He was named music director of the Long Beach Symphony two months ago, adding that post to his job in Spokane.
Now Eckart Preu, 47, has also been appointed music director of Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of 32 musicians. He only visited Cincy for the first time last month.
Read Janelle Gelfand here.
Following the cutting short of William Tell due to a security alert, tonight’s performance has also been called off.
Here’s the official statement:
Today’s performance of Guillaume Tell was cancelled during the second intermission because of a disturbance by an audience member, who sprinkled an unidentified powdered substance into the orchestra pit.
UPDATED: The company has also canceled this evening’s performance of L’Italiana in Algeri while the authorities investigate the incident.
Colleagues are sharing their distress at the death yesterday of John Del Carlo, a well-loved American soloist who sang 285 performances at the Metropolitan Opera over the past 23 years. John was 65.
John played the title role in Don Pasquale, Dr Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia , Swallow in Peter Grimes, Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mathieu in Andrea Chenier, Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, and Alfieri in the Met’s premiere of Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge.
He was also a stalwart at San Francisco Opera, his home town.
Internationally, he sang at Covent Garden, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Trieste, Zurich Cologne, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Vlaamse Opera.
We don’t know the reason yet.
A heavy security presence is reported by audience members.
Refunds are being offered against future performances of the same opera.
We hear from an orchestra player that a man was observed sprinkling a white flaky powder substance from a bag on the timpani, and then the podium. It was reported to security and house management. The powder is being tested. Peter Gelb cancelled the show according to security protocol.
There appears to be no ongoing threat.
Here’s more.
We have been informed that Roland Dyens died today.
An international virtuoso, he was also widely known as a composer and teacher.
Tribute here.
First Fort Worth. Then Pittsburgh. Briefly, Philadelphia.
Now the Pacific Symphony is heading for walkout.
Here’s the players’ latest bulletin:
Santa Ana, California
October 26, 2016
The Musicians of the Pacific Symphony have unanimously rejected the employer’s recent contract offer and reaffirmed the strike authorization they had previously granted to their union leadership. Bob Sanders, President of Orange County Musicians’ Association, Local 7 of the American Federation of Musicians states “Our bargaining team wanted to reassess the position of the bargaining unit with their full knowledge of where the parties stand at the present time. The orchestra offered its support resoundingly.”
Local 7 and Pacific Symphony management have been bargaining since July to renew their Labor Agreement, which expired August 31, 2016. At issue is the musicians desire to have a predictable schedule, a guaranteed annual wage, and a contract that increases work offered. Pacific Symphony, the nation’s 22nd largest symphony orchestra by size of annual budget, currently operates with annual expenditures of approximately $20 million while providing less work and a lower wage for musicians than any other large orchestra around the country.
According to Local 7 bargaining committee chairman and Pacific Symphony violist Adam Neeley, “Pacific Symphony musicians, when compared with their colleagues who play in orchestras of similar size and scope, are the only orchestral musicians in the country who don’t have the assurance from year to year of a fixed schedule or annual wage. While our employer has offered a form of annual service guarantees, the offer on the table fails to grow work in the coming years, leaves musicians guessing when they might be called for services, and would leave the musicians exposed to possible cost-saving cuts.”…
The parties have no bargaining dates set. According to Neeley, “we will perform the upcoming concert with the Pacific Chorale out of respect for our longtime relationship with them. After that, we cannot ensure how much longer we can continue to perform without a contract. We feel strongly that these serious concerns must begin to be addressed.”
Following Lufthansa’s seizure of a viola at Helsinki Airport on Thursday, concertmaster Florian Donderer wrote to the German airline asking for clarification of its viola policy.
Here’s what LH tweeted him back:
It depends on the Check-in at the Airport, if there is enough space to transport the instrument in cabin, as it … exceeds the measurements for hand luggage. However passengers have the possibility to reserve a seat for their … instrument against a charge. That way you can make sure, you are able to transport the instrument in cabin.
That’s helpful.
If you are a viola player, do not think of flying Lufthansa. They really don’t understand musicians.
Our weekly diary by Anthea Kreston of the Artemis Quartet:
I love being a nerd. Sometimes classical music has this sheen of super-sophistication: lipstick, fur coats, after-concert parties with expensive wines. The reality is that the bulk of my work is done in sweat pants, with a lukewarm cup of stale coffee, a half-eaten piece of toast, sitting cross-legged on a bed or couch. Nothing sophisticated about it from the outside, but inside my head (I am physically surrounded by my headphones, computer, iPhone, markers, music folder and scores, and a violin precariously propped up against some of the former), ideas and questions collide and influence each other, in a series of “a-ha” moments from minuscule to gargantuan (in a nerdy kind of way).
We are working on Beethoven Op. 18 #3 and Bartok 3 this week, for concerts in January. Upcoming concerts are a mix of our recent program (Haydn, Rihm, Schumann) and last seasons repertoire (Janacek, Shostakovich, Demetz, Mozart) as well as adding the Schumann piano quintet for spring tours.
As I delve into the new repertoire, my desire for an underlying theoretical and structural framework becomes greater. The other day, when marking my score of the first movement of the Beethoven Op. 18 #3, (I am addicted to counting phrase lengths, finding patterns (harmonically and rhythmically)), I became increasingly interested in the first two bars of the piece.
The first phrase is 10 measure long – are these two first bars (an open V/7 chord) simply an introduction, or a part of the phrase itself? After fully marking my phrases, and doing some basic harmonic analysis, I asked Jason about this. How would he conduct the first phrase, if it were an orchestral work? It could be looked at different ways. When the melody returns for the final time, in the coda, instead of an open V/7 chord, the melodic notes are turned into the basis of a series of V/I chords, finally erupting into an exuberant first violin cadenza which propels the quartet into what I can describe as a final “group high-5”. Finally, these two bars are no longer introductory, but a part of the phrase – integral to the structure.
As I went to sleep that night, I continued to think of this. When preparing for quartet, 85% of my work is done without the violin in my hand. When the violin is in my hand, I am often experimenting with fingerings, timbres, and bowings. That gives me a lot of flexibility when we rehearse – a chance to fit in or stand out, depending on the group decision. As rehearsals continue, my “hand-on-violin” time increases, while I fine-tune and integrate group decisions. In some ways, I look at rehearsals in this way, if I use a flowering plant as an example: water and fertilize the plant – let it grow wild – get as big and crazy as possible. Only then, begin to trim, sculpt, and finally cut the blooms, to be carefully placed in a beautiful vase and given to a loved one. If trimming begins too soon, the gift will be less generous, blooms less magnificent. If too late, your gift resembles a bouquet of wildflowers.
I woke up in the middle of the night before our first 18/3 rehearsal. I needed answers about those first two measures. I googled “Beethoven Opus 18 number 3 Analysis”, ending up with a combination of light program notes and super heavy doctoral thesis.
After several papers, I came upon a Masters Thesis from the University of North Texas by Robert Tompkins. This was it! An analysis of selected first movements of Beethoven Opus 18 quartets, based on the theories of Heinrich Koch, a German music theorist who wrote “Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition”. This is a treatise, written in 1793 (five years before Opus 18/3 was begun) which addresses phrase lengths and sonata allegro form (before the term was coined). Sonata Allegro form, just in case you don’t know, is the structure of nearly all symphonies, chamber works, and concerti – from Haydn and Mozart and continuing (with more flexibility) until present day.
So – here was my 3 am “a-ha” moment. Using Koch’s theories, the first two measures are an introduction. I read and compared my score to the thesis over the next hours, and could barely contain my excitement in the morning when I told Jason. Then, I made breakfast, put on my pink treble clef ear warmers, dropped my youngest at kindergarten on the back of my bike, and continued to the University of the Arts for a full day of Beethoven. I embrace my inner nerd.
Janine Jansen, on her website:
For the last 12 years, I have enjoyed a very successful and supportive collaboration with HarrisonParrott, which has been an experience of high quality, both professionally and personally. However, at this stage in my life, I have decided it is more appropriate for me to have a personal manager. I have therefore decided to employ Alexandra Schulz in this capacity, who will, with immediate effect, take over all aspects of my work. Alexandra and I worked together for several years at HarrisonParrott.
I would like to pay tribute to everything HarrisonParrott has done for me over the last twelve years.’
– Janine Jansen
The Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, adjacent to the Cathedral, has been ravaged by fire and is expected to collapse at any time. The Royal Clarence was the oldest extant hotel in England, founded in 1769. Liszt played there in 1840.
An orchestral concert, closing the Two Moors Festival, was meant to take place tonight in the Cathedral but has sadly been cancelled.
The concert was meant to launch the John Adie Memorial Fund. John, with his wife, Penny, founded the Festival in 2001 following the devastation inflicted on the area by the foot and mouth epidemic. John died at the end of last year’s festival, aged 69.
Wonderful BBC Radio 4 documentary on a life-accompanying song.
Listen here.
Latest from Geoff Baker:
At a recent large meeting at El Sistema’s Centre for Social Action through Music, a government representative, the Vice-Minister of Supreme Happiness (!) Carolina Cestari, reminded the institution’s employees that their funding came from the President’s Office, and they should therefore support the government’s revolutionary process or find a new job. They were told not to sign the petition for a recall referendum that has been the main focus of opposition efforts in recent months. It appears they are also now expected to join pro-government marches, and according to one source, they have since done so.
There has been consternation in the capital’s classical music scene as a result. However, and in line with the long history of El Sistema, so far no employee has come forward to make a public declaration or denunciation. The levels of pressure and fear are high, and 40 years of top-down orchestration and strict control by founder José Antonio Abreu, who believes in the orchestra as a school of social discipline, have left musicians without a political voice or a capacity to self-organize.
Read on here.
