About to undergo his second round of chemotherapy, the ever-combative opera chief has given a frank account of his illness, his future and his place in the world. The interview, with a Belgian magazine, De Theaterkrant, is in Flemish/Dutch. Sample quotes:
– If I were a family man , I would respond differently to this disease . Now it’s mainly my spiritual children I’m concerned for, opera people like Serge Dorny , Bernard Foccroulle Viktor Schoner…
– The lack of musical knowledge in many opera houses is shocking. Not just directors, also conductors. Look at Herbert von Karajan coaching a singer who sings Wotan: every word he knew by heart.
– Many directors have no place to be in an opera house. They know nothing about music but come along with a nice idea for starters . Set the Wagner Ring in a ski resort: not so difficult . But what next?
– Too many directors belong to the Wikipedia generation….
Go tell ’em, Gerard!
Even by Sony standards the hype is far-fetched. A feature on Teodor Currentzis in a newspaper that abolished arts reviews, refers to the conductor as ‘provocative, young’ (he’s 41). We are also told that he is described (where? by whom? let’s assume the press release) as the “Nick Cave of classical”.
Erm, this is Nick Cave (pictured). Where is the other guy?
The Polish conductor Antoni Wit was a close friend of the film composer, who died yesterday aged 81. He tells a good story, with an excellent imitation of his late friend (in Polish, with English subtitles).
Why? To use on whom?
Discuss.
h/t Holly Mulcahy
Full story here.
We’re receiving confirmation from Poland of the death of Wojciech Kilar at the age of 81.
Kilar wrote music for more than 130 films, most notably for Polanski’s The Pianist, Coppola’s Dracula, Jane Campion’sPortrait of a Lady and Andrzej Wajda’s Promised Land. Born in Lviv (now Ukraine) on 17 July 1932, he settled in Katowice in 1948 and became a leader of the new Polish wave. He never ceased composing works for concert performance, leaving five symphonies, two piano concertos and much choral music.
He was married to the pianist Barbara Pomianowska.
The Union Ornithologique de France is getting into a bit of a flap.
Having belatedly discovered that the late composer Olivier Messiaen introduced pre-recorded sounds of birdsong into such works as Oiseaux exotiques and Réveil des Oiseaux, the UOF is demanding its rightful share of the incoming cash.
If I were the Messiaen estate, I’d pay up without a fight. Ever seen Hitchcock’s The Birds? You don’t want to make them mad.
h/t: Dianne Winsor
UPDATE: The Spanish story was posted on Innocents Day. It ain’t, as the Gershwins put it, necessarily so.
Zsolt Bognar is a fine young pianist who is making a good career. His problem? He lives in Cleveland beneath Daniil Trifonov, the Tchaikovsky winner and finest pianist of his generation. Why is that a problem? Over to Zsolt:
‘Not only do I hear him in class, but he also happens to be my upstairs neighbor, so I hear him practicing as well (laughs). Like Babayan, he is a similarly lively and inventive character. He will sometimes knock on my door at two in the morning, “Zsolt, I have to tell you something that Murray Perahia told me about the Schubert B-flat Sonata. I have to demonstrate to you what he said,”. And I’ll reply, “But, it’s two a.m.”, and he will say, “This is important!”. He then proceeds to do an illuminating analysis of the piece.’
Read Elijah Ho’s fascinating interview with Zsolt right here.
The Chinese Violin Society has been holding its annual meeting in Xiangyang, the People’s Daily reports. Between performances of the Four Seasons and The Butterfly Lovers, the meeting reaffirmed its adherence to the national teaching method. Read here.
Raimundo Pereira do Nascimento is the electrician of the Manaus Opera House, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. In a fascinating news film, he tells the BBC about his building and his work. Watch here.
Our social secretary reports that Chris Thile, the classical chart-topping mandolin player, has quietly married his sweetheart, Hollywood actress Claire Coffee.
Much happiness to them both.
Details are emerging about last week’s car crash at the Elysée gates, from which a 67 year-old man was taken into custody.
He has been named as Attilio Maggiulli and in 1974 he founded the Comédie Italienne in Montparnasse. A student of Giorgio Strehler in Milan, Attilio and his wife Helene Lestrade have been running the show on a shoestring for almost four decades in a former police station and its adjacent sex shop. It is the only Italian theatre in France. Ten years ago, Attilio went on hunger strike to prevent the withdrawal of state subsidy. Now, it seems, he is even more desperate.
Attilio will be spending New Year either in a prison cell or in psychiatric care.
