The international voice coach Mikhail Hallak has sent us this tribute to the late Kate de Marcken, whose body was found last week in a German forest. Her husband, a principal cellist in the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, has been arrested in connection with her murder.
Mikhail:
I would love to thank all my friends for the genuine and kind words of support and share a few things about my friend Kate, whose life was taken much too early. I want to remember her for all she was, not just the last gruesome details we are slowly learning about.
I will always remember a beautiful Brahms second, with this beautiful boomy sound, a stunning Gaspard de la nuit and some electrifying Petrushka! She was not only an incredibly talented pianist, she was a profoundly human musician. She was quick (“vive” as we say in French) on all fronts and her wit and legendary.
We met during my years at the Brussels conservatory, she was already done and launching as a concert pianist. We all looked at music with this deep fire from within and always connected. When at some point in my life, the floor went away from under me, it was her arms I saw holding me for as long as it took. She never counted or calculated, she was always open hearted and generous. Many people have encountered her light and the ones that did not were simply unlucky.
I know I am better for having had the chance of meeting her.
I am ceaselessly thinking of a beautiful son, her entire family and friends. Her departure hurts so deeply, but I am so happy and privileged to have known her.
Kate, you were a treasure and I thank thee!
Around 20 musicians from the Primorsky State Opera and Ballet were rushed to hospital after eating dinner yesterday in their Moscow hotel, according to music sources.
The outbreak of food poisoning occurred hours before the ensemble began a three-day residency in the capital. They somehow gave a depleted first performance last night at the great hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire.
We hear that Sonya Yoncheva has walked out on the Swiss agency Ariosi to join Judith Neuhoff at Universal in Berlin.
Diana Damrau, by reverse, has left Neuhoff to join Ariosi.
Neuhoff looks after Nerebtko, Villazon and Calleja.
Alessandro Ariosi has Netrebko’s ex, Erwin Schrott, and a defunct website.
These are 1930s posters from Massey Hall, Toronto:
The second performer is revealed below as Hitler’s nephew. Bill posters are immune to irony.
h/t: Boris Kupesic
Now the doors have been unlocked in Atlanta and everyone’s returning to work, it is possible to piece together evidence from both sides on the causes of the showdown and why it took over two months to resolve.
The trigger point, it appears, was player numbers. Likewise the sticking point.
The Woodruff Arts Center, finding itself in manifold difficulties of its own making, saw that the orchestra was down to 77 current players and ordered the orchestra management to hold it at that level.
The players refused, insisting they would not let the ASO shrink to smalltown dimensions.
And there it stuck. Every sweetener offered by the WAC in negotiations was designed to shrink the orch. Every counter proposal made by the players underlined the need to return to full strength.
Our source says: ‘ That was a deal breaker and the musicians never deviated from their message. They kept working on the language to give the WAC time and flexibility to improve marketing and fundraising until it finally became apparent to the WAC negotiators and the mediator that the musicians would never concede on the fixed complement issue.’
The wording of the final agreement was crucial in yielding this victory to the musicians. They won the key word ‘commitment’. The following paragraph in the agreement is the deal-maker.
The new agreement calls for a six percent pay increase for the musicians over the four years; participation by the musicians in a new high-deductible healthcare plan, which will include increased premium contributions by the musicians and additionally provides substantial savings to the ASO; an initial complement of 77 musicians in year one, a goal of 81 musicians in year two and a commitment to 84 musicians by the end of year three and 88 musicians by the end of year four.”
Joseph Calleja, who appears in upbeat tourism ads for his island, has reported the theft of his car in the generally law-abiding resort.
Here’s the message:
Ok I need some help from my fellow Maltese. If anyone sees a Mitsubishi Pajero, 2001 Model picture attached, please contact the police or myself on this page. Please share if possible and thank you all so much in advance.
That’s the good news.
Don’t hold your breath.
It’s ….
press release at 1900:
Global superstar violinist, André Rieu, has today made a monumental return to the UK Pop Album Chart as his new orchestral album enters at No. 4, competing with youngsters Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris and only just behind Taylor Swift.
The astounding success of ‘Love in Venice’, which was released on Monday, places the Dutch instrumentalist above the likes of Sam Smith, George Ezra and The Script – an extraordinary result for an album of music mostly written in the 1800s.
Alongside this historic music are three of Rieu’s own compositions, written for orchestra and chorus, all intricately crafted and worlds apart from his competitors in the charts. The album is also No. 1 in the Classical Chart.
More details are emerging of the murder of Kate de Marcken, a concert pianist whose body was found in a forest grave near Bonn. Her husband, arrested in connection with the murder, is reported to have led police to the grave. He has been named as Sergey K. principal cellist of the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, which has cleansed its website and cleared its schedules after his arrest.
It has neglected, however, to remove from public view a singularly inappropriate video about passion and its consequences.
Sergey, 54, is reported to have quarreled with his wife over their son’s education. It is claimed that he dug the grave early in the summer. The boy is now in the care of Kate’s family in Belgium.
These were the closing moments of Fidelio in Berlin today, attended by the federal chancellor and the last Soviet leader, conducted by Ivan Fischer. Some 170 players from the leading Berlin orchestras came together for this concert at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
Earlier in the day, on the 25th anniversary of the breaching of the Berlin Wall, Merkel told Gorbachev: ‘You made this possible – you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect.’
Click on word ‘Post’ or here for video.
h/t: Vladimir Fanshil
The winner of the International Franz Liszt Competition at Utrecht, Netherlands, is Maria Batashvili, 21, a student at Weimar.
The contest was disrupted by menu changes demanded at the canteen by the visiting British pop star, Morrissey.
Luke Hsu, from the New England Conservatory, was declared the runaway winner of Korea’s Isang Yun competition.
The contest is pretty clean. The judges write down their marks. The rules forbid any private discussions between jury members.
Luke says: ‘It has been one of the most grueling, emotional, intense, crazy, inspiring, and rewarding 12 days of my life. ‘
The maestro, who died in January, was removed from his grave on the Italian island of Sardinia and brought to final rest in a private ceremony on November 1 at the cemetery of Sils Maria, in Engadin.
His children told Italian media that Abbado felt a ‘certain magic’ at Sils Maria and that he had enjoyed his finest hours with the festival at Lucerne.
Abbado was originally buried in the grounds of his holiday home in Sardinia.
