Property Shark has drawn up a list of 20 cities that have the most cultural amenities* for head of population.

The highest has to be New York, right? Wrong.

New York City comes 13th.

Los Angeles, then?

Wrong again. LA checks in at #17.

Chicago?

Forget it. Number 20.

So where then, where?

Check here.

 

seattle

* defined as ‘museums, libraries, theaters, parks, stadiums’

Ilya Demutsky, whose opera on the Pussy Riot protesters won an award in Italy last year, has been physically attacked in St Petersburg after being lured to a public location for a supposed television interview.

Dumtsky claims his latest opera, about a paedophile hunter who resembles a Russian nationalist, has been cancelled by several venues and threats have been made against his life. Read here (in English).

ilya demutsky2

 

In an eight-month stay in Paris in 1737-8, Georg Philipp Telemann changed his style, his mood, the very character of his music.

What on earth was going on in his life?

A selection of Telemann’s Paris music is my Album of the Week on sinfinimusic.com.

Georg_Philipp_Telemann

 

Our man in the stalls reports:

Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony faced large swathes of empty seats. The attendance at Guglielmo Tell was slightly increased but still very far from full. Four principals were replaced at short notice without explanation. Seats are available at all prices for Gergiev’s Les Troyens with another unexplained replacement – Mlada Khudoley (pictured) for Ekaterina Gubanova.

 

mlada khudoley

For lack of creative ideas at Warner Classics, this is how they spend office time.
CallasNormaSP069

Fleur Pellerin, born Kim Jong-suk in South Korea and adopted at the age of one, is the first French Cabinet member of Asian extractions.

Last night, she was named culture minister with a brief to overturn some of the policies of her combative predecessor, Aurélie Fillippetti.

Fleur is quite a fighter, a game for a challenge.

On TV, she went head to head with a popster. Watch.

fleur-pellerin

Jules Eskin took time out earlier this year to deal with a bout of cancer.

But after 50 years he is not giving up his seat in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He’s back playing at Tanglewood, breaking in a new music director. Full story here.

jules eskin

Yehezkel Braun, a leading composer of choral and orchestral music, has died at the age of 92.

He was a product of the German cultural hothouse that was Breslau (now Wroclaw) and immersed himself unfashionably in Gregorian chant, achieving music of translucent beauty.

Some of his songs achieved near-pop status on national radio.

yehezkel braun

Piano sonata, 2006:

The Corbett Foundation, which distributed some $70 million to arts and education causes over 60 years, has been shut down with immediate effect.

Past beneficiaries include the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Corbett Tower in Music Hall, Northern Kentucky University’s Patricia A. Corbett Theater and J. Ralph Corbett Pavilion at Riverbend.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the musical theater program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music have received substantial grants in the past six years.

The Corbetts funded more than 40 opera productions in and around Cincinnati. More here.

corbett

 

Here’s the list. Finals on Saturday.

domingo operalia

 

 

 

Constans Anaïs Soprano France
Poulitsi Christina Soprano Greece
Willis-Sørensen Rachel Soprano USA
Nemzer Andrey Countertenor Russia
Chang Mario Tenor Guatemala
Holiday John Countertenor USA
Sivko Anatoli Bass Belarus
Kolosova Alisa Mezzo-soprano Russia
Lasri Abdellah Tenor Morocco
Adams Julie Soprano USA
Deonarine Kiri Soprano USA
Guerrero Joshua Tenor USA/Mexico
Li Yi Tenor China
Owens Shea Baritone USA
Woodbury Amanda Soprano USA
Xiahou Jinxu Tenor China
Lavrov Alexey Baritone Russia
Garcia Carol Mezzo-soprano Spain
Sicilia Mariangela Soprano Italy
Levis Abigail Mezzo-soprano USA
Hernandez Airam Tenor Spain

The young Australian composer Gordon Hamilton, whose work we have featured on this site, has been commissioned by the Queensland Symphony to write a prelude to Beethoven’s ninth symphony.

Taking his cue (and a theme) from the Ode to Joy, he has titled the new work ‘Ode to Gay’ and dedicated it to men who were persecuted for their sexuality or forced to conceal it.

Gordon writes: ‘The text I’ve settled on is The Trillion Souls by Andy West(a BBC reporter, and a really top guy!). In memory of the countless dead who could not marry, he addresses the trillions of gay people who’ve ever “lived and loved and longed alone”, inviting them to “join us here” and “to rise up and be known.’

Read more of Gordon’s thinking here.

gordon hamilton ghosts

Back in May, the Berlin Philharmonic announced that Mathieu Dufour had won the audition for its principal flute seat.

Dufour, a Frenchman, is principal flute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Last night he let it be known that he won’t be going to Berlin … yet. He has signed on for one more season with Riccardo Muti in Chicago.

Berlin, confident it will get its man, has asked the veteran Andreas Blau – 45 years with the orchestra – to postpone his retirement for a further 12 months. Dufour’s reasons for keeping Berlin in limbo have not been clarified.

Read Andrew Patner here.

dufour