A Guardian contributor reports the death of Rodney Dingle, leader of the chapel choirs at Bryanston, Devon, where John Eliot Gardiner and Mark Elder were two of the singers. He was 87.

Obit here.

The death has been announced of Dudley Simpson, who wrote the music for the BBC’s Dr Who series in the 1960s and 1970s. In all he composed 290 episodes.

Dudley died at home in Australia on November 4.

In the 1950s he was staff conductor at the Royal Opera House for three years, accompanying Margot Fonteyn on tour.

The US violinist is making a bit of a thing about having practised for 100 consecutive days.

Hahn finished a project in mid-August that was all about practice—100 days of practice in a row, in fact. The idea came from a global Instagram project (designated by the #100days hashtag) that had been mainly, until that point, undertaken by visual artists. “The concept of the project was to show your process,” Hahn says. “You don’t have to worry about the result; it doesn’t have to be in great shape. You can show working on the same piece of art—you do a little bit of coloring one day, you spend 100 days on the same thing, or you could do sketches every day.” She wondered if there was something she could do for 100 days that would reveal something about her own artistic process. “So it just occurred to me: What do I do every day anyway? I practice.”

And just like that, she had committed to practicing (and posting practice videos to Instagram via her handle @violincase) for 100 days in a row (more here).

Big deal?

Every creative person does what he or she does every day of their lives. Painters paint. Singers sing. Writers write.

I have worked on a book on vacation, in a plane, between business meetings, at boring social functions, four hours after coming round from major abdominal surgery.

It’s what we do. Keep up the craft. Keep the fingers supple and the mind in gear.

No biggie.

Only in America.

Specifically, in Utah:

Ireland’s young prime minister Leo Varadkar is showing Macron-like tendencies in his need to catch up on the culture.

He was guest of honour at the last night of the Wexford Festival.

The word going round is that a group of Chinese investors is seeking to buy Westminster Choir College, which Rider University’s president wants to evict from his campus.

The College is America’s foremost choir training faculty.

The staff were last week served with layoff notices.

The College might well be safer in Chinese hands, given that its American host has lost all interest.

When David Robertson quits St Louis, Leonard Slatkin leaves Detroit and Michael Tilson Thomas retires from San Francisco, only one of the top 20* US orchestras will have a native born and bred music director (pictured below).

Unfair? Unwise? Self-annihilating?

*by budget

UPDATE: There’s also Robert Spano at Atlanta SO. Not sure if ASO ranks in top 20.

The Moscow theatre was clared yesterday evening after a telephone bomb threat.

The concert affected was titled ‘Hammer and Sickle’.

We promised a followup to the Royal Academy furore, specifying the grievances of the student body over a set of lecture notes that were circulated by one of their professors. Here’s the Students Union document.

The letter (name withheld) sent to the RAM student body earlier this week was absolutely unacceptable, and her follow-up email that attempted to address student concerns was entirely inadequate. Not only was the initial letter unprofessional in tone, formatting and written style, and not only does it encourage harmful social behaviors, but it violates the Academy’s Equality and Diversity Policy by encouraging the development of a toxic educational and working environment in which musicians are complicit in the harassment of and discrimination against colleagues on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age and physical appearance. The Policy Summary found on the RAM website includes points such as “ensure staff create a positive, inclusive ethos that challenges inequality and inappropriate behavior” and “ensure all Academy policies and activity are sensitive to equality issues,” and (X)’s letter is in explicit contradiction to these aims.

The following are some of the most egregious statements from the letter:

“Choose your deputy wisely. Pick someone almost as good as you so you are considered better.” This type of attitude encourages a toxic competitive environment rather than a culture of collaboration, support and mutual respect.

“Join in with the sectional humor. Brass is pubs and pond life is tea queues.” Stereotyping musicians based on what instrument they play is alienating to any performers who feel they do not fit the mold.

“The boys = (other orchestral musicians).” This maintains an environment in which anyone who is not a man is automatically an outsider.

“Gypos (short for gypsies) = violinists specifically.” It is shocking that such racist language would be accepted let alone implicitly encouraged by an official document sent out by the Academy.

“Look young, up-together and cool in rehearsals, and smart in concerts; this is a superficial and ageist world.” This statement regards the superficiality and ageism of the professional environment as something to be accepted rather than challenged, as something that is inevitable rather than perpetuated by individual and collective actors on a daily basis.

“Accept criticism and rejection and forget about it the next time you meet the offender.” It is indeed essential to welcome criticism and opportunities for growth. However, it is also necessary to know where to draw the line if such criticism and rejection crosses the line into harassment or abuse.

“Non-conformity is frowned upon nowadays. The days of the hooligan have gone.” This statement explicitly discourages a diversity in perspectives and attitudes.

“Expect nothing from others but be loyal yourself.” Again, this encourages an environment in which some people may be exploited but are discouraged from expecting anything in return, rather than encouraging all musicians to support each other.

“Play your part, do your thing, head down, don’t complain and keep quiet.” Supposedly this advice applies even in cases of discrimination or harassment.

In her response to student concerns, (X) suggested that her remarks were taken out of context and based on scientific research conducted by a UCL PhD student. She also merely discussed how certain “colloquial terms” could be seen as “offensive” and apologized for the offense without addressing any underlying issues, instead referring us to our principal study teachers for further conversation. There is no denying the fact that this research is likely an accurate portrayal of behaviors that will help advance one’s career. However, the only appropriate context in which they should have been shared would have been a workshop and/or document that explicitly problematizes the behaviors and examines how one might get personal and professional support to respond to specific incidents and to work towards changing the broader culture. Otherwise, they are an active encouragement of racist, sexist and exclusive behaviors and actively discourage musicians from speaking up about injustices by creating a climate of fear around reporting.

We are all current students at RAM, and many of us have witnessed and/or been subject to other discriminatory behaviors perpetrated by both students and staff. Clearly, (X)’s letter is not an exception to an otherwise idyllic and welcoming environment but rather a symptom of a much broader and deeper failure to live up to institutional aims regarding equality and diversity.

In response to this letter, we call for the immediate establishment of a student-led Working Group on Equality and Diversity in order to devise both a both short-term and long-term response to both the letter and the broader climate to which it speaks. This group will examine the climate at RAM as well as in the broader classical music profession and come up with a set of recommendations drawing from approaches taken by other institutions in an attempt to address the underlying cultural and structural issues that allow these attitudes to flourish. The group could take actions such as but not limited to: 1) assessing whether avenues of reporting discriminatory behavior are broadly known, easily accessible and sufficiently safeguard the person making the report; 2) assessing whether particular staff and student training initiatives should be undertaken around diversity issues to promote a safe and welcoming environment for all; 3) collaborating with the Musician’s Union to devise recommendations for students who encounter discriminatory statements or behavior in a professional context; and 4) demanding a formal and adequate response from the Academy that demonstrates the institution’s commitment to ensuring a healthy and respectful educational and working environment for all musicians.

Sincerely,

A music director in the Oklahoma city, Andres Franco, had been working on ways to celebrate its most famous resident, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, when the Russian poet sadly died in Aprial.

Undaunted, Franco went ahead with a memorial concert this weekend.

Read more here.

It’s Salt Lake City.

Read about it here.

We hear that the Malaysian Philharmonic, which is under an international musicians’ boycott for past sackings, has just lost its American general manager Timothy Tsukamoto (pictured), along with orchestral managers Amy Yu and Ying Hui Tam.

Their departures are ascribed to the rampant CEO, Raina Abdullah.

There are around forty vacancies in the orchestra. There is no tuba, one trombone, just two trumpeta…

So poisoned is the atmosphere that Abdullah recently refused to allow a visiting orchestra to perform in Kuala Lumpur if it included one of the principal players she had formerly sacked.