When David Pountney staged Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s The Passenger at English National Opera in September 2011, most of the London critics reached deep into their dictionaries of scorn.  Mine was one of few voices that argued for the importance of the work, not as a holocaust memento but as a masterwork of modern opera. 

Since then, The Passenger has been staged in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The big news is that Houston Grand Opera is to stage the US premiere tonight in a production that Chicago Lyric Opera will share in 2015. The show will also travel to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. Start queuing now.

The Passenger by Mieczyslaw Weinberg

tugan sokhiev

Press release:

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Violinist Sergey Khachatryan Receives the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award for 2014

 

Vienna/Lucerne, 17 January 2014. The winner of this year’s Credit Suisse Young Artist Award is Sergey Khachatryan. The announcement was made this afternoon in Vienna by the jury, which is chaired by LUCERNE FESTIVAL’s Executive and Artistic Director, Michael Haefliger, after the candidatesauditioned for them in the Vienna Musikverein. The award comes with a cash prize of 75,000 Swiss francs – one of the highest awards in the field – and also involves appearing in concert with the Vienna Philharmonic as part of LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer. The concert will take place on 13 September 2014 under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel.

 

Sergey Khachatryan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. In 2000 he won the prestigious Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki and, in 2005, first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels. He has performed with such internationally acclaimed orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris under Andris Nelsons, the Bamberg Symphony under Jonathan Nott, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Symphony. He has appeared frequently with the Philharmonia Orchestra in particular. His plans for the current season include concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and with the Vienna Symphony under Markus Stenz. In June 2013 his most recent CD, of violin sonatas by Johannes Brahms, was released on the label Naïve.

It’s a great interim appointment but the suddenness begs a few questions. Press release below.

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private photo, 1984

ROBERT FITZPATRICK NAMED PROVOST AND DEAN

OF SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Fitzpatrick as Provost and Dean. Fitzpatrick replaces outgoing Dean Mary Ellen Poole, who has stepped down after 10 years of distinguished service to the school. Former Dean and Chief Academic Officer of the Curtis Institute of Music, Fitzpatrick will serve in an interim capacity until the search for a new permanent dean for the Conservatory is completed.

“We are delighted to welcome Robert Fitzpatrick to the Conservatory at an exciting moment in our history,” says President David H. Stull. “Mr. Fitzpatrick has a wealth of management and leadership experience and is a highly accomplished musician and teacher. I am honored to have him join our community.” Stull notes that Fitzpatrick’s guidance in post-secondary educational administration will be particularly useful for the Conservatory’s accreditation report to WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) due later this year. “He has led numerous accreditation processes with multiple agencies and organizations, including a site visit to SFCM in the 1990s.”

“I am happy to accept the invitation from President Stull to join the San Francisco Conservatory administrative team charged with realizing his long term strategic vision,” says Fitzpatrick. “This dynamic plan will secure the place of the Conservatory among the planet’s most important destinations for aspiring musical artists who dream of becoming performers at the highest professional level, and who will influence the cultural life of their city, their country, and the world as inspiring musical citizens during the 21st century and beyond.” Fitzpatrick began his responsibilities at the Conservatory on Monday, January 13 and will meet the full community of Conservatory students and faculty when the Spring semester begins on Tuesday, January 21.

‘My producer said people wouldn’t stand for just music on the screen’. Priceless script, straight out of The Big Sleep, intruding on a rehearsal of the highest paid trio in history: Heifetz, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky.

million dollar trio