A two-month internal inquiry has found the allegations of abuse against Peter Martins, cheer-led by the New York Times, to be uncorroborated.
The veteran director will not, however, return to his former job.
Nor will the Times retract. So where does the truth lie?
Read here.
The authorities in Braunschweig are investigating allegations against the former artistic director Philip Kochheim who, in addition to sexual complaints previously reported, is accused of kicking an assistant’s telephone down a flight of stairs and hitting her on the head.
Two complaints were to the police. Kochheim has offered no comment.
Report here.
Kochheim has moved on to become head of Aarhus opera, the second largest in Denmark.
The French cellist Ophélie Gaillard was on her way to rehearsal at the Musee de l’orangerie in Paris yesterday when a thief grabbed her precious 1737 Francesco Goffriller cello, together with her Jean-Marie Persoit bow and her phone.
The incident took place close to her home in Pantin. The thief held a knife to her so Ophélie did not resist.
She is unhurt, but distraught.
The cello is on loan from a bank. It was in a dark red flight case.
Please share this post as widely as you can. Stop that thief and get Ophélie’s cello back.
We can do it.
Osmo Vänskä will conduct the Iceland Symphony Orchestra tonight in Shostakovich 6.
Before that, for the first time in many years, he will play the clarinet in a performance of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps during the same concert.
Here’s why.
Last night in Kristiansund, Norway, two singers popped up half a beat early and sent Carmen tumbling down a long flight of steps.
She gave a little shriek, composed herself at the side of the stage and carried on singing regardless.
The Carmen is Desirée Baraula.
She deserves an award for courage in the face of bad director/designers.
I dropped in to the Wigmore Hall on a filthy night this week to hear the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, my first experience of them since their change in formation. They played Mozart, Bartók and Mendelssohn at a pace and precision the composers could never have imagined, impressive in the two classics, utterly riveting in the night noises and mood swings of Bartók’s second quartet.
Two thoughts ran all night through my head: nobody has a right to be this good, and – how the hell do they do it?
Happily, their second violinist Anthea Kreston, was thinking along the same lines for this week’s diary. Heaven alone knows where she found the time. The answer to my question can be found in the third paragraph.
It’s 34 minutes until curtains up in SW Germany – we are in the midst of a heavy touring period now. Last night was at Wigmore – it is wonderful to return to places enough times that you have found a favorite spot to get a post-concert pint, or you can greet the back-stage staff by name.
Arriving back at the hotel around 1 am, I had a fitful couple of hours sleep before heading out the door at 5 am for my flight to Frankfurt, and onto a series of trains to Kaiserslautern, a town in southwest Germany, affectionately known as K-town by the substantial amount of American military personelle living in a series of bases here. This is the largest (over 50,000) concentration of American military outside of the USA, initially built up in the 1950’s – army and air force – the biggest American hospital on foreign soil, many schools, sports teams, country and rock shows, and a huge mall with the likes of TGI Friday to Chili’s, movie theaters and bowling spread out over a series of small towns in the region. Security is tight at the bases – I was thinking of going over to take a peek, but I wouldn’t be able to get in without a sponsor and background check.
Last night, when I got to the hall for our traditional 1.5 hours of intense rehearsal before the concert (we do this every concert, even if we are playing the same program night after night – a chance to tune some spots, do a post-mortem on the night before, set lights and staging, tweak any microphones for recordings), I has a sinking feeling. As we headed out to stage, I glanced at a program, and realized with a slight panic that I thought we were playing two Mozarts and a Bartok – but actually Mendelssohn was on the docket. With a feigned casual – “see you on stage in a second”, I quickly blue-toothed my phone and iPad (from which I read my music these days), and tried to download a copy from IMSLP, without anyone noticing.
But of course there was a signal blocker in the hall – I quickly got the password for the Wigmore office WiFi, and as we were touching spots on-stage, I was calmly (or at least I was trying to look as cool as a cucumber) bouncing back and forth between phone/email/download/import. It became obvious what I was doing, of course, and a controlled but clearly concerned series of questions – what will you do about bowings and fingerings – all of your markings, began to dribble out. “I’ve got this – no worries!”, I said, to clearly disbelieving eyes.
But – all was well. It was actually quite a lot of fun – it freed me from looking at my part, gave me some fresh ideas and the ability to react more quickly to others. The audience seemed to like it as well – that normally well-behaved audience was “whoop-whooping” it up at the end of the performance.
As I look to the next weeks – I am already totally exhausted – this week is Berlin, London, K-town, Munch, Dortmund, then to Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem before I write my next entry. I will have 14 hours at home this week, and in that time, a quick laundry turn-around, family time, and double checking my repertoire!
I am already home-sick and miss my family – we have a new idea, though. We have a mama and daughter book club – twin sets of books that we will read and talk about on FaceTime while I am gone. It is hard to be away so much, but I know everyone back home in Berlin is in good hands.
Apparently, there’s too much competition from visiting orchestras.
Statement by Janet Hassouneh, the orchestra’s founder and executive director:
‘NSO Symphony Orchestra has delighted discerning music lovers for the past seven years, both at the Emirates Palace and in venues across the emirates. With a growing number of world-class facilities opening in the UAE, attracting international soloists and orchestras, I feel it’s the right time to pass on the baton to these new purveyors, so that audiences can enjoy ever-more outstanding musical experiences.’
The last concert will take place in April.
The American pianist and composer Kit Armstrong has been signed for global management by Opus3’s Berlin office.
Armstrong, 25, has studied regularly with Alfred Brendel since 2005.
The soprano, in an extensive interview with a Russian opera magazine, says she loves Wagner more than any other composer but she’s not taking on any more roles beyond Elsa:
I’m not going to take up Wagner any more, even though he is my favourite composer. His music puts me in a trance. Wagner, Britten, these composers that I do not sing, are the ones I love most.
For my voice, Wagner is not right. Senta in the Flying Dutchman? Why should I sing it? It can be done remarkably by a million other sopranos. Elsa I sang, because I dreamed about it for a long time, this is Wagner’s most lyrical part, and she’s more … Italian than his other roles. I love her very much and in a year I will repeat it in Bayreuth. Another role I really enjoy with Wagner … is Isolde. But why should I go there? I’d rather sit in the auditorium and listen…
Read on here.
This year’s Wolf Prize for music, awarded in Jerusalem, will be shared by an ex-Beatle and a Hungarian conductor.
Any connection?
Opus 3 Artists have posted a death notice for Lee Lamont who went from being Isaac Stern’s secretary to one of the toughest global agents in the classical business.
Lee ran ICM Artists with an iron fist. She took no prisoners. One partner came back from lunch to find his office being emptied by removal men. Artists who crossed her were never forgiven.
But, tough as she was, she was funny, engaging, respectful of talent and generally good to be around. We clashed several times, once on a public platform, and managed to stay friends. Her artists included Claudio Arrau, James Galway, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Leonard Slatkin, Wynton Marsalis, Yefim Bronfman and Sarah Chang,
She retired in 2002.
I never knew her full name was Lenore Tagliamonte. She had a husband, August, and a daughter, Leslie.
She was the last of her kind.
God rest you, Lee.
Here’s a piece on Lee in her prime.
These are the novelties in 2018/19, announced today:
1 Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila, directed by Darko Tresnjak, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, starring Roberto Alagna and Elīna Garanča.
2 The US premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, which did not go down well in London.
3 La Traviata, directed by Michael Mayer, conducted by Nézet-Séguin, starring Diana Damrau.
4 Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, director Sir David McVicar, conductor Gianandrea Noseda, starring Anna Netrebko.
Gelb ascribes the paucity of new shows to the time taken up by a revival of the Robert Lepage Ring cycle.
Others say the kitty is empty.
Four new productions is not much for a major house.
Other highlight:
Gustavo Dudamel will condcut Verdi’s Otello, his Met debut.
Jonas Kaufmann will appear in Fanciulla and Netrebko will sing Aida, her first at the Met.
