The management of Radio France has scrapped plans to merge the administration of two orchestras after strikes by the musicians, a freeze by one music director and the resignation of a popular artistic coordinator.
Radio France has issued a brief statement saying ‘agreement has been reached’. The musicians’ statement said they had obtaind ‘satisfaction’.
The Finnish conductor Mikko Franck and the President of Radio France, Mathieu-Gallet said they had resolved their differences.
A replacement is to be hired for the much-missed Eric Montalbetti. The head of music at Radio France, Jean-Pierre Rousseau, emerges from the dispute greatly weakened.
Barrie Kosky has been renewed as director of the Komische Oper until 2022.
Leonard Slatkin, music director at Detroit and Lyon, has responded to our inessentials challenge with these choices:
Works I do not need to hear or conduct again.
1. Pachelbel Canon
2. Any Symphony that has been designated “0” or “00”
3. Berio’s completion of Turandot
4. Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp
5. Beethoven Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph the ll
6. Most of the organ music of César Franck
7. Works that composers discarded but others have chosen to resurrect. ( I have been guilty several times on this one.)
8. Schmidt The Book of the Seven Seals
9. Almost all the music from films I would not care to see a second time.
10. Khatchaturian 3rd symphony
Composers or works that should be heard and played more often
1. Haydn Symphonies that do not have nicknames.
2. Most of the orchestral music of Hindemith
3. Tippett 2nd
4. Rimsky Korsakoff Antar
5. Dukas La Peri and not just the fanfare
6. Hanson Symphonies other than the 2nd
7. Martinu Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Timpani and Piano (oh, yes!! – NL)
8. Bloch Concerto Grosso No. 1
9. Tedesco Violin Concerto No. 2
10. A great number of symphonies by American composers, which used to be played all the time.
The Georgian-born violinist, presently artist in residence with the New York Philharmonic, has been playing a Requiem for Ukraine that she describes as ‘an expression of the solidarity for this country that has been aggressed and taken apart’.
She has also been performing with the Putin ally, Valery Gergiev.
She talks about the balancing act to Brian Wise at WQXR. Click here for interview.
End of the Monza saga.
Date: October 9th 2014
Message to Rina Sala Gallo Competition
I got carried away by my emotions and by the deep impression some of the semifinalists made on me.
Since I am not so frequently a jury member at international piano competitions, I gave my voting as an artist and I must confess that I did not realise sufficiently that my votes could be eliminated if they were higher or lower than the votes of the other jury members.
Looking back on my comment, I must admit that it was written in a moment that my enjoyment and expectation of fine music had suddenly been disrupted. Some of the words and qualifications which I used in my comment were indeed inappropriate, for which I would like to apologise.
I remain a dedicated musician and I hope that we can all make our own contributions to the fine art of classical music.
The Metropolitan Opera has begun to raid its vaults to raise hard cash. An item of jewellery made in 1855 for Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, has been put up for sale next month at Christie’s Geneva.
The Feuilles de Groseillier brooch was presented to the singer Lucrezia Bori by Mrs. Vincent Astor, on behalf of colleagues of the Metropolitan Opera Board, on the night of her retirement in March 1936. Ms Bori continued to work as a fundraiser for the Met until her death in 1960, at which point the brooch passed under her will into Met ownership.
The sale is expected to raise between $2 and $3 million.
The brooch is said by insiders to be ‘the most valuable item’ in the Met archives.
The splendid Italian soprano Anita Cerquetti died today at the age of 83.
In January 1958, she stepped in for Maria Callas as Norma in Rome, while continuing to perform the same role for two weeks in Naples. The tour de force earned her world headlines but appears to have affected her health. Over the next three years she steadily reduced her commitments until announcing her complete retirement in 1961, aged 30.
Received from the Eastman School of Music:
October 11, 2014
Noted Coloratura Soprano Rita Shane Dies
Dramatic coloratura soprano Rita Shane, who performed as Queen of the Night more than 250 times and originated the lead in Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Fire, died Thursday, October 9, in New York City after a brief and courageous battle with pancreatic and liver cancer. She was 78 years old and was Professor of Voice at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
When she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1973 in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The New York Times noted her “powerful, precise, expressive, and intense” performance, saying it “left no doubt as to the Queen of the Night’s character.” A leading soprano at the Met for 10 seasons and 75 performances, Ms. Shane also sang at the Chicago Lyric, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New York City, and many other American opera companies. She made her European debut at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan in 1970 and sang at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, and a dozen other houses in Europe and South America.
“We have many faculty stars at Eastman. For me, what made Rita Shane stand out among them as a teacher, in addition to her legendary warmth and elegance, was a quality of faithfulness: to the vocal technique that she believed in so completely and conveyed so effectively; to her students whom she supported in so many ways, during and after their years in school; and to a professional standard of singing that she helped sustain in the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls,” said Russell Miller, Professor of Vocal Coaching and Repertoire, and Chair of the Voice & Opera Department. “Ms. Shane was beloved far beyond her own class of students, as she was a sympathetic listener to any singer in the building who was committed to their work, and a model colleague to all the faculty with whom she worked.”
While at the Met, Ms. Shane stepped in for Beverly Sills in January 1976 as Pamira in Rossini’s The Siege of Corinth. Noting the technical difficulty of the role, the New York Times said that “her virtuosity in scales, cadenzas and staccato leaps and her solid high notes were impressive.” The following month, Ms. Shane was again called to replace Sills, this time in Verdi’s La Traviata as Violetta, a part which, according to the New York Times, she sang expertly, “her voice free and easy at the top,” and with the “middle register to take care of all the singing beyond the brilliance of Act 1.”
at La Scala, 1969
“The world lost a bright, shining star; Rita Shane was not only an incredible voice teacher to so many fortunate students, she was a rock, a shining light, mentor, colleague and friend,” said Metropolitan Opera tenor John McVeigh, who has performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and in opera and in concert with orchestras and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and China. “She took me, and so many others like me, under her wings, nurtured us at Eastman and then invited us to be part of her ‘family’ in New York City. She made us feel safe, that her home was ours, and we were now a part of the amazing community of singers, actors, musicians, family and friends that spent countless hours on her terrace. She helped us all to find our own voice in this world.”
Ms. Shane was born on August 15, 1936, in New York City, and studied at Barnard College. She studied voice with Beverly Peck Johnson. She made her professional debut in 1964 as Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Chattanooga, and the following year appeared with the New York City Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. With City Opera, she went on to sing in Dialogues of the Carmelites, L’amour de trois oranges, and as Queen of the Night. She also appeared again in Don Giovanni, this time in the role of Donna Anna.
In 1979, Ms. Shane sang the lead role in the world premiere of Miss Havisham’s Fire at the New York City Opera. She also performed the world premieres of Hovhaness’s Cantata and the complete orchestral version of Richard Strauss’s Brentano Songs. She sang in the American premieres of Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers as Hilda Mack, in Schat’s Houdini as Cecilia, and in Reimann’s Lear as Regan.
Ms. Shane’s repertoire of more than 40 operatic roles also included Manon, Lulu, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Micaëla inCarmen, Musetta in La bohème, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Berthe in Le Prophète, and Giselda in I Lombardi alla prima crociata. She made festival appearances in Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Glynderbourne, Perugia, Aspen, and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival.
“Rita’s extraordinary voice, truly one of a kind, was matched by her warmth, generosity, and fierce loyalty. Her sunny disposition was a gift in my life, and in the community of Eastman,” said Carol Webber, Eisenhart Professor of Voice at Eastman. Webber noted that a former student once wrote to Rita and talked about “the smiling spirit” with which she taught. “That’s a perfect summation of how magical her presence will continue to be in the lives of so many students. I treasure her as a close friend, and her smiling spirit is lasting,” Webber said.
As an orchestral soloist, Ms. Shane performed with the London Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, RAI Naples, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and others. She worked with such renowned conductors as Zubin Mehta, Rafael Kubelik, James Levine, Rudolf Kempe, Bernard Haitink, Michael Gielen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Thomas Schippers. Her recordings appear on the RCA, Columbia, Turnabout and Louisville Premiere labels. Ms. Shane was selected to make the first full recording of Strauss’s Brentano Songs, made in 1970 with the Louisville Orchestra on the Orchestra’s own First Edition label.
Ms. Shane joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in 1989. She had also taught at Manhattan School of Music, conducted master classes, judged vocal competitions, and maintained a private teaching studio in New York City.
Ms. Shane is survived by her son, Michael Shane Tritter; beloved grandson, Jonah Choi Tritter; sister, Ruth Rosenthal; and brother, Arthur Shane. A celebration of her life is being planned to take place in the next few months. A scholarship fund will be established at the Eastman School of Music. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Ms. Shane may be sent to the Eastman School of Music, Office of Advancement, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, NY 14604.
A recording of Ms. Shane performing the “Vengeance Aria” from The Magic Flute can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqGIUMG0QG4. An interview from the January/February 2014 issue the local Rochester magazine Post can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/p8dcezx .
Jonathan Berman, 27, a youg British conductor, won a Kempinski Arts Programme Fellowship to work for six weeks with franz Welser-Möst and Michael Tilson Thomas. Here’s his account of the experience.
I arrived in Detroit in the middle of a Polar Vortex with temperatures of -21°C . My onward flight to Cleveland was cancelled necessitating a 6hr (instead of the usual 2hr) taxi ride with the door held shut by seatbelts due to the cold. Eventually we got to Cleveland and having slept and cleaned up I arrived at Severance Hall on time, to begin a six week long Kempinski Arts Programme Fellowship.
I began putting a personalised program together with Marylea van Daalen back in October. In the Kempinski Foundation I was amazed to find an organisation which truly cared about the needs of the recipient. We came up with a program which comprised spending January with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra, beginning in Cleveland and then following them on tour to Miami. I would then stay in Miami with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony until mid-February. This would give me the opportunity to see two conductors and orchestras with very different missions and aesthetics, but both at the very top of the music world.
The Cleveland Orchestra has a tradition spanning over 100 years with music in the city going back even further (Schubert’s Nephew set up a brass band in Cleveland in the 19thCentury!). Historically the orchestra brings together performance traditions from America and Europe. Former chief conductor George Szell stated that the orchestra’s aim was “to combine the American purity and beauty of sound and their virtuosity of execution with a European sense of tradition, warmth of expression and sense of style”, a statement that remains as true today as it was 50 years ago.
The Cleveland Orchestra rehearse and perform concerts in Severance Hall which was built in 1931 and has one of the great Art Deco interiors. Recently restored and modified the building is spectacular; from the Grand Foyer with its Egyptian murals to the Chamber Music Hall with its feel of an 18th Century drawing room. This is the orchestra’s home, and its acoustics have evolved symbiotically with the sound of the orchestra. Now with a reverb time of 1.8 seconds the hall has a beautifully clear, but warm sound. Everything can be heard, even the softest pianissimo in which this orchestra specialises.
Somehow Cleveland presents itself as a community orchestra who personally know the members of their audience. Before and after concerts the players welcome and talk to their friends, students or colleagues naturally breaking down the barrier between stage and audience. However, when playing it is a different story. This is a world-class ensemble made up of an astonishingly good rostrum of players. Hearing the players warm up you hear the level of finesse and fitness of each individual member, and as a group the players exude a deep pride in their playing combined with humility and friendliness to the public.
I had, in the past, attended a number of Franz Welser-Möst ’s concerts in London with the Vienna Philharmonic, knew his recordings, and I had seen a video of him rehearsing Mozart with the Cleveland Orchestra. Mozart is so often under rehearsed, however in this video Welser-Möst rehearsed with such care and in such detail, that I had for some time wanted to meet and watch his rehearsals. Winning a Kempinski Fellowship made it possible for me to see him first hand –he didn’t disappoint at all!
During my time with the Cleveland Orchestra, Welser-Möst rehearsed and performed music from the Central-European tradition (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, J. Strauss, R. Strauss and Korngold). However they also worked on repertoire further afield (Stravinsky, Debussy and even a 30 minute tone poem by Jorg Widmann, a young Austrian composer). Welser-Möst rehearsed all of the repertoire equally, and with great care. His approach came directly from the score, and the detail of what is actually written. However he didn’t confine himself to the words written instructions, but based his interpretations on the actual notes, harmonies and underlying structures in the music.
In Cleveland Welser-Möst’s rehearsals on Mozart were a master class in how to change small details, like articulation and dynamics, to dramatically affect the character of the music and change the architecture of a performance. In all Welser-Möst’s music making there was an underlying ideal, which he expressed so concisely in a pre-concert talk when he said of Johann Strauss, “lightness is not the opposite of seriousness”. This idea manifested itself in all of the repertoire I saw him conduct; even in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring he managed in places to create light clean textures without sacrificing any of the drama.
On a personal note, his week of all Brahms (Symphonies 2 and 4, the Violin concerto and both the Tragic, and Academic Overtures) was particularly interesting. For me Brahms is somehow a kernel at the centre of music. He combines seemingly opposite compositional tools: Counterpoint and Harmony, emotional content and structural development, or most simply, deep personal choices with flawless academic construction. I was able to see how deep Welser-Möst’s decision making and rehearsal went and thus challenge my own ideas. He managed to find a balance between keeping the lightness, flow and humour of Brahms’ writing, whilst still giving weight and time for the details of the score, allowing the underlying structures to come out in such delicate and subtle ways that it showed me the crudeness of my own ideas.
Welser-Möst was kind enough to give me some personal time during which we spoke at length about the craftsmanship needed as a conductor. He sees the craft of conducting as having a direct relationship with the operatic repertoire. In particular he spoke of the difficulty of performing Puccini and of how having to deal with the inevitable changes that happen night to night in opera is the best training for the flexibility you need as a conductor. Possibly most interesting when speaking to him was a conversation about literature, and in particular his recommendation of the plays of Alfred Schnitzler as being the clearest example of Viennese aesthetics and atmosphere.
The temperature difference between Cleveland and Miami (over 40°C) was reflected in the cultural, even linguistic differences. The New World Symphony, in comparison to The Cleveland Orchestra, is in every way a ‘New’ orchestra. Based in South Beach Miami in a brand new Frank Gehry concert hall the orchestra is made of ‘Fellows’ who are recent graduates from the top Conservatories. They spend up to three years living in the New World Symphony’s specialised accommodation walking distance from the concert hall. The program is made up of orchestral and chamber music concerts, master classes and coaching from an abundance of top professionals. Everything about the organisation tries to explore new formats and develop the next generation of concert makers.
The New World Centre, designed by Frank Gehry is a curvaceous asymmetrical building where the Miami sun streams through great panes creating always-changing shadows on the bright white interior. The concert hall has a fully flexible stage to accommodate everything from recitals to symphony concerts. The whole building is filled with top of the range video, audio, and projection equipment even including a permanent outdoor cinema in the park in front of the concert hall where concerts are regularly projected onto the wall of the Centre for anybody to come and watch for free.
At the helm of this institution is Michael Tilson Thomas whose continual desire to explore, and experiment with, concert formats, makes the New World Symphony a model for modern orchestras. While I was there he spent two days filming a project exploring Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. The project is at an early stage and the final result is not known, other than the fact that Tilson Thomas has a very clear idea of the function of the final result. He wants to create an online educational insight into the interpretational and structural aspects of the symphony. This platform would allow the symphony to be taken apart and put back together in order to investigate the questions which are in the score.
By the very nature of the establishment, Tilson Thomas’ rehearsals with the New World Symphony demanded a different approach from Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. In repertoire from Beethoven and Schumann, through Tchaikovsky all the way to Berio, and Duke Ellington, Tilson Thomas trained the Fellows not to play simply reproducing by rote what they have been told to do, but in an active, thinking and understanding way.
Tilson Thomas, with the help of the highest level of coaches, showed the subtle, complex relationships, and the flexible hierarchies that govern an orchestra. In the role of an orchestral trainer Tilson Thomas built up orchestral technique and understanding in the Fellows. For instance the necessity of constant individual subdivision, and the knowledge of the function of the note you are playing, and the careful balancing of the chord helps intonation, and sound. He demanded from the Fellows a very high level of preparation, discipline, but most importantly, individual thought and active playing. He never dictated a result, but respectfully and never patronisingly, built the pathways to open and flexible music making.
In both Cleveland and Miami, the management was friendly, welcoming and gave me time to talk and ask about their respective business structures. Cleveland is very much a model US orchestra. The management is separate from the players, they negotiate contracts every three years, and the union has a powerful presence. During my time with the orchestra it appeared to be a healthy organisation with good audiences and especially in Cleveland following a student ticket initiative, a very diverse audience.
The New World Symphony, in its special place as an educational establishment, offers accommodation and stipends to the Fellows, and manages to combine different organisational models with a very high degree of flexibility, with Tilson Thomas at its epicentre.
The opportunity afforded to me by the Kempinski Arts Programme has given me the chance to study not just the physicality, musicality, rehearsals and leadership of two top conductors, but also two organisations in very different locations and positions in the orchestral market place. I experienced and had the time to reflect upon everything from the flexible and expressive placing of the 2nd beat in a Strauss Waltz to the differing problems facing orchestras and how communication and care by everyone involved can allow an orchestra to evolve without loss of integrity.
