Jeff Melanson, ex-president of the Toronto Symphony is demanding that his other ex, singer-heiress Eleanor McCain, pay the entire costs of their separation.
Read all about it here (half of Canada is relishing it).
We hear that the Paris based pianist Kun-Woo Paik has been forced to cancel a trip to China after being refused a visa.
He will be replaced at the Guiyang Symphony’s March 18 concert by the Chinese pianist Sa Chen.
The cancellation is significant. In September 2000, Kun Woo Paik was the first South Korean artist to be invited to perform in China.
Amid rising regional tensions, Beijing has banned all South Korean performers since November 2016.
UPDATE: The soprano Sumi Jo has been refused entry for a March concert in Xian.
A public service film from the Healthcare Professionals Network.
The Ministry of Culture in Hessen, Germany, has named Francesco Angelico as music director at Staatstheater Kassel.
Angelico, 39, is a Sicilian who won the Malko competition in 2009. He is presently chief conductor of the Tirol symphony orchestra and theatre at Innsbruck.
Just when you thought the classical proselyte had run out of gimmicks, here he is on stage last night with middle-aged rockers Metallica.
And there’s more. Is this improv?
He’s an Aussie. Who knew?
Acclaimed musical La La Land is singing its way into everybody’s hearts, and winning every award going, but none of its songs would be so captivating without the work of Australian conductor Tim Davies.
Read on here.
The Canadian soprano Layla Claire and her husband, the US baritone John Chest, announce the birth of baby Matilda Claire.
All doing well.
Layla Claire is next on stage in Zurich as Elvira in March, then as Countess in Philadelphia’s Figaro a month later. John Chest sings Valentin in Berlin’s Faust next month, then on to the Count in Philadelphia’s Figaro. So the couple will be soon be together as Count and Countess.
Who’s babysitting?
The German tenor, 47, was cheered to the rafters at the end of Lohengrin in Paris last night.
No reviews yet, but he got through the production without incident.
Before going on stage he talked to AfP about his five-month layoff:
‘It was very difficult to have to wait so long to be able to sing again, especially because no one was able to tell me if it would take one month, two months or three months to heal. If I had known I would have taken some holidays but I had to wait and wait. I went to the doctor twice a week to see if it was getting any better.
Then when it had almost healed ‘the vein burst for a second time.’
Welcome back, Jonas.
The British pianist David Shenton was asked to accompany a singer in The Star-Spangled Banner at the inauguration of President Trump.
He asked if there was a fee and was told it’s an honour to be invited. He asked about his fare from New York to Washington DC and was told it would not be paid.
Needless to say, he politely declined.
We hear that Steinway were asked to donate a new piano which will be painted with the stars and stripes.
In a good week to bury bad news, the New York Philharmonic has been shedding key staff.
Ed Yim, v-p of artists planning, quit yesterday for a better job.
Today, the orchestra’s head fundraiser, Lisa Mantone, found her way to the exit. Lisa was Vice President for Advancement and Communications. She had only been in the post for a year.
To cover its bare patches the Philharmonic has promoted Vince Ford, Director of Digital Media, together with the head of PR, to vice-presidential status.
‘You can see where the priorities lie,’ says a disgruntled insider. ‘Two senior staff members (fundraising and artistic) are leaving and two v-ps are created – communications and digital media.’
The Opéra de Paris has confirmed that the German tenor will end his enforced five-month absence, singing Lohengrin tonight.
There is, however, one cast change.
Wolfgang Koch has pulled out as Teleramund. He is replaced by Tomasz Konieczny.
The baritone Christopher Purves has a throat infection and cannot sing in tonight’s Written on Skin.
Good trouper that he is, he will act the part while James Cleverton sings from the wings.
