year position.
‘In this capacity, Salonen will have a broad remit: conducting performances, introducing his compositions into the repertoire and acting as artistic advisor. The Artist in Association relationship includes duties beyond artistic tasks, as Salonen will act as an ambassador for the FNOB in developing new partnerships.’
Salonen, 58, is principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
UPDATE: Salonen’s statement:
‘During the last thirty years, the majority of my work as a conductor and composer has taken place abroad. It feels good to finally make long-term plans in my native country, and especially at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, where the flame of artistic ambition is bright and powerful.
‘Opera interests me more and more as an art form, and I’m very enthusiastic and excited about the future collaboration with the excellent team of the FNOB.’
In an interview with tomorrow’s Paris Match, the Georgian pianist says Putin’s Russia ‘is like the Soviet Union, with imperialism and dictatorship.’
The best of British ballet critics, Ismene Brown, has signed off her last review.
Formerly with the Telegraph, lately with the Spectator, she was a founder of the ArtsDesk website and a close observer of Russian affairs.
This is my last column as The Spectator’s dance spectator. It’s been the deepest pleasure to wander on your behalf around the fertile landscape of dance, but I’m off to Oxford University to do some research. Thank you for bearing with my thoughts and I hope you bought a few tickets as a result.
No UK ballet critic comes close.
In a significant career change Elizabeth Sobol, who resigned in April as president of Universal Music Classics in the US, is to be president of Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate New York, starting October.
Elizabeth, who was previously chief exec of IMG Artists, has an unrivalled contacts book and a fertile mind. She has taken a few months to think through her next move and has decided she wants to be more of an arts initiator than a cog in a global business. At 57, she is looking for challenge and fulfilment.
At Saratoga, she has an idyllic setting and a clean sheet. The site is summer home to New York City Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It runs on a $10.3 million in 2015.
She succeeds Marcia White, who held the fort for 11 years.
This is seriously promising.
Peter Gelb has been putting on a brave face today on his accounts for the Wall Street Journal but the annual numbers you need to know are the ones he’s playing down.
Percentage of seats sold last season: 72
Percentage of box-office potential: 66
Met budget: $300m
Funds raised from donors: $140 million (down from $150m)
Total endowment: $255 million (down from $266m)
Unfunded pension obligations: $88.2 million
Achievement: Avoided deficit (phew, that was close)
BrittenPears.org reports the death of Wulff Scherchen, son of the the German conductor, Hermann Scherchen.
Wulff was 14 when he formed an attachment in 1937 to Benjamin Britten, then 23.
During the Second World War, Britten lived in the US and Scherchen was interned in Britain as an enemy alien.
When they met again, they no longer interested one another.
Scherchen married Pauline Woolford in October 1943 and took her surname, becoming John Woolford. Much of what is known about his relationship with Britten is known from an interview he gave to John Bridcut for his 2006 book, Britten’s Children.
