The Venezuelan music education system, criticised for its close proximity to a dangerous regime, has won funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for its out-of-school work with marginal youngsters.

Read more here.

 

sistema europe orch

Bobby Keys, a Texan who played saxophone for the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, B.B. King, Carly Simon and more, died today of cirrhosis, aged 70.

‘I got hurt playing baseball and couldn’t play any contact sports,’ he’d say. ‘In Texas, everybody wants to play football. The only thing left was to join the band. By the time I got there they had one instrument left. It was a beat-up baritone saxophone. I wanted a guitar, but my parents wouldn’t get me one. So I was stuck with that old sax.’

 

 

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photo: (c) Mikio Ariga

Kirill Petrenko, a 12-1 Slipped Disc outsider to succeed Simon Rattle, has ducked out of this week’s three concerts of Mahler 6.

Panic stations.

Luckily, Daniel Harding has flown in at less than 24 hours notice to calm the nerves.

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The Olympic Park is to be augmented by a museums and performing arts area.

One of the amenities under discussion was a new concert hall for the LSO and Simon Rattle, but that seems to have fallen off the agenda.

Press release follows.

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The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson today (2 December) welcomed the Government’s commitment of £141m to create a major new higher education and cultural district on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

It was confirmed today in the Government’s National Infrastructure Plan, that £141m will be committed to help deliver the Mayor’s ‘Olympicopolis’ vision. This will create a world class education and cultural district on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park bringing together outstanding organisations to showcase exceptional art, dance, history, craft, science, technology and cutting edge design.

University College London (UCL) will create a new university campus to the south of the ArcelorMittal Orbit. The University of the Arts London will establish a new campus on Stratford Waterfront opposite the Aquatics Centre. The Waterfront site will also house new locations for Victoria and Albert Museum and Sadler’s Wells.
The scheme is expected to deliver 3,000 jobs, 1.5 million additional visitors and £2.8 billion of economic value to Stratford and the surrounding area.

In July the Mayor announced an international design competition for the single education and cultural district. This has had more than 1,000 architects, master planners, place makers, engineers and landscape designers from across the globe register their interest. A shortlist will be announced soon.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Olympicopolis will create a world class centre for arts and education on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will generate millions of pounds for East London’s economy and support thousands of jobs. It is absolutely fantastic that the Government has confirmed funding for this ambitious project to the tune of £141m, enabling us to progress with detailed plans for its delivery. This is an important milestone in our plans to realise a legacy from London’s 2012 Games that reaps economic and social dividends to last for generations to come.”
Vice-Provost (Enterprise & London) at UCL, Professor Stephen Caddick, said: “UCL East represents the largest ever single expansion of UCL since the university was founded nearly 200 years ago. Our new site will be a beacon of how universities should work in decades to come – outward looking, connected to the local community and providing facilities to businesses to work on site to bring new discoveries and inventions out of the lab and into the marketplace. Our plans are designed to make a real and practical difference to the lives of people in Newham and London more widely, as well as making a genuine contribution to growth and jobs. London can be the global capital for higher education and we see this development – alongside many others in London – as being an important step in that direction.”

 

Vice-Chancellor of University of the Arts London, Nigel Carrington, said: “Research on global challenges is increasingly beginning to emerge from the borders of art and science. This new creative approach is physically expressed in the university and cultural quarter at Stratford. The partnership between these four world-class institutions will create radical research, and lead to exciting new technology and fashion businesses in this part of London.”

 

Director of the V&A, Martin Roth, said: “The education and cultural district planned for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has the potential to be one of the most exciting and important developments of our time. Our aim is to create a new model for museums of the future, where reserve collections and archives are visible and accessible all of the time, and the public can really be engaged with their national collections. We are thrilled that this project has been given support at the highest level and we look forward to continue working with our partners to make it a reality.”

 

Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells, Alistair Spalding CBE, said: “We are very excited by the unique opportunity this project offers for collaboration with the V&A, UAL and UCL, amongst the other existing organisations and communities in the neighbouring areas of East London. It allows us to realise a bolder vision for dance; establishing the first venue on this scale specifically designed to serve contemporary choreography. The new space will also significantly enhance our long-held aims of supporting the research, development and making of new work, and nurturing new talent, which is vital for the future of any art form. It is fantastic that the plans for culture and education to be at the heart of the regeneration of the area, can now be realised.”

 

Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales, chair of the Six Growth Boroughs (formerly the Host Boroughs of the 2012 Games), said: “This new cultural hub further cements Newham’s investment in the former Olympic Stadium as a lasting legacy for our residents, London and the nation. As well as offering a huge number of jobs for local people, it will offer a significant boost to East London’s economy for years to come. The educational potential of the ‘Olympicopolis’ project will inspire our young people to look at the wider opportunities available to them.”

 

Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, David Goldstone, said: “Today’s announcement is great news for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and is a significant endorsement of the work of the Legacy Corporation. We now have a huge amount of work to do to deliver the Mayor’s vision and along with our partners make this project a reality.”

 

Education

 

UCL East will provide 125,000m2of space. The first phase of 50,000 m2 will bring together expertise across disciplines, with the aim of forging new connections between researchers and business; fostering radical innovation, new insights and new industries. They will include the UCL Generator the university’s first School of Design. A UCL Museum of the Future, a reinvention of the university museum for the 21st century, the UCL Centre for Experimental Engineering, which will be established to address the acute skills shortage in engineering and develop new approaches to experiential learning in engineering, alongside prototyping and manufacturing facilities. UCL Innovation will focus on technology and UCL Living will comprise living space for undergraduates, postgraduate research students, as well as early career academic staff.

 

UAL’s 32,000m2 site will create a research and education hub for the global fashion industry, near the traditional heart of the East End fashion trade. It will bring together London College of Fashion’s 6,500 students and staff for the first time in the college’s 100 year history. The new campus will include two major research centres focusing on sustainability and innovation in the fashion industry. It will provide widespread access to advanced fashion technology, business incubators, and a changing programme of public exhibitions.

 

Culture

 

V&A E20 will occupy 20,000m2 and will present the museum’s outstanding collections in never-before-seen ways, greatly enhancing access to 1000 years of design, architecture, art and performance and encouraging public participation in almost every aspect of museum activities. Permanent galleries on site will include the first dedicated museum space in the UK to document the full breadth of digital design and begin to write the design history of that fast moving field. There will be space for a rolling exhibition programme curated by the V&A with international partners, as well as studio spaces for new and emerging practitioners.

Sadler’s Wells aims to create a 7,000m2 venue with a 600 seat dance theatre to complement its existing venues cementing London’s position as one of the world’s greatest centres for dance. The new venue will provide flexible ‘making’ spaces for research and development and producing new work, facilities for a Choreographic School, and for a Hip Hop Academy.

 

 

 

 

While you were at Walmart and Tesco, she was hitting Chopard…

netrebko chopard

They closed the store for her.

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And him.

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All done.

 

A heartfelt letter from a working soloist:

Dear Lufthansa,
As a classical musician (a cellist) and someone who, because of this profession, has to travel a lot I have a question that I know I’m asking on behalf of many of my colleagues as well:

Cellists travelling with expensive (often antique) instruments usually travel with the cello next to them in an extra seat. With most of the big airlines (low cost airlines excepted) we can book an extra seat for the same price as your own ticket, excluding the taxes, since the cello isn’t using any facilities etc.

Since some time in 2012 Lufthansa has changed its policy so that extra seats can only be booked if one books one of the highest, and therefore most expensive booking classes (though still in Economy), both for the person and the extra seat (still excluding taxes for the extra seat).

 

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To illustrate the incredible difference it makes:
Today I was looking at a return flight Amsterdam-Munich which is advertised on the Lufthansa website for €99 (total price for 1 person). Calling with Lufthansa reservations I got a quote of at least €400 for 1 person + extra seat!!

One could argue that booking an extra seat costs somewhat more because we have to make a reservation via the phone and we cannot use the check-in machines at the airport, but 4 times as much? Really??

It would be great if you could clarify why this is your policy, because the people at the phone reservations couldn’t tell me. The result as it is now, and I’ve asked many of my colleagues this as well, is that these musicians, who could be your loyal customers, will not fly Lufthansa at all but just use other airlines like KLM, British Airways, SAS etc, who do not charge such a huge and almost incredible price.. It is a big shame, because Lufthansa was one of the better airlines for travelling with musical instruments and could be one of musicians’ favourites if it wasn’t for this.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The story so far: Girl from Kansas gets turned down by 10 New York agents, one after another.

She’s also not getting roles at opera auditions.

Then a young London guy, Simon Goldstone, approaches her and she signs on his dotted line. The career takes off. Like a rocket.

Simon quits crumbling IMG Artists and Joyce DiDonato waltzes off with him devotedly to Intermusica. For 16 years, Joyce and Simon were indivisible. This is them in July this year.

joyce didonato simon goldstone

Sadly, it’s over. We hear Joyce has just signed for London agency AskonasHolt, specifically with its silky chief executive Donagh Collins, who has pledged to build a team around her to attend to the many needs of a diva career.

Things end, life goes on. Still, the Simon-Joyce story was a fairytale in a wicked old world and it’s sad to see it end.

UPDATE:  AskonasHolt has just posted the coup on their website.

 

Alvin Brehm, who has died at 89, played double-bass in New York with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (1969–73), the Group for Contemporary Music (1971–73), the Philomusica Chamber Music Soc. (1973–83), and the Chamber Music Soc. of Lincoln Center (1984–89).

He was also a conductor, composer, chairman of the New York State Arts Council Music Panel, and Dean of Music at the Purchase campus of the State University of New York. He sailed  31 foot sloop and built his own furniture. Quite a life.

 

alvin brehm

Looks like the university has come into some money. It has announced three residencies by the New York Philharmonic in alternate years between 2015 and 2020. In the intervening years, there will be residencies by the Berlin Phil and one other orch, yet unnamed.

This is  a significant illustration of the new working life of orchestras in the post-recording age – more time on the road, off the beaten track.

ann arbor

Over and over again, we see fortunes being spent on competitions that can’t reach a decision.

It happened in the violin jury of the last Tchaikovsky competition. It happened again last night in the flute section of the Concours Genève.

After performances by three young flautists who were ranked by leaders of their profession, watching at home on live broadcast, as ‘stunning’ and ‘outstanding’, the judges refused to award a first prize.

The audience voted for a 17 year-old Korean, Yubeen Kim.

 

yubeen kim

 

The judges grudged him joint second prize with the Portuguese finalist, Adriana Ferreira.

What’s the point of that?

Now, the best the winners have to show for their efforts is ‘I was best in Geneva in a bad year’.

This has been a great year for new flute talent. And a very bad year for competitions.

 

An ugly wrangle has been going through the Bermuda courts between the Lucerne Festival and the heirs of a man, Christof Engelhorn, who promised it 120 million Swiss francs to build an innovative opera house (pictured below).

Judgement was given against the heirs in February this year, but they continued to contest it. Now the two sides have come to an agreement. Selective details will be announced in Lucerne on Thursday, but no-one emerges with great credit from the dispute – except for the lawyers, who are laughing all the way to Liechtenstein.

Moral of the story: Don’t make promises you can’t fulfil while alive.

salle modulable lucerne

Joseph Silverstein, who led the Boston Symphony from the front seat for 22 years (1962-84), has been sharing his views of the world with our friends at Resmusica in Paris. He is critical, as ever, but also hopeful and kind:

I see all these young musicians who are studying the violin, which is not easy! Why do they do that? Probably because of the personal expression it makes possible, because of the depth of experience brought by composers. If this kind of desire persists, there must be something good about it.

Read the full interview here (in English).

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