There appear to be only two principal flutes in our exhaustive list of the longest serving orchestral players, and both are male.
Could it be that Nora Shulman, who is stepping down as principal flute of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra after 43 years, wins the endurance record for women?
She was hired as associate principal flute in 1974, became acting principal in 1984, and was appointed principal in 1986 by Sir Andrew Davis.
Nora retires in July and will be widely missed.
Robin Attas, assistant professor of music at Elon University, North Carolina, is heading back to Canada after her husband, Nicolás Narváez Soza, was subjected to racist treatment.
‘We feel insecure,’ she says.
She talks about it here.
Photo by Oliver Fischer | ENN
Following the murder of Armando Canizales, more young musicians have come out in solidarity, at risk of their lives.
Remember the British pianist whose highly-praised recordings turned out to be husband-made home copies of releases by major artists?
It appears she may have an Italian fan.
The pianist Marc Pantillon, professor at the Conservatoire of Lausanne, Switzerland, has drawn attention to a CD of solo Brahms by Maurizio Moretti, professor at Cagliari and at the Schola Cantorum, Paris.
Pantillon alleges that Moretti’s new recording is identical to his 2005 release on the Swiss label, Claves.
An Italian pianist, Luca Ciammarughi, supports his contention with comparisons here:
Moretti’s release was withdrawn last week by the label, Inviolata, and the label’s owner issued an unreserved apology to Claves and to Pantillon.
Moretti has also deleted all of his own postings about the recording.
But there’s more.
A sound engineer, Alexander Kalashnikov, now claims that Moretti’s release of Tchaikovsky’s Seasons is identical to a 2002 recording that he produced with the pianist Victor Ryabchikov. Moretti’s version appeared on Decca.
UPDATE: A third concern relates to his recording of the Rachmaninov 2nd concerto and Paganini Variations with ‘the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conductor Alexander Petrov’. Ciammarughi finds alarming affinities with the EMI recording by Mikhail Rudy and Mariss Jansons.
Professor Moretti is a respected pianist with an international career. He makes frequent appearances on competition juries.
We have asked him to respond to these mysterious coincidences. It is possible he is the unwitting victim of some third party fraud, as was the unfortunate Hatto herself.
In any event, we await Moretti’s explanation.
The city of Aachen has told music director Kazim Abdullah he can leave in July.
Abdullah, 38, is just two years into a five-year contract.
He says he is ‘bitterly disappointed’.
But 18 months ago he told the orchestra he didn’t want to stay beyond July 2017.
So there appear to be two parallel narratives.
A bit like the EU and Theresa May.
Six years ago, the OSB made world headlines by attempting to sack half its musicians in an ‘upgrade’ under conductor Roberto Minczuk.
Last year, the orcheatra announced a massive deficit and cancelled half its season.
Now we are receving complaints that musicians have not been paid for up to seven months.
Minczuk is still conducting, but how long can this go on?
In a review of a Los Angeles Philharmonic concert that Gustavo Dudamel dedicated to the memory of a Sistema musician murdered in the Venezuela violence, Mark Swed reports that the maestro got remarried four months ago.
The bride is a Spanish film star, María Valverde.
Dudamel got divorced two years ago from Eliosa Maturen after nine years of marriage.
The couple have been pictured together recently in Spanish media. We wish them every happiness.
photo (c) Cordon Press
Friday night’s concert was built around the first symphony by a teenaged Schubert, a memorial to the 17 year-old viola player, Armando Cañizales, who was shot dead by government forces east of Caracas last week.
Dudamel, 36, underlined the affinities. He made a short statement about the killing before Friday night’s concert, concluding with the words: ‘We play for all our children, to build a better future for them with peace and love.’
Life goes on.
This is a really worthwhile initiative.
The international soprano, who is married to Boston maestro Andris Nelsons was taking part in an open conversation with members of the Berlin Philharmonic when the subject of women conductors came up.
Here’s what happened.
The topic starts at 26:17.
Susan Laney Spector, oboist in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, has posted a beautiful reminiscence of how the concertmaster and his soprano wife took her social life in hand and found her a life-mate.
The conspiracy was months in planning, and there were several failed attempts, but ultimately the cabal was successful in its treachery.
The plot was hatched in my third season at the Metropolitan Opera and involved the MET Orchestra concertmaster at the time, Raymond Gniewek, and his wife, soprano Judith Blegen…
Read on here.
New York has officially designated a Lenny landmark.
On the block where he lived.
The international competition named after (Marguerite) Long, (Jacques) Thibaud and (Régine) Crespin was cancelled today for the second year running ‘for reasons beyond out control’.
It looks like this is the end of the road for what has long been the most important competition in France. It was founded by the pianist Marguerite Long in 1943 and was open to pianists, violinists and singers.
