I have been blown away by Mark Padmore’s new album of songs by Vaughan Williams, Jonathan Dove and Peter Warlock, five stars all the way. Read my Album of the Week review on Sinfinimusic.com.
Tel Aviv is cool city. The proof? They play all sorts of music in the streets and anyone can kick off shoes and make the moves. This little vid was caught by the Israel children’s museum.
In an unusual move that may prove a sign of the times, players in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra have voted to leave Local 502 of the American Federation of Musicians. Only 76 of some 175 eligible musicians cast their vote and they decided by a 49-27 split to go it alone.
Trumpeter Michael Smith, who chairs the symphony’s Negotiating Committee, said: ‘For the health of our organization, it’s really important that the musicians have a collaborative working relationship with the board and management.’
The implications of the cessation could be considerable for orchs across the country where a tough economy may require unusual local concessions on both sides.
Amid mounting rumours about his successor, and a change of general management at the opera house, Daniel Barenboim has let it be known he’s leaving Milan at the end of 2014, two years ahead of schedule. Here’s the AP report:
The famed La Scala opera house says Daniel Barenboim will leave the post of musical director at the end of 2014, two years before his contract expires.
Barenboim first joined La Scala with the unofficial title of principal guest conductor in 2006 before becoming musical director in December 2011.
General manager Stephane Lissner informed unions of the musical director’s departure plans Monday, noting Barenboim’s many other projects, including one to establish an academy for Israeli and Palestinian musicians.
Lissner himself is leaving for the Paris Opera next September, turning over the reins to Alexander Pereira, an Austrian who has indicated he would like an Italian to be the next musical director.
The pianist collects another meaningless title. Press announcement below#
SECRETARY-GENERAL DESIGNATES WORLD-RENOWNED PIANIST LANG LANG
AS UNITED NATIONS MESSENGER OF PEACE
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon will designate the world-renowned pianist Lang Lang from China as a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a special focus on global education. The designation ceremony will take place at United Nations Headquarters on Monday, 28 October, at a press conference to be held in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at noon. Lang Lang will perform Chopin’s Waltz No. 1 for the occasion.
Recognized for his commitment to mobilizing support for improving the lives of children around the world, most notably as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the past 10 years, Lang Lang joins 11 other United Nations Messengers of Peace and one Goodwill Ambassador who advocate on behalf of the United Nations.
Messengers of Peace are individuals who possess widely recognized talents in the fields of art, film, literature, music and sports, helping to raise worldwide awareness of the Organization’s ideals and activities. Through their public appearances, contacts with the international media and humanitarian work, they expand public understanding of how the United Nations helps to improve the lives of people everywhere.
In selecting Lang Lang for the designation, the Secretary-General said: “As Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, you have used your unique ability to inspire audiences around the world to help improve the lives of children. I am pleased that you will now be promoting global education, a key driver of human progress and well-being. I look forward to working with you to advance my Global Education First Initiative.”
Lang Lang, who began playing the piano at age three, played at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for United States President Barack Obama and the Diamond Jubilee Concert of the Queen of the United Kingdom at Buckingham Palace in 2012. He has performed with all the great orchestras and maestros around the world.
Lang Lang also has a keen interest in child development and the important role that music education can play in children’s lives. Lang Lang said: “My passion for playing the piano is only as good as the people it can touch. The youth of today is the world audience of tomorrow. I will do everything I can to communicate the message of education to everyone that I connect with in the future.”
In October 2008, he launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, with a mission to inspire and motivate the next generation of classical music lovers and performers, and to encourage music performance at all levels as a means of social development for youth, building self-confidence and a drive for excellence. The Foundation operates with the conviction that music is a universal language and that music can open opportunities for communication, understanding and acceptance. The Foundation strives to ignite a passion for music in youth so that they can be leaders in bridging cultural gaps and helping unite local and global communities.
In his work with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Lang Lang, a powerful advocate for the well-being of children around the world, has helped raise awareness to ensure every child’s right to quality health care and education. In addition, he has frequently used his music to raise funds for UNICEF and for humanitarian aid in emergencies, such as a special performance for a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall in New York to benefit the UNICEF emergency response to the earthquake in Haiti.
The other Messengers of Peace, along with their areas of focus, are: conductor Daniel Barenboim, peace and tolerance, since 2007; actor George Clooney, peacekeeping, since 2008; author Paulo Coelho, poverty and intercultural dialogue, since 2007; actor Michael Douglas, disarmament, since 1998; primatologist Jane Goodall, conservation and environmental issues, since 2002; violinist Midori Goto, Millennium Development Goals and youth, since 2007; Princess Haya Bint al Hussein, Millennium Development Goals and hunger, since 2007; cellist Yo-Yo Ma, youth, since 2006; actress Charlize Theron, HIV/AIDS and violence against women, since 2008; Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, human rights, since 1998; musician Stevie Wonder, persons with disabilities, since 2010; and actor Edward Norton, Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity, since 2010.
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Further information about the Messengers of Peace is available at http://outreach.un.org/mop/
This just in from Constance Scheurer:
Dear Family and Friends;
This is why I write what I do. My heart is broken that after 110 years Osmo and the Orchestra I grew up with (my grandfather was a founding member beginning in 1909); now is no more. The departure of Osmo was the crowning blow, though expected given this whole situation has gone on for years and is international news. This is has never taken place in the history of classical music.
I have the archives of this family and Orchestra by default. I was honored to be asked to open the 100 year season. I was generously given the by-line by Sandra Hyslop and openly wept when she did not change one word of my article. This is extremely rare in the publishing world.
Now I write something completely different, photos and documents that date back to the 1800’s.
As some of you know in Minnesota, I had at one time seven estates of music which I gifted to ensure the “Notes” played one as Tante Gerde Soergel wanted. I did not wish the music to live in a vault as so much does! This includes a whole art collection my grandfather Karl Scheurer gifted the Minneapolis Institute of Arts which to date has never been on display.
I gifted Osmo with an original 1903 Sibelius score when I had the pleasure of meeting him. He advised that it was ironic as he had recorded it in Lahti.
The loss of this great Orchestra and talent I personally do not believe can be replaced and rebuilt after 110 years of supreme excellence. That is my own opinion. I am aware of the high hopes of others’, however; how does one bring back all the talent locked out in excess of one year who lost more that I ever thought possible.
Media outlets are now contacting me for the first time and with offers of monies for the story. In the past I had done everything “gratis”.
I do not reside in Minnesota at this time, but will always miss such a rich heritage of music, dance, and love.
Thank you all again for the Music of my Life, without Music I would never have been able to dance!
In the darkest times in history the Music played on ~ I will never make sense of what took place in Minnesota and why.
Blessing to you all,
Constance
Tributes to Lou Reed in Israeli media lead with a statement of his ancestry. Lou, who has died aged 71, is described in the leftwing daily Haaretz as the perfect counter-Jew, the one who broke all the rules, an iconoclasm that is, of itself, arguably Jewish.
I would not dispute that characterisation, except to aver that Lou’s most famous song, Perfect Day, has echoes of rabbinic and kabbalistic writings about the Sabbath, a theme I hope to pursue in my BBC series next year on music and the Jews. May Lou’s soul rest in the peace of the eternal sabbath.
The picture below has gone white-hot on weibo, the Chinese social site. It shows Yundi Li giving a ‘V’ for victory sign with Universal classics chief, Costa Pilavachi. Our Chinese friends interpret this as victory over his arch-rival, who quit Universal for Sony.
The Russian state agency has announced the death of Mikhail Bank, a pianist who accompanied many leading singers, as well as international contestants for the major music competitions. He was also, for a while, chief conductor of the Cuba National Ballet. Mikhail Bank was 85.
Some good things start on social media. One is a violin concerto that Francesca Barritt commissioned from the composer and environmentalist David Holyoake. Premiere this weekend. Read about it here.
Lawrence Leighton Smith, emeritus music director in Colorado Springs, has died, ten days after entering hospice care. His last performance, before the onset of a dementia-related condition, was Beethoven’s ninth symphony. Not a bad way to go out. Here’s a local obituary.
The Met manager is the subject of 60 Minutes this Sunday on CBS.
He plays the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. Sample:
The man trying to reinvigorate opera at its American temple in New York, says it’s a battle he wages every day to keep the centuries-old art form from dying a bloody death… “I go in every day to the Met, knowing that…there is a battle to be…fought for the survival of this art form.”
Hmmmm…