September 4, 2014 - Slippedisc

The Welsh baritone and English actress, who took the breath away in Sondheim’s musical at Lincoln Center earlier this year with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, are to reprise the roles in a full staging at English National Opera.

It marks Thompson’s first return to the London stage in 25 years, but not her first live singing role. She played the lead in the West End production of Me and My Girl, which beat out Les Mis for Best Musical at the Oliviers in 1985.

It is also the first fruit of ENO’s co-production deal with West End producers GradeLinnit.

Shepherds beware.

Two years ago, musicians in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra took a $14,000 pay cut to help cover a projected deficit of $1.5 million.

The musicians were assured this was a one-off sacrifice in extraordinary circumstances. Now they are being asked for further pay and job cuts. Their contract expires Saturday night. The management, led by Stanley Romanstein, is threatening a lockout.

However, it has now emerged in the negotiating room that Stanley Romanstein posted a deficit of $2,786,000 in financial year 2013, almost twice as much as the $1.5 million he’d predicted. The loss was caused by Romanstein’s failure to manage the budget and raise donations.

Romanstein, a stranger to humility, is demanding that musicians give up their jobs and part of their health care to pay for his shortcomings. He has rejected an appeal by the orchestra’s music director and principal guest conductor to avert an ‘unhealthy’ situation.

That’s what the Atlanta dispute is really about. It’s quite black and white.

(picture from the 2012 dispute)

UPDATE: Statement tonight by the musicians:

Atlanta, GA September 4, 2014

The current contract of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians expires at midnight on Saturday September 6, 2014. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players Association has been engaged in negotiations with ASO management for the last eight months.

Two years ago, the ASO musicians took a $14,000 annual pay cut. The musicians agreed to this because the ASO and Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) management stated that they needed this concession in order to balance the budget, and to create a new business model for the ASO.

The musicians were assured that this cut was a one-time only concession that would be met in equal measure by additional fundraising. CEO Stanley Romanstein has failed to raise the funding necessary to balance the budget. Meanwhile, the WAC rewarded him with a new three-year contract, despite a catastrophic failure to reach budgeted goals during FY13.

It is important to remember this: The ASO musicians account for only a quarter of the ASO’s budget, and once again, the management of the ASO and the WAC are demanding that every single musician shoulders thousands of dollars in additional concessions.

In Ottawa, a replacement has been appointed for Richard Todd, 70, who retires unwillingly.

Read his account (which the Ottawa Citizen would not publish) by clicking here.

Still claiming the title of Turnaround King, Michael Kaiser left the Kennedy Center today with a blot on his record. So weak has been the offering in the past year, so enfeebled the directorship, that no classical artist has made it onto the honors board.

The winners are soul singer Al Green, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, singer-songwriter Sting, dancer Patricia McBride, and comedian Lily Tomlin.

What was Kaiser doing when his mind should have been on the job? Meddling in Philadelphia. Read Peter Dobrin here.

Modena plans to make the most of its biggest asset, in one of his former homes, the Cassa Rossa. The opening is planned for May 2015, when Milan hosts World Expo.

The ‘classical singer’ joins Bryn Terfel, Damien Lewis and others in welcoming the Nato leaders.

Where was Charlotte Church?

This is from an open letter by Phelim McDermott, a director at Improbable, which has staged productions at the Met, ENO and Sydney Opera House:

Let’s try and break this cycle where performers want revenge for what was done to them. I say this because it’s making theatre bad and it’s making our rehearsal rooms uncreative. Did you know that fear isn’t just isolated to your rehearsal room? It’s infecting other rehearsal rooms too. Our rehearsal rooms can become a place where performers are so bruised that they can’t feel their own bodies anymore. They are so removed from their own sensitivities that they aren’t aware of the atmosphere they are creating because they have been made too afraid to play. It’s a place where they aren’t being supported to trust their own impulses and in turn don’t trust others. It’s taking us into a downward spiral of the lowest common denominator.

Full, fascinating letter here.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has responded to the emotional appeal by Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles with a bland set of bromides. The two conductors had warned that the ASO management was fostering an ‘unhealthy’ situation by threatening another lock-out. This is all Stanley Romanstein’s management team could come up with by way of response:

The full statement in response from ASO management:

We fully agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter from Mr. Spano and Mr. Runnicles.

– We recognize that the musicians have made significant sacrifices in the last two years to help the ASO’s finances, as have many ASO staff members over many years. We are thankful for them all.
– We agree that the high musical standards and aspirations of the ASO are critically important and should not be compromised.
– We agree that it takes time to bring about sustainable change.
-Most of all, we agree that a work stoppage is not in the best interests of anyone associated with the ASO.

– But neither is the continuation of operating deficits that have been on-going for 12 years nor the consequences they bring. They have led to concerns from our donors and a precipitous decline in our endowment.
– Finally, we believe there are solutions that will allow the ASO management and musicians to balance the artistic and financial needs of the orchestra for the long term.

Our man on the spot adds:

If you want to find the real financial problems, investigate the umbrella organization, Woodruff Arts Center, where the pressure to downsize the orchestra is coming from. Take a look at the Moody’s rating for the Arts Center. In November it was affirmed at “A2” but its outlook downgraded from “stable” to “negative.” There are $118 million in outstanding bonds. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is merely a “doing business as” name for a division of Woordruff Arts Center, which is the actual 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit institution, and which also includes d/b/a divisions “High Museum,” “Alliance Theatre,” and “Young Audiences, Woodruff ArtsCenter”.

He told the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende that he will end his New York contract in 2017 when he takes over full time with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Luisi is also music director at Zurich Opera.

His arrival in New York saved the Met’s Ring after James Levine was taken sick, but Levine’s return sidelined Luisi and Peter Gelb did little to ease a delicate situation.

Danish text follows.

Kommende chef i DR stopper på The Met Berlingske | 04.09.2014 | Side 25 <l>
DOBBELTJOB
Fabio Luisi forlænger ikke sin kontrakt som dirigent på Manhattans verdenskendte opera. Han meddelte sin beslutning i et interview til Berlingske tirsdag eftermiddag.
Den italienske dirigent blev i mandags udnævnt til chefdirigent for DRs symfoniorkester – som efterfølger for den nyligt afdøde Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
Luisi har haft to andre lederjob de seneste år: Dels som chef for operaen i Zürich, dels som førstedirigent på den verdenskendte Metropolitan Opera i New York. Men når han tiltræder den danske post i 2017, vil han afslutte sin kontrakt med operahuset på Manhattan. Verdensnavnet har formentlig ikke fået så mange opgaver i New York som ønsket. Læs hele interviewet i Berlingske på lørdag. schauser.

– See more at: https://slippedisc.com/2014/09/fabio-luisi-wont-renew-his-contract-with-the-met/#sthash.tsqfs1yu.dpuf

The Toronto Symphony have returned from their first European tour in 14 years.

It was going rather well, until the Helsinki Phil challenged the Canadians to a game of soccer.

Neither side mentions the result on the ever-so-friendly video below.

Between you and us, it was 5-0. (They should have stuck to ice-hockey).

His arrival in New York saved the Met’s Ring after James Levine was taken sick, but Levine’s return sidelined Luisi and Peter Gelb did little to ease a delicate situation.

Danish text follows.

The fraudster whose deceptions brought many arts organisations to the brink of collapse is serving 150 years in jail.

His two sons turned him in six years ago after Madoff confessed his Ponzi scheme was going wrong.

Elder son Mark hanged himself in 2010.

Young son, Andrew, has died aged 48 of a lymphoma relapse, which he blamed on father-related stress.