The world’s favourite Finnish violinist is, I’m glad to report, back on the boards. Linda Lampenius, renamed Brava when she stripped bare for Playboy, is playing with the Irish choral group Anuna and preparing a release of Christmas songs.
Interviewed in the Irish Metro Herald, she complains that the media went negative on her ‘when I started doing things considered inappropriate for a serious classical musician – like modelling, acting and playing pop/rock’. Not to mention getting naked for Playboy and its legion of grubby retards.
I have, as it happens, great sympathy for Linda and have fought her corner more than once. A former orchestral player, she was the victim of cruel exploitation by salacious elements in the music industry and she has worked very hard to get back on her feet and find a career in entertainment. She was recently a judge on Finland’s X Factor contest.
My Finnish is not up to much but I guess she was required, as X Factor judges are the world over, to dish out some fairly harsh stuff to the hapless contenders. In other words, she can give as good as she got.
It was not the media that derailed Ms Brava. Rather, it was her own naive decisions and the callousness of her managers. She needs to put the blame where it belongs.
Still, I’m delighted she’s back on form and I look forward to her Christmas release.
Telling all on The Lebrecht Interview this week is Marilyn Horne, one of the first Americans to bestride world opera and the diva to did most to restore Rossini to centre stage.
Hers is a story of unyielding courage and self-confidence. As a college student, she corrected Stravinsky and Hindemith on baroque singing. Fifty years ago, she stormed the German scene with one of the most powerful renditions of Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck.
Against her family’s wishes, she married Henry Lewis, an Afro-American bass player (and rising conductor), sacrificing her career in the segregated parts of the US. She fought for what was right and, usually, she won – as many conductors can testify.
There’s a Roman clip of her on youtube singing the Liber Scriptus in Verdi’s Requiem with a young Pavarotti seated transfixed behind her.
Today, in her late 70s, she runs a foundation that fosters opportunities for young American singers. Ms Horne speaks her mind as eevr in our conversation, respects no vanities, takes no prisoners. She remains a breath of fresh air in an art full of pomp.
The Lebrecht Interview with Marilyn Horne goes out tonight at 9.15 on BBC Radio 3, and is streamed on site for the next week.
Telling all on The Lebrecht Interview this week is Marilyn Horne, one of the first Americans to bestride world opera and the diva to did most to restore Rossini to centre stage.
Hers is a story of unyielding courage and self-confidence. As a college student, she corrected Stravinsky and Hindemith on baroque singing. Fifty years ago, she stormed the German scene with one of the most powerful renditions of Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck.
Against her family’s wishes, she married Henry Lewis, an Afro-American bass player (and rising conductor), sacrificing her career in the segregated parts of the US. She fought for what was right and, usually, she won – as many conductors can testify.
There’s a Roman clip of her on youtube singing the Liber Scriptus in Verdi’s Requiem with a young Pavarotti seated transfixed behind her.
Today, in her late 70s, she runs a foundation that fosters opportunities for young American singers. Ms Horne speaks her mind as eevr in our conversation, respects no vanities, takes no prisoners. She remains a breath of fresh air in an art full of pomp.
The Lebrecht Interview with Marilyn Horne goes out tonight at 9.15 on BBC Radio 3, and is streamed on site for the next week.