Mike Huckabee, the former presidential contender and Arkansas governor, has written an op-ed in the Washington Post today, urging president Trump to abandon his abolition of the National Endowment for the Arts.

As aspiring musician, Huckabee benefited as a child from the NEA.

He reminds Trump:

If it seems unusual that a conservative Republican would advocate for music and the arts, don’t be so surprised. The largest increase in arts funding ever came under President Richard Nixon, and when budget hawks thought about cutting the minuscule funding of the NEA in the 1980s, it was no less than President Ronald Reagan who stepped in to make sure those in our poorest neighborhoods continued to have access to this road to academic success and meaningful way to express their creative gifts.

I’m for cutting waste and killing worthless programs. I’m not for cutting and killing the hope and help that come from creativity.

Brent Assink is winding down as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He will leave the organisation next week after 18 years in charge.

His departure coincides with Deborah Borda’s shock decision to leave the LA Phil and move back to New York.

That leaves both leading West Coast orchestras in search of new leadership.

Interview with Assink here.

 

The veteran Atlanta Symphony music director signed with Linda Marks at HarrisonParrott today with a view to expanding his footprint in Europe and Asia.

 

Kristjan Järvi will leave the MDR Symphony at the end of next season, after six years.

He’s busy now with his Baltic Sea Philharmonic.

The Indianapolis music director Krzysztof Urbanski has been named in an unfair dismissal suit by former principal bassoon John Wetherill, who claims he was ousted from the orchestra on grounds of his age.

Wetherill, 62, says he was ‘duped and ambushed’ in 2012 by the 29 year-old music director.

He argues that ‘the [ISO] is economically benefited by moving out older musicians and bringing in younger musicians below the protected age of 40… A number of older musicians resigned during the period from late 2012 and thereafter, as a result of Urbanski’s ‘move out and replace’ plan and action.’

Report here.

UPDATE: Indy hits back.

The final performance of Verdi’s Ernani was cancelled in Toulouse on Tuesday after the tenor Alfred Kim was arrested on charges of beating up a young woman in his apartment hotel.

Kim was brought to court the following day. He was given an eight months suspended sentence and a fine of 8,000 Euros. He then took a flight out of France.

The Korean is due to appear in Aida in Brussels in two months’ time, followed by Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The cancellation was announced three hours before curtain time ‘due to the unavailability of the tenor Alfred Kim.’

UPDATE: In court reports, Kim was accused of dragging a young woman by the hair and banging her head against the toilet bowl, to the point of breaking it. He claimed to have no recollection of the incident after drinking heavily. ‘I am not used to drinking,’ he said.

 

 

From Audition Cafe’s interview with Noah Bendix-Balgley:

 

 

In Berlin (and in many German orchestras), the entire orchestra listens to the audition, not just a small audition committee. So it is a bit intimidating to look out into the hall, and see the entire Berlin Phil sitting there. But on the other hand, one can think of it as more of a performance, rather than a test or exam.

Everyone played Mozart Concerto in the first round. I played the 4th concerto. I was nervous and a bit tight. I felt I played all right, but not great. I remember enjoying playing with the pianist. I didn’t have an expectation either way after the first round. I knew there were many other outstanding candidates there at the audition, so I tried not to get my hopes up.

Once I passed and had to play Brahms Concerto in the second round, I decided to just go for it: to enjoy the opportunity and really put everything out there, rather than taking a cautious approach.

 

Read the full interview here.

Miles Zentner, piccolo player of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for many years, has died at 77 in Sherman Oaks, Cal.

He was also the maker of highly sought-after Zentner piccolos (pictured). Miles retired from the orchestra in 1999.

 

The independent British label has inked a multi-album deal with Ivan Ilic, the Paris-based, Serbian-American pianist, an eclectic artist with strong affinities to Leopold Godowsky and Morton Feldman.

He will open with the 19th century Czech composer, Antoine Reicha.

There will be no funeral for the great photographer, at his request. A celebration of his life will be announced soon.

Lebrecht Music&Arts have put out the following obituary:

 

 

We are so sad to announce the death of Don Hunstein after a long illness. Lebrecht represented him for many years, and we were always impressed by his humility and gentle approach. Don Hunstein’s iconic photographs have become symbols of an era. In the history of music photography, Don’s work during his 30 years at Columbia records was unsurpassed in its scope and breadth. Through his subtle humour and quiet nature, he was able to record many great moments in rock, jazz and classical music history – the young Bob Dylan starting out on his meteoric career and the famous cover for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Miles Davis recording Kind of Blue, Johnny Cash performing and at home on his ranch, Willie Nelson, Thelonious Monk at the piano, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel in 1966, Billie Holiday recording in the studio in 1957, Johnny Mathis in 1960, Muhammad Ali recording his I am the Greatest album, to name a few. On the classical side his subjects included Glenn Gould at the piano, Rudolf Serkin, André Previn, Midori, Pablo Casals, Isaac Stern, Leonard Bernstein, the young Yo-Yo Ma, Yehudi Menuhin, Lotte Lenya in the 1950s, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Bruno Walter conducting, and Dmitri Shostakovich. His photographs documented a rare era when musicians spent time on their art, rather than their publicity.

On one of Don’s visits to England, he agreed to be interviewed by Norman Lebrecht at our annual summer party. It was a beautiful summer’s evening and we still remember Don’s soft voice describing the performers and musicians he had worked with and how he approached his craft. It is still a very good memory for all of us who were there.

Don Hunstein grew up in St. Louis, MO and attended Washington University, graduating in 1950 with a degree in English. After college he enlisted in the US Air Force and was stationed in Fairford, England, and assigned a desk job. It was this assignment that allowed him to travel around Europe. He began photographing casually, taking pictures to send home to his family, and then with the help of a Leica M3, and inspired by a book of Henri Cartier Bresson’s work, his hobby began to take him on a lifelong path. After a year in Fairford, Don was transferred to a base outside of London. There he joined a local camera club and took evening classes at London’s Central School of Art and Design, becoming influenced by the artists and designers he met there.

He returned to the States in 1954, ending up in New York City, where he eventually landed an apprenticeship in a commercial photography studio. There he honed his photography skills by mastering large format cameras and lighting. At the time, photography was, as Don put it, “not a glamorous profession,” but he didn’t have a pull in any other vocational direction and it satisfied his creative side. As chance connections were made, he soon met and became mentored by Deborah Ishlon, who worked in the publicity department at Columbia Records. She offered him a job helping her run the photo library there and supplying prints to the press. As he began to take his own photos for the company, they recognized his talent, and he gradually worked his way into the position of Director of Photography for CBS Records.

Don’s most notable role was as chief staff photographer for Columbia Records during the heyday of rock and roll, jazz and classical music. Fortunately for Don, this was a time when the company was under the direction of Goddard Lieberson, who thought it important to document in photographs the cultural history of the music of their time. He had the opportunity to do far more than album covers and publicity shots, covering recording sessions and even visiting performers on their home turf. Don had the ability to listen with his camera. Instinctively he understood that to capture artists at their best moments, patience, trust and humility were needed. This ability to set both newcomers and experienced stars at ease in his presence is evident in his photographs.

We send our condolences to his family.

1928 – 18 March 2017

The attack on Westminster Bridge has prompted the South Bank Centre to call off all today’s performances, including the London Philharmonic concert at the RFH.

At least one person has died, others are seriously injured.

We also hear that St John’s Smith Square has decided to close as police are advising the public to avoid the area. Tonight’s Classical Opera performance of Mozart’s first staged work – The First Commandment – has regrettably been cancelled.

In a corner of the CBS studios on East 30th, known as ‘the Church’, sat a man of unusual quietude. Don Hunstein could sit all day observing the musicians before he got his camera out.

His stillness drew artists to him like a magnet. His unerring eye took pictures of unequalled intimacy. Some became iconic on the covers of bestselling records.

 

 

Bob Dylan trusted him. So did Glenn Gould. And Mohammad Ali. And Godard Lieberson, the label boss.

 

Don died at home on Saturday morning, aged 88, after a long illness.

 

I got to know him when he gave his pictures for representation to Lebrecht Music&Arts and was struck by his profound humility. No matter how famous his pictures became, he was never the story.

It was always the art first, then the artist. Never the ego.

Our thoughts are with DeeAnn. May Don rest in peace.

photos (c) Estate of Don Hunstein/Lebrecht Music&Arts

An account of his life can be read here.