You need more knowledge of US pension law than I possess to grasp the latest twist in the Philadelphia Orchestra bankruptcy escape. But one thing is clear: old players lose out.

Read here.

UPDATE: And here’s more, more depressing still.

 

 

The threat of an EU ban on authentic violin strings appears to be receding.

Here’s the latest from our suppliers:

Caldogno, November 29- 2011

Thanks from my heart to all of you!
The Ministry of Health, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, with praiseworthy promptness and courtesy has announced today a series of measures aimed to finally solve the situation of Italian string makers.

The first intervention allows to finally be able to import from some European and not-European countries ( not BSE free) the raw material required to produce gut strings.

The second intervention finally opens the possibility to use also Italian beef gut after nearly 20 years of total stop.

 We already informed the other Italian string makers of this important news.

We warmly thank all the friends that rose protest to the Italian authorities both by petitions, by e-mail and other legal means.

We thank the Ministry of Health for having quickly listened to rightful claims and proceeded to find final solutions.

We bring all our support to the initiative (petition) that asks that String Making Art is recognized as a World Heritage under UNESCO protection.

We would like to inform our customers that the restart of our gut strings production will require a certain period of time needed to find first of all raw material that meets our quality criteria and then for re-establishing our stock.

We will inform in our website when gut strings will be available again

Greetings and thanks again for your valuable support.

Mimmo Peruffo

logoaquila

 

 

 

That’s what Andris Nelsons has just told his orchestra, and more power to him. Let’s hear it for father’s rights.

Mrs Nelsons is the Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais. They married in April. I guess’ she’ll be taking some time off as well.

Here’s the Birmingham press release.

Media notice – December concerts with Andris Nelsons

 

Unfortunately, Andris Nelsons has withdrawn from his December performances with the CBSO due to the imminent arrival of his first child.

 

Nikolaj Znaider has kindly agreed to take his place at short notice on  7 Dec – Bruckner’s Seventh including the UK premiere of Ruders’ Symphony No 4 and 10 Dec – Tuned in: Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony

CBSO associate conductor Michael Seal will take his place on 14 Dec – Benevolent Fund Concert

 

Apologies for an inconvenience caused.

 

All review tickets are still available for the above performances.

In the US, that’s easy. The figures are in the public domain and widely discussed. $1.4 million is the current top rate, apparently.

Britain and other European nations are more secretive about these things. But they can be found.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra filed its annual accounts today and a copy was promptly sent my way.

The least adventurous of UK ensembles, conducted at present by Charles Dutoit, the RPO showed turnover up 15% at £10.05 million and pr-tax profits ip 88% at £1.15 million. The latter figure is about £100,000 in excess of the orchestra’s Arts Council grant. Perhaps the Council should ask for its money back.

Be that as it may, the orchestra is beating the global recession  y establishing residencies in such wealthy spots as Montreux, Switzerland, and Qebala in Azerbaijan.

Which brings us to remuneration. The report turns a little coy, telling us that two directors received joint emoluments of £205,362 plus pension contributions of £11,910, and that one of them ‘fell within the range £180,000-190,000’.

Seven years ago, the average pay for a London orchestra manager was £60,000. It looks like the RPO is driving wage inflation vertifcally up.

Hats off to Ian Maclay, the RPO’s CEO. Read the full report here: RPO 2011-0331

UPDATE: Here are the other London orchestral manager salaries from the latest accounts:

LPO 175,000
LSO 145,000
Philharmonia 138,983

The University of East Anglia, renowned for its English literature department, decided earlier this year to shut its school of music.

There was considerable protest, along with representations from the likes of National Theatre chief Nick Hytner and Brian Eno.

In vain. The university has now endorsed its original decision. Read more here.

One of the Dutch orchestras threatened with exinction by 50% government cuts has rallied some of the country’s best-known pop singers to support its survival with a protest track. Amazingly, the song has just gone to number 1 in the singles charts.

Read all about it here and watch the video here.

 

Kurt Nassau was a gems expert in New Jersey. He invented patents and bought and sold precious stones. He was, as they say, comfortable.

When he drew up his will, he stipulated that his entire fortune was to be left to his favourite orchestra – you know the one, the symphony, what’s it called.

So the lawyer wrote down ‘the Israel Symphony Orchestra’.

Now, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – claiming to be the country’s best known – is fighting the Israel Symphony Orchestra, based in Rishon Lezion, for whatever’s left of Dr Nassau’s estate once the lawyers have taken their fees. Report here.

Verdict: next week.

Moral of the story: make sure you know which orchestra you follow.

or

The Radiological Society of North America has been told that one of its key diagnostic tools, the high-tech CAT scanner, has been successfully used in the design of that elusive object, a premium Strad, the equivalent of which is worth $6 million and more.

Apparently, Minnesota radiologist Steven Sirr slipped his practice violin into the machine in between patients and was amazed to see the detail recorded. Over the next few years, he and a colleague repeated the experiment with hundreds of working fiddles until they finally dared to let the CAT loose on a borrowed Strad. With the data retrieved, they assisted a luthier in producing an exact, rich-sounding replica.

Here’s the triumphant report.

Just one cavil: how many patients were kept waiting – and how many refused scarce CAT scans altogether – while the consultants and physicians were playing at being medieval instrument makers?

And it’s not just happening in Minnesota. Here’s another recent report on the musical misuse of medical equipment. Ethics, anyone?

The Spanish papers are full of José Carreras again, writes our Social Correspondent, but for all the wrong reasons.

The least of the Three Tenors has split up from his second wife, air hostess Jutta Maria Jäger, ‘by mutual consent’.

Read all about it in El Pais.

Maria Jose Carreras and Jutta Jäger

The conductor Paul Mann shares his experience of the reckless talent that was Ken Russell:

So sad to read about Ken Russell. He was a hero of mine. Often that shock of white hair was to be seen on the front row of the concert hall in Poole for Bournemouth SO Concerts, including for an Elgar 2 of mine. I remember feeling all the way through that performance that it was all for him, as thanks for that wonderful old BBC film… My first job, in the early nineties, was as a company pianist and conductor for Northern Ballet. At one stage, Christopher Gable was going to get Ken to direct a Dracula ballet. It never got off the ground, but he had a great idea for how the show should open…It would start as a normal ballet, with dancers in tutus and Giselle-like music. Then, when it had gone for slightly too long and people were starting to wonder about the Dracula ballet they thought they’d come to see, one of the dancers would fall over very badly and start bleeding profusely. The ASM would come onstage and ask the audience if there was a doctor in the house. At that moment, the lights would change, there’d be a screech from the orchestra, and Dracula would stand up in the audience. Typical Ken, and such a regret that it never happened!

(from Ken’s 1988 film, The Lair of the White Worm)