Eberhard Finke, one of the founding members of 12 cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic, has died aged 96.
He joined the orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1950 and played until 1985, when he retired.
From 1969, Eberhard Finke taught as a professor at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik.
Professional and non-professional singers are taking over London’s Covent Garden Piazza on Sunday 4 September as part of Out Loud, a day of live, interactive performances.
Apparently all you have to do is turn up and sing.
Here’s the day’s schedule:
Out Loud: Sunday 4 September 2016:
12.10–12.40pm
ROH Thurrock Community Chorus performance
12.50–13.15pm
ROH Youth Opera Company performance
13.25–13.55pm
All Together Opera performance
14.05–14.25pm
Royal Opera Chorus performance
14.25–14.50pm
‘Big Sing’ with members of the Royal Opera Chorus
14.50–15.05pm
Garsington Youth Opera Company performance
15.10–15.35pm
ROH Youth Opera Company performance
15.40–16.05pm
Glyndebourne Youth Opera performance
16.10–16.25pm
Garsington Youth Opera Company performance
16.30–16.55pm
Jette Parker Young Artists
16.55–17.10pm
‘Make a Scene’ with Jette Parker Young Artists
17.10–17.30pm
Joseph Calleja
From two press releases:
The winner of the John Christie Award for 2016 is baritone Huw Montague Rendall. The announcement was made from the stage at the Glyndebourne Opera House during Glyndebourne Chairman Gus Christie’s traditional last night speech.
Huw is a Jerwood Young Artist and was a member of the 2016 Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, taking part in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Le nozze di Figaro and Béatrice et Bénédict. He also sang the role of Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Glyndebourne and the BBC Proms. Later this year he will join the International Opera Studio, Opernhaus Zürich.
The John Christie Award is an annual scholarship given to a promising young singer to fund private study and has been awarded since 1965 by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Past winners of the John Christie Award include: Kate Royal [2004], Matthew Rose [2006], Allan Clayton [2008], Duncan Rock [2010], Louise Alder [2014] and Nikola Hillebrand [2015].
Huw is the son of David Rendall and Diana Montague, two stalwarts of the English and European opera stage.
Warm congrats to all.
A petition has been opened in Germany, appealing to Chancellor Angela Merkel to find ways and means to stop the planned demolition of the house where Mann lived in exile during and after the Second World War.
It’s not quite clear how Mrs Merkel is supposed to intervene in the commercial affairs of a foreign country, but one of the petitioners quotes Mann as saying ‘Wo ich bin, ist Deutschland – Germany is where I am’ – so maybe she can claim it as historic German territory.
Others point out that a Berlin architect, Julian Ralph Davidson, designed the villa.
Sign here.
Almost 1,000 have done so already.
press release:
(WASHINGTON)—National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Music Director Christoph Eschenbach and Executive Director Rita Shapiro announce the appointment of three new musicians to the NSO roster, effective September 6, 2016: Peter Cain, bass clarinet/clarinet; Eugena Chang, section cello; and Robert Rearden, second horn.
Peter Cain joins the NSO from the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, where he has served as Acting Second Clarinet/E♭ Clarinet since 2015. He has previously held positions with the Dayton Philharmonic and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras.
Eugena Chang has been a member of the Minnesota Orchestra cello section since 2007, when she graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music after studying with Orlando Cole, Peter Wiley, and William Stokking, and serving as principal cello of the Curtis Orchestra.
Robert Rearden served as principal horn of the Florida Orchestra from 2010–2016. He has performed regularly as an extra and substitute player with the Cleveland Orchestra, including multiple recordings and tours of Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and was a member of the New World Symphony from 2006 to 2010. He also appeared frequently as guest principal horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2010 to 2015.
The Guardian points out in an editorial that only eight of 75 BC Proms are conducted by women, and none of the permanent London orchestras or opera houses has a woman music director.
‘It wouldn’t be acceptable in other professions,’ warns the paper. ‘It isn’t acceptable here either.’
Quite right.
Piotr Beczala with Ildar Abdrazakov in Salzburg
Early this year Slipped Disc published the following assurance from Air Berlin, welcoming violins and other small instruments on board as hand luggage:
‘Passenger’s satisfaction matters for AirBerlin … after listening to feedback from passengers, the AirBerlin group is updating its hand baggage regulations for violins and similarly-sized musical instruments… One piece of hand luggage is always included on each flight … [and] passengers will soon be able to take their musical instrument aboard as a piece of hand baggage – with maximum dimensions of 86cm x 33cm x 23 cm.’
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra had trouble boarding violins last week, so violinist Michael Brooks Reid went on to the Air Berlin website and found the policy had not changed at all. Seeking clarification, this is what he was told by their customer service centre:
Dear Mr Brooks Reid,
Thank you for your e-mail.
It is possible to take your musical instruments on board. Therefor it is necessary to book an Extra Seat for the instrument during your booking.
Please note, that even if your request is accepted, the captain reserves the right to make changes and decide that the transport be made in the hold, if he considers that the security of the passengers is compromised.
If you have any further questions or queries, please feel free to contact our team at any time.
Kind regards
B. Wielpütz
Service Team airberlin group
Moral of the story: Don’t believe Air Berlin. Better still, don’t fly them.
In the wake of sceptical reports of the judging process in Slipped Disc, the competition co-chairman has issued this response, which we are happy to publish verbatim:
Official response from David Stern, co-chairman of the jury committee of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition:
When we were approached with the idea to start a competition in the name of our father, my siblings and I wanted to ensure the project would reflect the best of Isaac Stern’s legacy: musicianship, communication and artistic integrity. Music making is not a competitive sport, and a competition like this must be more than a showcase for empty virtuosity. In line with my father’s lifelong philosophy and devotion to his art, I endeavored to include chamber music, the creativity of requiring individually composed cadenzas for the G Major Mozart concerto, and a repertoire that would consist of a wide spectrum of stylistic understanding. The performance of a significant work of the Chinese canon obliged the participants to have broader respect for non-Western music. In today’s music world young musicians face huge challenges for them to be recognized, and an important event like this one must serve this new generation of musical talent while striving always for the highest artistic level. After much hard work and planning, I can honestly say that my father would be proud of both the process and the intent behind it.
The finalists of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition represent a remarkably high level of artistry, and we, the jury and the entire Competition organization, stand behind these finalists with great pride.
We took three steps to ensure transparency and fairness in the voting process: 1. All scores for all eliminated competitors and eventually the winners as well will be open to public scrutiny, which is an unprecedented level of transparency in competition voting; 2. All performances are live-streamed and archived for anyone to watch; 3. All teacher/student relationships were disclosed in applications and published in student biographies, and at no time was there any discussion between the jury members. It is very clear that the published results from the jury so far reflect the unimpeachable fairness exhibited in the voting in every round. I am convinced that any qualified jury at this high international level would have arrived at the same conclusions in judging these fine contestants. This voting system has been completely open and fair.
Great students work with great teachers, and we have both in the jury and competitor pool. Through the live-streaming and archived performances, we invite the public to view these fine, young musicians in this highly rigorous competition. They are a legacy of the musicality and human spirit which my father fervently embodied.
The lives of professional sports and classical players are converging ever faster.
This is Daishin Kashimoto, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, receiving his new RX 450h hybrid from Lexus, his sponsor.
Local motor media are running picture and story.
The audience will wear headphones outside and the orchestra will be safely indoors for the opera house’s own story, told in Alan John’s Sydney Opera House – The Opera (The Eighth Wonder).
Full story here.
Anton Lubchenko, former artistic director of the Primorsky Opera and Ballet (now part of Gergiev’s Mariinsky empire), was arrested yesterday in St Petersburg and flown in handcuffs to Vladivostok.
No charges have been specified.
Lubchenko is a highly-regarded conductor and composer. His most recent work is an opera on Doctor Zhivago, commissioned by a German company in Regensburg and transferred to the Primorsky.
