The German conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens, appointed just eight months ago as music director of Norwegian Opera, has announced he will leave once the new chief executive takes over.

Steffens said he had been unable to establish ‘fruitful dialogue’ with Annilese Miskimmon over artistic planning.

Miskimmon wants to cut the number of staff singers, among other economies.

 

 

Steffens will leave when his contract expires next year. His resignation letter, leaked to Aftenposten, reads (in Google translate):

When Per Boye Hansen’s successor, Annilese Miskimmon, was appointed in December 2015, I was keen and open to a dialogue with her about the future. Now, more than a year after we first made contact, I have concluded that further cooperation between us will not be possible, and I’ve decided not to extend my contract when it expires in August 2018.

Unfortunately I have not managed to get to a fruitful dialogue with Miskimmon about the artistic planning. Moreover, I find a lack of respect for music boss’s position and influence in the opera’s artistic development.

I have tried to improve cooperation, but unfortunately without result. Because we have not managed to create a basis for the mutual trust that is necessary in any artistic endeavour, I have concluded that it is best for all concerned that I shall retire as head of music when my contract expires.

I am very sorry that it is necessary to take this step, because I know it will disappoint many of my colleagues. Artistically speaking, the experiences I have made myself in Oslo, has been very rewarding. Once again I want to especially commend the musicians in the orchestra for their work and dedication, which I appreciate enormously.

Full letter here. It’s a model of its kind.

Arizona Opera is reeling.

A modest plan for one new opera a year has won a million-dollar donation from a pair of fans.

Read here.

Marlon Daniel will conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in Havana on April 30.

Is he the first American since 1959 to lead Cuba’s premier classical ensemble?

Will Trump try to stop him?

Born on April 25, 1917, at Newport News, Virginia, died of diabetes complications in Beverly Hills,  California, June 15, 1996.

Never to be forgotten.

 

We’re looking forward to Roxanna Panufnik’s first opera this summer at Garsington, not least for the community involvement. Here’s what they have just announced:

Garsington Opera’s new commission for the 2017 Season, Silver Birch, will feature over 180 participants from the local community aged 8-80, including students from primary and secondary schools, members of the local military community, student Foley artists under the guidance of Pinewood Studios and members of Wycombe Women’s Aid.

Appearing alongside top professional singers and orchestral players, they will perform as dancers, singers, actors and instrumentalists.

Garsington Opera’s Artistic Director Douglas Boyd will conduct and collaborate with leading British composer Roxanna Panufnik, novelist and journalist Jessica Duchen (librettist), Creative Director of Garsington’s Learning and Participation programme Karen Gillingham (director), movement director Natasha Khamjani, vocal director Suzi Zumpe, designer Rhiannon Newman Brown and video designer Mischa Ying.

 

The Bremen Philharmonic and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana have lost their music director, Markus Poschner, possibly for the rest of the season.

Poschner, 46, injured his shoulder in a car accident while driving home with his family last week. He is hoping to resume work in mid-June but Bremen are saying he is out until further notice. They have called in Jinie Ka as a replacement. NDR Hamburg has replaced him with Robert Trevino and Andrew Gourlay.

No word yet from the Swiss radio orchestra which was, until recently, under threat of abolition.

Poschner is due to leave Bremen later this year to become music director of the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

Tickets have gone on sale for the soprano’s first visit to Australia.

Anna will be accompanied by husband Yusif Eyvazov and ‘renowned conducter (sic) Mikhail Tatarniko’.

Tickets are priced from $182 to$927 and the hype machine has started pumping.

But will tall-poppy Australia come rushing out for a superdiva?

A couple of years back, they failed to fill the halls for Jonas Kaufmann.

Anna will be the acid test of what sells in Oz.

press release:

Following the first TV episode of ‘GENIUS’ about the life of Albert Einstein (Sunday April 23rd/NatGeo), we’re delighted to send you a link to ‘Einstein’s Genius’, a piece of music that has been created to enhance focus and concentration, inspired by Einstein, his love of Bach and playing the violin.

 

The music mixes baroque violin music with strategic and scientific drums, pulses and movements, all scientifically proven to induce longer states of flow.  The video explains not only the technology and neuroscience behind how a piece of music  can help  enhance concentration, but also how Einstein’s attributed much of his success to listening to Bach and playing his own violin ‘Lina’, which he cited as his most important tool for sparking creativity.

Here’s some audio for you to sample. We’re none the wiser after a first listen.

The British rock singer will play at the Boston Symphony’s summer home, it was announced today.

What would Koussevitsky make of it?

press release:

Sting’s 57th & 9th World Tour, with special guests Joe Sumner and The Last Bandoleros, comes to Tanglewood, Tuesday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m., following sold-out concerts across North America and Europe. This performance marks Sting’s Tanglewood debut. Sting is joined by a three-piece band including his longtime guitarist Dominic Miller, plus drummer Josh Freese and guitarist Rufus Miller, with backing vocals from Diego Navaira and Jerry Fuentes of The Last Bandoleros, as well as Joe Sumner.

The Singaporean Darrell Ang was named last December as music director of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, as part of a revitalisation plan with the Singapore Symphony.

‘I have the opportunity to shape this orchestra in my image,’ said Ang at the time, admitting he spoke very little Mandarin before flying in to China.

 

We now hear from Rudolph Tang that he has fired two-fifths of the tutti players in what the musicians say was an unfair audition, run entirely by Ang and one other Singaporean, with no Chinese representation or any discussion with the musicians.

Ang has made a statement saying the audition was ‘legal and justified… video and audio taped throughout’.

The row has exploded onto Chinese social media. No Chinese orchestra has ever been treated this way before.

 

photo: Darrell Ang, Facebook selfie

 

Chi-chi Nwanoku’s orchestra of many minorities is turning into a musical comet. Barely two years old, it has a BBC Prom coming up this summer and a reasoned piece today in the NY Times. Read here.

Last night, Chineke gave its first performance outside London – in Bristol.

photo: Miles Brett

Grigolo, while finishing a run of Hoffmann at LA Opera, heard a woman singing Puccini to a taped background on a street downtown. He stopped, joined her and threw in some coaching tips.

She told friends it changed her life.

Does anyone know her name?