There have been no performances for 14 months and they managed to lose a fortune.
Board chairman Jon Campbell said: ‘The fact that the organization’s deficit is substantially smaller in a year without any performances indicates the degree to which this business model is out of alignment.’
He was duly re-elected as chair by the annual meeting.
What planet do these people live on? Read a report here in a newspaper published by a member of the orch board.
We gave you the first five…. now at number
6. Jane Moss, artistic director at Lincoln Center
7. Alison Vulgamore, president, Philadelphia Orchestra
8. Sarah Billinghurst, outgoing artistic director at the Met
9. Francesca Zambello, director Washington National Opera and Glimmerglass Opera
10. Joyce DiDonato, the all-American mezzo the whole world wants to hear.
Watch this space tomorrow for the most powerful women in Europe.
Here’s the link. Just click.
The words go something like this (according to a modified Google translate):
‘She gave birth to a beautiful son / Namely Jesus Christ / Only the Jews murmured against it. / Jidovan afuristit / would not tolerate the holy Lord / No heaven, no earth .. Only corlan [= horn] smoke, / There’s a good Jew, / exit end [= smoke] on the way’
The most treasured pianist on earth doesn’t turn 90 til Monday, but the party starts here tomorrow. Don’t miss it.
In the first event of its kind for the school, a live video chat, “Menahem Pressler: Virtually Yours,” will be offered at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12. Participants may purchase access to the chat for $10 and submit their questions and comments through music.indiana.edu/celebrate-pressler.
Hours before its annual meeting, the Minnesota Orchestral Association has received a letter from ten state legislators demanding the resignations of CEO Michael Henson (pictured), chairman Jon Campbell and past chairman Richard Davis. It accuses them of, among other faults, ‘a deliberate deception of the public.’
The legislators have all been critical before of the board’s performance during the 14-month lockout, but this is the first time they have called for heads to roll.
Section 403 of an FAA law, dated Feb 14, 2012, entitles everyone to carry certain instruments on board any airline flight over the US. Print this now (just pages 74-75 or 84-85, depending on reader) and carry it in your violin case. Thanks to Fenella Humphries for the link.
In Europe there is no such entitlement yet, but the attached FIM document has been known to work on obstreperous airline staff. Print this now. Thanks to Peter Cigleris.
Musicians have a right to fly. Let’s exert it.
I was thrilled to read on overnight mails that the Colburn School, where I shall be lecturing in February, is establishing a program on composers who were suppressed by the Nazis and whose music has never been restored. The program will be led by conductor James Conlon; I hope to offer him a few suggestions. Read more here.
LA already has a Holocaust Museum, whose president is the grandson of two displaced composers, Arnold Schoenberg and Eric Zeisl. E Randol Schoenberg is a prominent attorney in art restitution cases. LA has become the last frontier for Holocaust justice.
A San Francisco appeals court has reopened the battle over Camille Pissarro’s 1897 painting “Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie”.
Owned by the Cassirer family, it was seized by the Nazis and is now in the hands of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, which has an impressive museum i Madrid. The family want t back. Battle is rejoined here.
Limelight, the former Gramophone subsidiary which faced closure this week after the parent company changed hands, has found a saviour in ‘a new arts media organisation founded by business tourism specialists BT Publishing’. It means an end to the magazine’s link with the national broadcaster, ABC, but they’ve put a good spin on that saying, ‘this move will allow us greater editorial independence and flexibility.’
We hope it will also allow the magazine greater awareness of copyright. Australia, which faces losing two youth orchestras, is in dire need of a media voice.
The new publisher will be ‘composer and Chronology Arts director Andrew Batt-Rawden’.
Earlier this week, we reported that Veuling, the Spanish budget airline, forced two violinists in a string quartet to carry their instruments unprotected on board, or face a steep financial penalty. They were quite rude about it.
This now appears to be the airline’s policy. Violinist David Peralta booked an Iberia flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona and found his ticket assigned to Vueling. Iberia, apparently, is a part-owner of this shaky company.
In order to take his violin case on board, Vueling made him pay an extra 300 Euros for an extra seat (below). David, who is principal second violin at the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, describes this as ‘blackmail’ and warns all musicians to avoid this dubious airline. We call it daylight robbery and strongly advise everyone to take care when booking Iberia as well. Read David’s account here.
