The world’s most followed cellist has given a forthright interview to The Strad, explaining why she does it her way.
Zoe Keating, with 1.2 million Twitter fans, wanted a classical career. Moving to California two decades ago, she set about practising the Shostakovich cello sonata for six months before presenting herself for audition at the San Francisco Conservatory. The panel immediately asked, ‘who’s your teacher?’
‘I don’t have one,’ said the applicant, her hands shaking at the looks of disapproval.
‘Maybe you should come back when you’re ready,’ they said.
After that, says Keating, ‘I figured that classical music could just kiss my ass. I was so angry, I couldn’t even bear to set foot in a concert hall.’
The magazine is not online. You’ll have to buy a print copy to read the full, abrasive interview.
The audition attitude will strike many readers as dauntingly familiar. Has anything changed since then at San Francisco Conservatory?
Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver Symphony does not often plunge into controversy, but a sniffy comment by the COC chief Alexander Neef has provoked him into writing a blast for Macleans magazine.
Tovey, 60 and British born, took issue with Neef’s suggestion that there was no point searching for new operas among Canadians:
Mr. Neef was quoted as saying, “I’ve always deplored the useless and misguided kind of musical nationalism.” It’s easy to appreciate how this appears contemptuous and uninformed from the head of the national opera company…. Mr. Neef has … failed to attend any of the new mainstage Canadian operas mounted by the companies in Victoria, Vancouver or Calgary. His blog states he flew to Italy during the premiere run of Estacio’s Lillian Alling in Vancouver…
Seconds away, round 2:
vs 
Almost 84, the conductor announced a change of lifestyle at the New Year … and wants you to try it, too.
Read here.
Henri Lazarof, who assembled a $100 million modern art collection and composed seven symphonies, has died in Los Angeles, aged 90.
He and wife Janice bequeathed the collection to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It contains works by Picasso, Klee, Kandinsky and more. Aside from symphonies, Lazarof wrote several concertos and 11 string quartets.
Bulgaian born, Lazarof served in the Israeli army and studied with Paul Ben Haim. He has been extensively recorded.
A prominent figure in the period performance world has been named in a Sunday newspaper as the suspect who has been arrested several times in connection with alleged sexual abuse at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the 1970s.
Slipped Disc has reported the arrests, but – following current practice – we have not named the suspect as he has not been charged.
The police are keen to hear from any student who witnessed or suffered abuse at the Guildhall during the 1970s. If you were there, click on the newspaper link. If not, move on. When there is something to report, we’ll report it.
Our eye-popping discussion of footwear for orchestras has led, inexorably, to the question of maestros and their mules. What is the current benchmark in podium puppies? Who wears Lully loafers? Which is the best shod baton of them all?
Maestros, you are going to have to walk a long, long way to beat the immaculate Christopher Bell, Chorus Master of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and, in the US, of the chorus at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.
One of his soaring mezzos, Beena David, has sent us a selection from maestro’s foot locker.
Must be Ein Deutsches Requiem Day.
Sock it to us, Maestro!
A teeny bit more pianissimo?
Oh, those boots are not made for walking. They make serious music.
At the time of year when everyone talks of shedding weight, the website calorie.com comes up with the startling claim that one hour of playing the violin burns 175 calories. Cellos burn less, apparently. Check it out here.
Milan Horvat was the formative chief conductor of the radio orchestras of Ireland (RTE) and Vienna (ORF) and, back home of the Zagreb Philharmonic and Zagreb Opera. He taught at the University of Graz in Austria, where his star pupil was Fabio Luisi, now music director of Zurich Opera. His best-selling (though least distinguished) recording was the Rachmaninov D minor concerto with the Australian, David Helfgott.
He died at Innsbruck on New Year’s Day.
The French Ministry of Culture has come up with a staggering stat.
Apparently, cultural activity adds 57.8 billion Euros to the economy, equivalent to 3.2 percent of national GDP.
That is seven times as much as Renault, Citroen and the rest of the automotive industry put together.
Think about that, Detroit, before you sell off the Institute of Arts.
