Kevin Ramach, 54, has resigned as president and general director of Minnesota, less than three years into the job. His predecessor, Allan Naplan, lasted no more than a year.

Nina Archabal of the historical society has taken over as interim. Not looking good.

The above headline in Le Monde is causing lots of waves.

The article is a song of praise for directors and casting chiefs at Nancy and Bordeaux, who have kept their audiences happy by spotting big voices when they were young and cheap. Bordeaux tapped Nina Stemme long before she caught the eye of Bayreuth. The top fee at Bordeaux is 10,000 Euros, but it is paid only once or twice per season. For the rest, these opera houses are on the hunt.

There’s not much content in the article, but the headline nails a prevalent phenomenon.

The tenor Reinaldo Macias has responded online:

‘Opera singers are also looking!!! We’re looking for competent theater directors at affordable prices!!! It’s time to stop using singers as the scapegoats for the current crisis created by the mismanagement of theater directors. Production and management costs have skyrocketed while soloists face ever increasing costs and significantly lower fees. In the arts we face the equivalent of the banking crisis and the blame can be placed directly on the shoulders of theater directors first and foremost.’

 h/t: Peter Lodahl

Wesley Hawryliw, 32, an orchestral musician from Leicester, has been jailed for eight years for offences against girls aged 11 to 15.

Earlier this year, Christopher Dunn, a former teacher at the same Soar Valley Music Centre, given eight years for offences against girls of 15.

Manfred Klein, a prize winner at the 1976 centennial Richard Wagner competition, has died at 66. Born in Bayreuth, he sang various roles there. Much of his career was spent at Wiesbaden, but he was heard on several international stages, including Amsterdam, Vienna and Prague.