May 2017 - Page 18 of 27

The yellow label today signed Valérie Gross, sometimes known as the human face of Sony Classical.

Based in Berlin, Valérie has been Vice President A&R Sony Classical International, which meant that she exec-produced such artists as Jonas Kaufmann, Vittorio Grigolo and Lang Lang (who has since gone back to DG).

At DG, Valérie will be A&R Director Vocal & Opera Productions, starting immediately, which is unusual.

It appears her relations with Sony are now non-existent.

Não demorou muito para que o Brasil fosse considerado uma potência, sede dos Jogos Olímpicos e um modelo para economias emergentes.

Hoje, o país está nitidamente quebrado, incapaz de cumprir suas obrigações financeiras em qualquer nível – incluindo o campo cultural.

Ontem o Teatro São Pedro, em São Paulo, despediu dois terços de seus músicos, não tendo conseguido pagá-los por meses. Os músicos profissionais foram substituídos por estudantes, não remunerados, é claro. Não compareçam a este teatro.

A principal orquestra do país, a Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira (OSB), não paga seus músicos há meio ano e parece estar à beira do colapso.

Os artistas do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro estão nas ruas, implorando por comida.

Não há nenhum plano para resolver este desastre. O governo parece não se importar que as instituições culturais estejam sendo destruídas e a reputação cultural do país seja reduzida a lixo. Ainda pode haver uma enorme quantidade de café no Brasil, mas em breve não haverá mais artistas para bebê-la.

Músicos brasileiros no exterior nos dizem que observam com horror a forma como sua tradição está sendo aniquilada.

Mas não há volta. Um convite aos artistas internacionais para tocar no Brasil não pode ser aceito num momento em que os músicos profissionais do país estão morrendo de fome.

O Brasil deve reestruturar suas organizações culturais antes que o mundo da música possa restaurar o seu status profissional com o país.

Cancelem o carnaval. São tempos trágicos.

The Mediacités site in France has obtained copies of personal expenses submitted by Serge Dorny, director of the Opéra de Lyon, from 2013 to 2015.

They come to more than 8,000 Euros (or dollars) a month.

Among the extravagances are a dinner with his music director, Kazushi Ono (and his wife): 644 Euros.

A new pen: 600 Euros.

Trip to Frankfurt for a meeting with its opera chief: 8,000 Euros.

Five nights in a luxury hotel in Aix to attend one concert… a 4,000-Euro tour of Russia and the Ukraine… and so on.

More details here.

Dorny, 55, has been head of Lyon Opéra since 2003. He is not hugely popular with staff, which may explain the leak of his expenses.

In Dresden, where he was fired before taking office as general director of the Semper Oper, he was accused by a government minister of acting ‘like the Sun King’.

Dorny later won a case against the Saxon government for unfair dismissal.

UPDATE: Dorny explains his expenses.

The death has been announced in Munich of Francis Travis, on April 28.

Raised in Detroit, Travis studied with Hermann Scherchen in Switzerland and became his assistant.

He worked at Basle Opera and later at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, making several commercial recordings. He was also professor of conducting at Tokyo National University.

François-Xavier Roth is relatively new at the Gürzenich orchestra in Cologine, still feeling his way with the audience.

So, at the end of the concert, he gave a little chat in German and English on recent results – football and the French election. Then he went into cabaret mode, singing Charles Trenet’s classic La Mer, with orchestral accompaniment.

Not many music directors get this volume of applause.

Now test it against the great original:

After studies with Terry Riley and Joanna Brouk made her mark among 1970s New Agers with Healing Music.

She stopped composing in 1985 to raise a child and practise transcendental meditation. Last year, she released a major retrospective, Hearing Music. You can read a recent interview here.

Joanna died on April 28, 2017, at the age of 68.

The Fairfax newspaper group – which owns the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age – plans to fire 125 journalists.. Among them are all arts, film and books writers, as well as the two deputy arts editors.

The journalists have gone on strike. The outlook is bleak.

Whatever settlement is finally reached there will be less arts coverage in future in the country’s two ‘civilised’ newspapers, and arts organisations will be left reliant on the mercies of the Murdoch press to attract public attention. It will be harder than ever to market new art and challenging work.

A number of Australian arts leaders have voiced a protest here. They are, however, not A-listers.

They do not include the heads of Opera Australia, the national orchestras, theatres, museums and galleries – let alone such international Australian luminaries as Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue (pictured, left), Russell Crowe, Simone Young, Clive James, Germaine Greer, Thomas Kenneally and the like.

Until the big beasts start roaring, Fairfax bosses won’t be bothered.

It’s not long since Brazil was considered a powerhouse, host to the Olympic Games and a model for emergent economies.

Today, the country is flat broke, unable to meet its financial obligations on any level – including the cultural field.

Yesterday, the San Pedro Opera House in São Paulo sacked two-thirds of its musicians, having failed to pay them for months. The professional musicians have been replaced by students. Unpaid, of course. Don’t go there.

The country’s flagship orchestra, the Brazilian Symphony (OSB), has not paid its musicians for half a year and seems to be on the verge of collapse.

The opera house in Rio has its artists on the streets, begging for food.

There is no plan to address the disaster. The Government seems not to care that cultural institutions are being wiped out and the country’s cultural reputation is reduced to junk. There may still be an awful lot of coffee in Brazil but there will soon be no artists left to drink it.

Brazilian musicians abroad tell us that they look on in horror as their heritage is wiped out.

But there is no going back. An invitation to artists to perform in Brazil cannot be accepted at a time when the country’s professional musicians are being left to starve. Brazil must put its cultural houses in order before the rest of the music world will restore its professional status.

Cancel the carnival. These are tragic times.

Translation in Portuguese by Antonio Seixas:

Não demorou muito para que o Brasil fosse considerado uma potência, sede dos Jogos Olímpicos e um modelo para economias emergentes.

Hoje, o país está nitidamente quebrado, incapaz de cumprir suas obrigações financeiras em qualquer nível – incluindo o campo cultural.

A principal orquestra do país, a Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira (OSB), não paga seus músicos há meio ano e parece estar à beira do colapso.

Os artistas do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro estão nas ruas, implorando por comida.

Músicos brasileiros no exterior nos dizem que observam com horror a forma como sua tradição está sendo aniquilada.

Mas não há volta. Um convite aos artistas internacionais para tocar no Brasil não pode ser aceito num momento em que os músicos profissionais do país estão morrendo de fome.

O Brasil deve reestruturar suas organizações culturais antes que o mundo da música possa restaurar o seu status profissional com o país.

Cancelem o carnaval. São tempos trágicos.

Tragic news from Brazil.

One of the country’s leading baritones, Leonardo Pascua, died this week of a massive heart attack at the age of 42.

Leonardo Pascua was a member of the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre. Like other staff and artists, he had not been paid for months. His widow, Rose, a soprano with the Municipal, has (we hear) been forced to borrow money from colleagues to pay for the funeral.

Rose posted: ‘I need to inform you all that God called Leonardo Pascua to sing with him his praises! We will meet for the last tribute tomorrow, from 9 pm. The prayers are more than necessary for our family! Difficult time for all that loved him!’

Many of the singers at the Rio Municipal Theatre are living off food handouts. The organisation has done nothing to relieve their plight. Members of the chorus, the ballet and the orchestra are demonstrating in front of the theatre.

EDITORIAL: The music stops in Brazil.

UPDATE: Footage from the opera protest in Rio.

The formidable violinist writes to Slipped Disc, suggesting that tests of Strads against modern instruments are founded on false premises:

My dear Friends! if I may add anything:)

My first Strad I ever touched, I was 10 years old. It was 1984 and I was preparing myself for the Junior Wieniawski Competition. My teacher at that time professor Bron, helped me to get the Stradivari from the Soviet Union’s State rare instrument collection. It was Strad’s half-size unique instrument. When I took this instrument for the first time, I thought that like with a wave of magic stick, I would start making miraculous sounds. Next minute, I could not believe my ears when the violin sounded so terrible to compare to my modern instrument that I “mastered” playing at that time. I compared the two instruments playing the same piece over and over again to my father, seeking his approval that the whole Stradivari thing is a total myth!!!

My Dad was working as an oboist of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also a professional piano tuner. I shared with him my first shocking Strad experience. He smiled and said to me that I should not be disappointed. “Just learn how to play it, close your eyes, open your ears and listen to the overtones. Find that sound, find your own voice in Music, this instrument will teach you everything you need to know”. From that moment on my life in Music began…

Today, I am lucky to say that I played perhaps over 40 Strads and other precious instruments like Guarneri Del Jesu.
All Stradivari’s violins I have had fortune to touch, all his instruments with almost no exception are also a treasure. There is however quite a bit of work involved. First, you need a player that is willing to be flexible to go as far as to change his or her own violin technic for the violin that he or she is playing. Then, you need a superb violin maker to perform a fine tuning – an adjustment of the instrument for a player’s taste. In other words, it’s a partnership, like a trio: violin, violinist and a violinmaker. But then, the most interesting happens when you go to the concert hall! Not even during rehearsal, the ultimate test of the instrument and your ability to play it, is awaiting you together with thousands of spectators when you enter the concert stage. Only then, real work begins.

The first time I played my own “Kreutzer” Strad was playing in Chicago with Rostropovich conducting me in Shostakovitch’s violin concerto. After the concert my beloved Slava asked me: Maxim, what instrument are you playing? I proudly declared: Strad, 1727, used to be owned by the legendary Kreutzer!

With no hesitation Rostropovich threw at me: Change it!!

It took me, and two of my violin makers Florian Leonhard and Nahum Tuch about half a year to “lift this unique violin up” to the absolute Everest. The process was a truly unbelievable roller-coaster that is hard to describe!

When you play phenomenal Guarneri “Del Gesu ” violins, you can play it as you wish. The instrument will realize all your dreams and expectations about the sound, providing you are a skillful player. All those magic violins made by Antonio Stradivari I got to know, made me into a more flexible player I am today. Flexible, because when you hold Strad, you do not play it – it teaches you how to sing it, with his violins you are able to discover the magical palette of colors and more over, every day it’s a bit of another instrument. It is alive, truly mystical, like a person. Strad is my daily life changing experience!

I hope it helps:) For more, do come to my concerts or get my new cd’s. They will soon be available. I will keep you posted. Best wishes to All Music lovers at Slipped Disc and not only:) Yours with love, Maxim Vengerov