The BBC has – for reasons that will be clarified here at a later date – postponed the repeat of my three-part series, Music and the Jews.

But the series is taking on a separate life of its own.

On Sunday 21st, I am doing a live talk on the relationship between music and the Jews, illustrated with recordings and a fabulous young chorus. It’s at JW3 in Hampstead.

Be there if you can.

music and the jews

Book online here.

Just in:

Met-1.july18520x309

 

 

New York, NY–Tuesday, September 9, 2014The musicians of the Met Orchestra and their union, the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, announced that they have voted to ratify a new labor agreement with the Metropolitan Opera.

“Throughout this process, the musicians continued to believe that opera is alive and well here in New York City, and that with proper fiscal management, it is possible for the Met to present innovative grand opera and continue to attract and retain the top musicians in the world,” said Local 802 AFM President Tino Gagliardi. “We are proud to have helped craft an agreement that is unprecedented among arts institutions, one that allows for financial oversight and includes a mechanism for artists to collaborate in finding meaningful efficiencies. We are thankful to all those elected officials, fans, friends and colleagues who stood beside us during this process, and are eager to work on ensuring a sustainable future at the Met.” 

“No one is more concerned with the Met’s future than the musicians, choristers and craftspeople whose livelihoods depend on the Met’s survival and who are responsible for every aspect of the audience member’s experience when they come to the Met,” saidJessica Phillips Rieske, clarinetist and chair of the MET Orchestra committee. “We are thrilled that our season has been saved, and that we can get back to doing what we do best, which is to make the music come alive. We are dedicated to working collaboratively with management to find ways to achieve efficiencies that will result in real cost savings for the Met while maintaining the artistic excellence that we strive for and which our fans have come to expect from us. We are so grateful to everyone who support

The annual statistics are in for 201213, and Wagner is … nowhere.

The most watched opera was:

Mozart, Magic Flute, with 479 performances of 40 productions, seen by  247,432 spectators.

 

magicfluteposter1

 

In second place: Humperdinck, Hansel and Gretel, 268 shows, 35 production, 169,274 watched.

Third is Johann Strauss, Die Fledermaus, 246 performances, 24 productions, 155,435 visitors.

Fourth was Rossini, Barber of Seville. Fifth was Mozart Don Giovanni. Sixth La Traviata.

And only after that comes Wagner, with Flying Dutchman.

flying-dutchman-stamp-1933

Source here.

The jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler is in trouble. Aged 84, he and his wife Doreen are in poor health, unable to play and clean out of funds.

A benefit concert has been given in North London, where Kenny made his name on arrival from Canada in 1952. More are being planned in Canada.

kenny-wheeler

Wheeler’s pianist John Taylor, writes: “Kenny is at present living in a nursing home in Essex. He’s been there now for about three months. His presence there was necessitated because his wife Doreen was seriously ill and hospitalised. She is recovering now but will need a heart operation soon. I last saw Kenny a few weeks ago. He was well and in fairly good spirits but he has limited mobility and needs full-time care.”

There is a Paypal account for those who wish to contribute privately to this important and influential composer and performer.

The email address is: friendsofkennywheeler@gmail.com.

Share, and spread the word.

In an open-access interview with our partners, Hello Stage, the violinist Julian Rachlin recommends up-and-coming players to avoid entering competitions. ‘I don’t like the idea of one person competing against another in music. It’s not a sport… Many musicians don’t like this system. Certain students are being pushed by the jury system, in a very unfair way.’

So how to get started? ‘Try to play to important conductors, when you are ready…. A real talent will always find a way. Don’t get stressed about it.’

Click at 19:00 on the video. Apologies for the boxy sound.

julian rachlin

In the tercentenary year of the death of Jean-Philippe Rameau, the composer’s native town of Dijon has decided to get rid of its orchestra.

The mayor, refusing to cough up 330,000 Euros that would have saved l’Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne,  said: ‘this town is not a cash machine’.

He’s right. It’s nothing without Rameau (and mustard).

rameau

The Atlanta Symphony has avoided calling its suspension of the musicians a lockout. in public. Their PR smoothies have advised agaist it.

But the L-word appears in its general business communications. See below.

atlanta symphony orch

 

 

Dear Applicant for the Atlanta Symphony Principal Bass audition,

 

As you may have heard, the Atlanta Symphony is currently without a Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the musicians are locked out. While we sincerely hope that this situation will not take very long to resolve, our Music Director feels that the fairest thing to do for all concerned is to postpone our audition until we have our orchestra back at work and ready to focus on holding successful auditions. We regret the disruption to your plans, and appreciate your patience as we work through our internal issues. If the labor dispute is resolved quickly, you will be notified of a new audition date directly by email. In the unfortunate event that it lasts more than a month, we will re-submit an ad to the International Musician, and start the process over from the beginning.

 

 

Russell Williamson

Director of Orchestra Personnel and Operations

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

London’s South Bank Centre is so proud that one of its orchestras has commissioned a new concerto it failed to notice the composer’s gender. This, you should know, is Stevie Wishart.

stevie wishart

This is the South Bank’s press release. Sample: At the centre of this concert is a brand new piece by the acclaimed composer Stevie Wishart. His track record encompasses both early music and cutting-edge electronics.

This is the esteemed soloist.

12_oae_chi-chi-nwanoku

 

Jean-Marie Zeitouni, artistic director of I Musici di Montreal, has been named music director in Boulder, Colorado, succeeding Michael Christie who served 13 years.

Zeitouni, 38, won the job over two other contestants in a baton shoot-out.

Press release here.

zietouni

The city’s culture secretary, Tim Renner, wants the opera houses to steam their work free on the internet as a recompense for public funding.

The German cultural council says free streaming would ‘damage the value of culture’.

They can’t both be right. There can only be one winner.

Renner, ex-music business, has the Zeitgeist on his side.

Read here (auf Deutsch).

 

proms_streaming

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, imprisoned at Gatwick earlier in the day, brought down to London a thoughtful birthday gift for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who turns 80 today. It’s a waistcoat in his favourite tartan.

peter maxwell davies

When the Minnesota Orchestra locked out its musicians in October 2012, two considerations weighed high in the board’s mind. One was that Minnesota paid well above the going rate to attract top players. The other was that, a month earlier, players in the Atlanta symphony had agreed after a short lockout to a 14 percent pay cut. The money men of Minnesota reckoned they could quickly force the same sort of deal.

Well, it didn’t work out that way. In part, because the musicians were prepared to sit it out for 15 months until the board gave way and, in part, because a very substantial chunk of the community and the audience saw the need to maintain high wages as a guarantee of player quality. The players felt supported. That encouraged them to hold out.

minnesota state fair

 

Atlanta was unimpressed. Despite making a pledge that the 14 percent was a one-time-only cut, the board and president set about planning for a second lockout, stalling through eight months of negotiations with offers the players could only refuse. On the table, we hear, was this:

Year 1: 0 % increase in salary

Year 2: 1% increase in salary

Year 3: 1.5% increase in salary

Year 4: 2% increase in salary

These tiny increases, however, were to be paid at the expense of deep cuts in the health benefits package which would have left every player worse off. Actual salaries would be the same in 2018 as they were in 2011, but the players would pay much more for their health cover.

What Atlanta was telling its players was that the 2012 one-time-only cut was just a sampler. From now on it was going to be cuts all the way – not just in pay but in jobs as well, with one-third of the orchestra to be removed by natural or unnatural causes.

It was an offer the players had to refuse, and one which the company did not expect them to accept. Labor lawyer Kevin Case writes: ‘As an attorney, I cannot envision any scenario in which I would advise my musician or union clients to accept the kind of demands the ASO is making. […] It makes a mockery of the protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act and the entire scheme of federal labor law.’

atlanta symphony orch

Atlanta planned its lockout for eight months and was ready with all the PR and legal paraphanalia the moment midnight chimed.

The threat to Atlanta’s players is graver and more heartless than Minnesota. They have been lied to and belittled and locked out. Their families cannot get health protection. They have fewer opportunities for other employments than the well-known and well-connected musicians of Minnesota. They are under extreme pressure to cave in.

But if Atlanta’s musicians give way, other hardline boards will take heart. As in October 2012, the next orchestral lockout will be but a heartbeat away. If Atlanta’s musicians surrender, music across America will be the poorer for it.