The Canadian who paid £19,500 for a tooth of John lennon’s turns out to be a dentist who has written a book about celebrities’ teeth.

His name is Michael Zuk and he lives in Alberta.

If you had toothache in Alberta, would you want to risk being added to his collection?

 

Dear Mr. Lebrecht,

After reading your blog posted on the ArtsJournal, we would like to share with you the purpose of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC).

The Bucharest Conducting Competition is not even a member of either the EMCY or WFIMC.

We know that our associate member organisation EMCY has already replied to you as well and therefore will concentrate on bringing to your attention, a few things about the WFIMC that will hopefully enlighten you about our role in the music scene today. This role does not include that the WFIMC “recompense competitors who have been mistreated by their member organisations”. The WFIMC is an umbrella organisation for international music competitions and recognised as such by the International Music Council under UNESCO. It has neither legal nor financial responsibility for its members. Your characterization of our organisation providing “sedate employment for well-pensioned time servers” hardly is an accurate reflection of the work that our small staff produces for an international organization.
Nor is the WFIMC based on public funding as you suggest; it is run by members’ annual dues, with the explicit goal of setting the highest standards for international music competitions and for maintaining these standards within its membership.

New member competitions must have taken place twice in compliance with our standards and go through a thorough screening process before being admitted.  Existing members are required to document that each and every edition of their competition is being held in accordance with these standards. Fairness of judgement and offering the best possible performance conditions for all competitors are merely two essential requirements for the WFIMC.

Annually at our General Assembly, we offer to our members the opportunity of learning and maintaining industry best practices through seminars and workshops with internal and external speakers. We constantly strive to provide our members with knowledge, inspiration, visibility and most
importantly, the opportunity for individual growth and improvement regardless of discipline.

At the same time we encourage our members to develop their individuality and maintain their own profiles. The WFIMC does not want to mainstream its members but rather encourage them to exist as individual cultural events in their own right, presenting young artists in public competition before distinguished juries, audiences and media to the entire music community.

WFIMC is setting the benchmark for its 124 member competitions as well as the competition industry at large. While we have no authority over the hundreds of non-member competitions worldwide, we can only hope that they adopt similar high standards for their respective competitions or use the WFIMC standards as a guide.

Respectfully,
Glen Kwok                                          Marianne Granvig

President                                            Secretary General
>>
>>
>> FMCIM-WFIMC
>> Rue de Carouge 104
>> 1205 Genève/Geneva
>> Suisse/Switzerland
>> Tél. +41 22 321 36 20
>> Fax +41 22 781 14 18
>> fmcim@fmcim.org
>> www.fmcim.org
>>

The last known sketch leaves for Edward Elgar’s unfinished third symphony are coming up for sale this month.

PRICELESS: The only two surviving sketch-leaves left for Elgar’s unfinished Third Symphony are to be sold.

Apparently, the money is needed to put a young woman through university. Here’s the full story, in Worcester News.

Bhupen Hazarika, composer and singer of the soundtrack to Bollywood’s misguided film Gandhi to Hitler, has died in Mumbai. He was 85.
The film, universally deplored, centres on two letters that Gandhi wrote to Hitler asking him to be a decent fellow and not start a war. Hitler was, in fact, depicted as a decent fellow, arousing a mixture of concern and derision.
Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Mel Brooks has got to see this one: somebody has actually made Springtime for Hitler. The funniest thing about this film from India is that it’s dead-on serious, replete with all-Indian actors playing the leaders of the Third Reich. “
Here’s a video clip.
Hazarika composed for many other films, without comparable controversy.

For want of record labels that will put faith in good music, the Cleveland Orchestra has gone to the banks – and one has come up with the cash.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich will fund the rest of Franz Welser-Möst’s Bruckner cycle. The next symphony will be recorded at St Florian in Linz, where the composer lies embalmed below.

This is Franz’s big investor. And here’s the press release:

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA AND MUSIC DIRECTOR FRANZ WELSER-MÖST TO CONTINUE BRUCKNER RECORDINGS IN AUSTRIA SUPPORTED BY RAIFFEISENLANDESBANK OBERÖSTERREICHAt
a press conference in Vienna this morning, Cleveland Orchestra Executive Director Gary Hanson and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst announced an upcoming video recording of performances of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 at the Abbey of St. Florian near Linz, Austria in August, 2012, for future release on DVD.  The Cleveland Orchestra gratefully acknowledges both Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich, the Upper Austrian bank, and Clasart production company for their generous support of the DVD release. 

 

Dr. Ludwig Scharinger and Franz Welser-Möst

 

Dr. Ludwig Scharinger, CEO of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich, commented, “We are proud to support Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra in their deep commitment to recording Bruckner’s masterpiece symphonies and sharing them with the world.”  As one of the largest corporate contributors to The Cleveland Orchestra, Raiffeisenlandsbank Oberösterreich has sponsored Cleveland Orchestra performances in both Austria and Germany, and supports the 2011 Cleveland Orchestra Residency at the Muskverein in Vienna.  In addition, Raiffeisenlandsbank Oberösterreich has organized Cleveland Orchestra performances at the Brucknerhaus in Linz as well as at the Abbey of St. Florian, the church where Bruckner is entombed.  The bank is committed to enriching Austria’s culture through the arts.