Sources close to the Indianapolis Orchestra, which parted with its British president last night, suggest that Simon Crookall’s resignation may be linked to the strange disappearance of artistic administrator, Martin Sher.
A well-liked industry figure, Sher is listed in his job by the LOA, but has vanished from the Indy site. His tweet last night may express satisfaction at Crookall’s departure. Here’s what he wrote:
‘!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
My source says that music director Urbanski objected to Crookall firing Sher and that this move may have precipitated Crookall’s departure.
One way or another, Indy has an unhappy orch.
UPDATE: An orchestra official who was insistent that Crookall resigned of his own volition and was not fired, refused to respond on the case of the missing Sher. ‘As a policy, the ISO does not comment about matters related to personnel,’ emailed Tim Northcutt, Assoc. Dir. of Communications with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
No comment, I guess, unless it’s the prez that has skipped off.
SECOND UPDATE: Martin Sher has been in touch with a tweet: ‘my exclamations were actually in celebration of a family matter, nothing to do with anything else.’
The Hungarian airline Malev ceased trading this morning. It had been ordered to pay back loans from the EU and could not meet the deadline. Here‘s the BBC report. All planes are grounded. Those abroad may be held against debt. Here‘s Bloomberg.
This may be one more sign of pressure mounting on Victor Orban’s proto-fascist regime.
Has this guy auditioned yet for Paul Mealor? He can do the low C, if his youtbe performance can be believed. A little stretch might take Paul David Kennamer Jr right down to E, which is what Decca are looking for.
Thanks to Tristan Jakob-Hoff for the tip.
He’s touched the keys again, masterclassing in Barcelona.
Apparently he’s quite busy on the lecture-demo circuit. Next stop: Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, Feb 24.
If you can, Decca want to hear from you. Will-and-Kate wedding composer Paul Mealor has written something that goes right off the scale and needs a latterday Chaliapin to bring it off. Please do not try this at home.
Read on here.
It’s the house’s second full-size rehearsal space.
Ironic, for a company that prides itself on staging unrehearsed revivals. Intendant Dominique Meyer says he wants to put on more children’s opera. Read on.
Dieter Kosslick has flown to Budapest today to show solidarity with Hungarian filmmakers who are suffering rightwing political pressure and government cuts.
He will also denounce the appointment of two outspoken racists to run the important New Theatre, he told German radio.
Indianapolis has parted company with Simon Crookall after seven years. His departure is described as ‘abrupt’ and ‘surprising’. Neither side will say more.
Crookall, 51, previously ran the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for nine years. In the Indy job, he replaced Mario Venzago as chief conductor with Krzysztof Urbanski after much turbulence.
He has struggled since with a $100 million fundraising campaign (the Indy Star reports $100,000). The orch overspent its budget last year by $1.7 million.
Crookall: unsuited
UPDATE: here
