The heat-seeking violinist is in trouble. Her flamboyant entry into the Winter Olympics appears to have been founded on fixed results.

 

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AP reports: 

Four Slovenian ski officials were suspended Friday for allegedly rigging the results of pop violinist Vanessa-Mae to help her qualify for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Competing in Sochi for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, using the surname of her Thai father, she finished a distant last among the 67 racers who completed the two runs in the Olympic giant slalom.

To earn enough points to be eligible for the games in February, she had to compete in official races in Sweden, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland.

The Slovenian Ski Association said Friday it found evidence indicating that the races it hosted in January were “fixed at the behest of Thai ski officials to meet her qualifying criteria for Sochi.”

The Slovenian association president, Jurij Zurej, said the suspected irregularities included falsification of times and rankings.

“The starting list included a person who did not even compete, a racer who fell was registered as finishing high in the standings,” Zurej said. “In addition, the dates of the competitions did not match the actual state when the races were held.”

Zurej said that Vanessa-Mae might not have known about the violations at the time.

Ken Thorne was a genius at setting other men’s music to film.

He won the 1966 Oscar for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (original Broadway musical: Stephen Sondheim).

He also composed the first Beatles film, Help!, and two of the Superman films, using themes by John Williams.

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Facebook announcement:

Anna Netrebko and Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov (age 37) are pleased to announce their engagement. The couple met and began dating in March of this year when they appeared together in a production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Rome Opera House. A date for the wedding has not been set, and Anna and Yusif politely request that their privacy be respected.

 

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John Kerry, in Beijing, got out his gitter and played a few Spanish riffs for Chinese vice-premier Liu.
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How do we rate him? A bit slow…

The jazz pianist is averse to coughing.

He has taken to walking out when anyone in the audience expectorates.

Last weekend, he walked out at the Salle Pleyel.

The German cabaret artist and children’s author Felix Janosa was so dismayed he voiced his disgust on his Facebook page:

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Gestern Abend war was los, nämlich Keith Jarrett im Salle de Pleyel zu Paris, auch ich samt lieber Frau unter den Zuschauern im ausverkauften Haus. Nach den üblichen Ermahnungen, die man wegen kleinerer Huster von Jarrett erwartet hatte und insgesamt sechs vollständigen und zwei abgebrochenen Improvisationen in der ersten Hälfte, fing die zweite Hälfte in deutlich gesteigerter Form an: Auf eine Schostakowitsch-hafte Toccata folgte ein überzeugender Jarrett-Gospel und als drittes eine sehr schöne Ballade. Als jedoch Jarrett sich beim vierten Stück (Jarrett-Standard-Ostinato) durch einen SEHR kleinen Huster wieder aus dem Konzept gebracht fühlte, verließ er nach einigem Hin und Her mit Fans und “Störern” beleidigt den Saal. Selbst über 10 Minuten anhaltendes Klatschen konnten die Mimose nicht davon überzeugen, das Konzert in Würde zu Ende zu bringen. Der Meister erschien dann doch noch mal, aber nur um den enttäuschten Fans zu sagen: “I have no more music in me!” Abgang Jarrett, Pfiffe, Buhrufe und echte Enttäuschung bei vielen Hardcore-Jarrett-Fans, meine Wenigkeit eingeschlossen.

 

Yesterday evening something was out of whack.  Namely, Keith Jarrett at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, where my dear wife and I were in the audience of a sold-out house.  After the customary admonitions about coughing that we’ve come to expect from Jarrett, and a total of six complete improvisations as well as two interrupted ones in the first half, the second half began in  markedly elevated fashion:  a Shostakovich-ian toccata, followed by a convincing Jarrett gospel number, and then a very beautiful ballade.  But during the fourth piece (a standard Jarrett-ostinato), when Jarrett again felt he had been distracted by a VERY small cough, he left the hall in a snit after some back and forth with fans and “disruptors.”  Even ten minutes of sustained clapping could not convince the shrinking violet to bring the concert to a fitting conclusion.  The master then came out again, but only to say to the disappointed fans, “I have no more music in me.”  Jarrett departed to the accompaniment of catcalls and real disappointment from many hardcore Jarrett-fans, my humble self included.

 

UPATE: Some readers have asked why we thought Jarrett was disgraced. What else do you call an artist who walks out on people who paid to hear him play? If Myra Hess could play through the London Blitz, Mr Spoiled Jarrett can override a little cough.

The Chancellor will not be attending the opening night of this year’s festival.

A red-carpet fixture in years past, her office has given ‘scheduling clashes’ as the reason for her absence and promised, somewhat vaguely, that she may turn up later in the summer.

 

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Could be that Angie’s had her fill of tomato bloodbaths, naked virgins, a chorus dressed as rats and other reconfigured charms of the Bayreuth stage.

Desperately covering for Frau Merkel’s absence, Bayreuth has swiftly announced the attendance on opening night of the Bavarian prime minister Horst Seehofer ‘and his entire cabinet’.

Big deal.

Where’s George Clooney when you really need him?

The Semper Oper in Dresden (prop. C. Thielemann) has just turned in a 91.9 percent season, up 1.2% on last year. It can hardly get much better, even in a Strauss anniversary year.

Leipzig Opera (boss man: Ulf Schirmer), which has gone through a hard time, announced a 6 percent increase to reach 70 percent capacity. Way to go, but it’s heading in the right direction.

Someone, please flash these figures at hangdog Peter Gelb.

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Russian media are carrying reportsthis week that Anna Netrebko is planning to marry the Azeri tenor, Yusif Eivazov.

Her partner has been posting pictures of himself with Anna and her son, Tiago.

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Vladislav Monastyrsky, who represents Netrebko in Russia, said: ‘The romance of the two stars is not a secret anymore, even though the couple didn’t announce their engagement. Anna asks for her private life to be respected. We hope that the beautiful romance will end with a wedding.’

A German tabloid has reported she may be pregnant.

Friends of the singer are discounting both sets of suggestions.

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pictures: Eivazov Fb page

It has been a long-established fact of American musical life that the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic is the highest paid orchestral player in the land.

 

 

 

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That may no longer be the case.

Figures obtained by Drew McManus from orchestra tax returns for 2011/12 show that Glenn Dicterow’s salary shot up from $517,432 (2010/11) to $654,679 in what will have been his penultimate season. He has just retired.

But Glenn’s successor has yet to be named and it’s unlikely he or she will be paid at that rate.

Meantime, other concertmasters are creeping up.

Alexander Barantschik in San Francisco shot from 507,063 (2010/11) to $560,010.

And changes in IRS procedures mean that a concertmaster’s  pay no longer needs to be published if it is below $100,000.

So for the moment, the top three are:

1 Dicterow  (NY) $654,679

2 Barantschik (SF) $560,010

3 William Preucil (Cleveland) $519,857

No-one else above half a mill.

For full list and analysis, click here.

For music directors pay click here.

 

Some will consider it the music bargain of the century, others a sale of desperation.

The Berlin Phil cannot sell records any more, nor can it attract many visitors to its Digital Concert Hall DCH).

So it is selling a 38-CD box of prime Herbert von Karajan recordings for £39.50 (or $67), and throwing in a free voucher, to boot.

Link here.

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