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Press release:

As she prepares to perform at next Sunday’s concert by the Atlanta Chamber Players, the group has announced that pianist and Artistic Managing Director Paula Peace will retire in early 2015 from the group she founded. Peace has led the highly regarded group for 38 seasons. During her tenure, it has performed in more than 250 cities in the U.S. Europe, and Mexico, and has premiered more than 125 chamber works.

“Through her vision and leadership, the ACP creates and presents chamber music to the very highest levels of acclaim,” Board President Jim Throckmorton said in a statement. “The board has been working with Paula for more than two years to prepare for this moment and we are sure that her legacy can be continued for at least another 38 years.” Peace will make her season debut in a trio with soprano Ann Marie McPhail and clarinetist Laura Ardan, performing Franz Schubert’s “Shepherd on the Rock” as well as with Elizabeth and Mike Tiscione on English horn and trumpet in

Aaron Copland’s “Quiet City.”

Psychotherapist Dr Gerald Stein witnessed the incident last week at the Kaufmann Concert Hall of the 92nd Street Y. Why would someone do that? He wonders. And then he gives us free analysis.

Read on here.

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We cheered when William Hassay, who has played in professional orchestras, went to court and won the right to busk on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ. We cheer again now that Bill has been awarded damages, plus $105,000 in attorney fees, for having his freedom of speech rights infringed.

More here.

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On a day when Australia blew away England’s batting, a violinist has stepped up to claim the fastest-ever flight of the bumblebee. Never mind the intonation. Just be awed by the speed. This is Vov Dylan, 32, also known as Australia’s Andre Rieu.

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Ahem. He’s still three seconds slower than the world record-holder, Ben Lee. Who is English.

The Southwest Florida Symphony has joined the growing trend towards transparency and public voting in the selection of its next music director. It has announced five candidates, all of whom will spend a week this season with the Fort Myers community.

First up is Chelsea Tipton, 49, from Oklahoma: ‘My favorite composer would probably be Brahms and Gershwin.’ Read here.

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The other candidates are:

Guillermo Figueroa (Jan. 11) Figueroa is music director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and artistic director of the Figueroa Music and Arts Project in Albuquerque. He’s former music director of the New Mexico Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony.

• David Commanday (Feb. 8) Commanday is artistic director of the Heartland Festival Orchestra in Illinois. He’s held music director positions with the Boston, Joffrey and Richmond ballet companies, as well as with the Peoria Symphony and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.

• Andreas Delfs (March 1) Delfs is a well-known concert and opera conductor who has served as music director of Opera Bern, Staatstheater Hanover, the Milwaukee Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

• Nir Kabaretti (March 29) Kabaretti is an acclaimed conductor who is music and artistic director of the Santa Barbara Symphony in California.

We have been informed by his executor that Conrad Susa, composer of two successful operas, died yesterday at the age of 78.

Transformations, his setting of poems by Anne Sexton, is one of the most widely seen US opera in modern times. Among many revivals it was staged at the Wexford Festival in 2006.

The Dangerous Liaisons was produced by San Francisco Opera in 1994 with  Thomas HampsonFrederica von Stade andRenée Fleming in the cast. It has since been revived at Washington Opera.

Conrad was chair of the composition department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

We send sympathies to his loved ones.

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America’s foremost music publishing house now comes with added hip credentials. He’s a hire from UE.

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G. Schirmer, Inc./AMP Appoints Robert Thompson Vice President

G. Schirmer Inc./Associated Music Publishers and The Music Sales Group, the world’s pre-eminent classical music publishing house, announces the appointment of Robert Thompson as Vice President. Thompson will be based in G. Schirmer’s New York headquarters.

Thompson comes to G. Schirmer with a wealth of experience in the classical field having served for over 10 years as the Managing Director of Universal Edition. During his tenure, he expanded the operations of Universal into film and production and spearheaded the signing of new composers including: Osvaldo Golijov, Maria Schneider, Johannes Maria-Staud, and Daniel Schnyder.

Thompson is a double Grammy nominee, producer, musician, publisher, and educator. He was a co-founder of ArtistShare.com and served as Dean of the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase College as well as the inaugural director of the College’s arts management program where he taught arts entrepreneurship and arts & entertainment law.

“The Schirmer team is a dedicated, passionate group of professionals, and I’m honored to be joining them and the Music Sales group of companies in publishing and representing a dynamic and growing roster of esteemed composers and artists who are at the global forefront of contemporary classical music,” commented Thompson.

“I’m delighted to welcome Robert to G Schirmer and to the Music Sales family,” said Tomas Wise, President of Music Sales Corporation/G. Schirmer Inc./AMP. “His knowledge and experience in the industry and his creativity and enthusiasm will make him a tremendous asset to the Group worldwide.”