Two members of the 5 Browns, the classical piano quintet whose father was jailed for molesting his under-14 daughters, have launched a foundation for fellow survivors. It deserves everyone’s support. Please click here.
Deondra and Desirae Brown write today:
Long before news broke of the sexual abuse of my childhood, I secretly wished that I could someday testify before lawmakers to help protect children. I always wondered how I’d be able to live out this facet of my life if my abuse was never public, and resigned myself to thinking it may never be. When the news hit publicly of sexual abuse at the hands of my father, one of the first things that came to mind was that maybe testifying on behalf of children could actually become a reality. On Valentine’s Day, my dream of using my voice to promote legislation came true. It seems so fitting – the day I testify out of concern and love for children would also be the day society designates to show love.
A court in Bermuda has ruled that the Lucerne Festival has a right to inherit SFr 120 million ($137m) earmarked for an opera house by its late patron, Christof Engelhorn. The will was contested by Engelhorn’s heirs. Their defeat appears to be decisive, subject to appeal. Here’s a summary of events so far. And here’s the victory roll from Lucerne:
Media Release
Salle Modulable Foundation wins its case: withdrawal of
funds was unlawful
Lucerne/Hamilton, 21 February 2014 – The judge of the competent court in Bermuda has ruled that the withdrawal of funding for the Salle Modulable in Lucerne took place unlawfully and that Butterfield Trust (Bermuda) Limited must fulfil its obligations.
The Salle Modulable Foundation has won its case before the Supreme Court of Bermuda: the withdrawal of funding for the Salle Modulable by Butterfield Trust (Bermuda) Ltd. (Butterfield) in October 2010 has been ruled unlawful. The presiding judge has found that a contract of donation governed by Swiss law was entered into in the summer of 2007 and that Butterfield must meet its obligations arising from it. If the Salle Modulable Foundation submits a feasibility study, adapted to the new circumstances, for a venue with flexible arrangements for experimental music theatre in the City of Lucerne, Butterfield is bound to honour the promise of finance it originally made in the amount of up to CHF 120 million. The feasibility study will be updated and adapted as part of the New Theatre Infrastructure Lucerne (NTI) Project.
Butterfield’s counter-claim was rejected in its entirety. The judge has not yet made any final pronouncement on other questions. This will entail a further hearing. The judgment may yet be referred to the Bermuda Appeal Court.
Hubert Achermann, Chairman of the Salle Modulable Foundation, says: “Naturally we are very pleased with the outcome and believe that justice has been done. Our expense and effort have paid off, and I thank everyone who has supported us in these lengthy proceedings. Still, we remain far from our objective. First, we expect the opposing party to accept this judgment and desist from further time-consuming and costly legal proceedings.
Then we have to produce an updated and authoritative feasibility study, in co-operation with the Canton and City. For this purpose, we can build on the work done so far. We have a fine opportunity to create something unique for Lucerne, as the City of Culture and Festivals, and for its institutions, not least in memory of the great patron, Christof Engelhorn.“
That’s the instant on dit in French media.
Apparently, the Opéra de Lyon has yet to draw up a shortlist to replace the outgoing Serge Dorny, sacked today before he started in Dresden.
The job’s his for the taking back.
It would be a serious career mistake, of course, if he did. But many are hoping he will. Not all of them sincerely.
In what looks like a knee-jerk response to Jude Kelly’s attention-seeking speeches at London’s South Bank, Morley College has announced a short course for young women conductors, aged 16-19, led by conductor Alice Farnham.
The plus side is that Sian Edwards (below) will be guest teaching. The minus is that Jude Kelly will be given another platform for her antediluvian misperceptions. Details here.
In one of the fastest turnarounds and frankest dismissals ever seen in the lumbering opera world, the state of Saxony has sacked Serge Dorny before he could become general manager of the Semper Oper, Dresden.
In a statement terminating his engagement with immediate effect, arts minister Sabine Schorlemer said: ‘I greatly regret we had to take this step…. Unfortunately, he was unable to establish a fruitful, trusting co-existence with the staff, both artistic and administrative. He frittered away good will in no time. To our great disappointment, he has not met the expectations that we had placed in him.’
Full statement here (auf Deutsch).
At his previous jobs with the London Philharmonic and Lyon Opera, the Belgian administrator earned a reputation for secretive and high-handed behaviour. He was due to succeed the well-liked Ulrike Hessler, who died of cancer in July 2012.
UPDATE: Dorny’s future? Second UPDATE: Dorny hits back.
Not Lorin Maazel (for once).
It’s Mark Eager, 52, music director of the Welsh Sinfonia.
He’s raising money for musical causes. Support him here.
Hat-tip to the great pianist, 85 next week and still going strong at the University of Tennessee.
photo: with his wife, Maria Cooper Janis.
The soprano, long married to the baritone Mark Guleghin, has found new happiness with Russia’s Olympic state coach of Greco-Roman wrestling, Vyacheslav Mkrtychev. In an extraordinarily frank interview she says of her first marriage:
‘Personal life? I did not have it … The worst thing – we always sing about love, but most do not love or are loved. Opera is too heavy a burden for women.You can not imagine how painful.’
And of her new husband: ‘He knows what a person needs before the “championship”. When I have to go on stage he creates the perfect psychological comfort around me. And when I do not need to sing, I flutter around my husband and care for him.’
She’s thinking of moving back to Moscow.
With Placido Domingo and Marta, husband Slava, after Nabucco at the Mariinsky.
Philippe Lesburguères, former head of the Conservatoire of Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée, has been jailed in France for 18 months. He was found guilty of accepting expense-paid trips to China and Thailand in exchange for the admission of Chinese students to his school. Two Chinese nationals were also convicted. At the time of Lesburguères’ arrest, the provincial Conservatoire had 47 Chinese students.
Lesburguères was also an active conductor.
Local media have confirmed that there were expanses of empty seats at yesterday’s local debut of Tchaikovsky winner Daniil Trifonov with the Minnesota Orchestra. Some blamed it on an impending storm, others on an internal tempest that has not yet blown over.
We hear that key board members are still angry at the musicians over what they see as obduracy over a wage cut, and that musicians are resentful both of their board and the MO president, Michael Henson, whom they want to see sacked.
There are also unmentioned tensions surrounding former music director Osmo Vänskä and his relationships within the organisation.
Peace is no closer in Minnesota than it is in the Middle East.
The Phoenix Symphony in Arizona has appointed Tito Munoz, 30, as its next music director. A former assistant conductor at Cleveland and music director of the Lorraine opera and orchestra in France, Tito has long been sighted as a talent waiting to happen.
Raised in New York by immigrant parents from Ecuador and Colombia, he has impressed on guest appearances with major orchs and was well liked in Cleveland. The Phoenix Symphony, aptly named, survived near-bankruptcy in 2011 and has been without a music director since then.
The Nordbayerischer Kurier, which has inside track on the Wagner Hill, reports today that Eva Wagner-Pasquier will depart as co-director in September 2015 at the end of her contract. That will leave her half-sister Katharina is virtual sole charge – assuming the rubber-stamp board renew her contract which is presently under renegotiation. (The former Deutsche Oper Berlin chief, Heinz-Dieter Sense, is the third director, in charge of business affairs.)
Eva, 68, is well-connected and respected across the opera world. She has worked in tandem with Katharina for six years and would like to be retained in an advisory capacity (these Wagners never let go). Katharina, on the other hand, may feel she now has enough experience to run the show on her own – as her authoritarian father, Wolfgang, always intended.
Eva (r.) with Katharina (l.) and key supporter
