Charleston has been without a music director since its last incumbent died in 2010. It staged a season’s shootout between six batons and chose the one with the shortest name. Has any maestro anywhere got a more laconic name than Ken Lam?

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Singapore Airlines have apologised to the Swiss youth orchestra it maltreated in Hong Kong. That’s nice, and prompt and sensible. They have also replied to individual musicians who wrote to protest after reading of the orchestra’s plight on Slipped Disc. That’s exceptional. They deserve to be forgiven this uncharacteristic lapse. See letter below.

singapore airlines

Dear Mr. [X]

Singapore Airlines is carrying out an internal review of an incident at Hong Kong airport on 6 December in which a group of customers was denied boarding on flight SQ871. The customers were bound for Zurich via Singapore. The customers were carrying musical instruments and requested that they be allowed to be stowed in the cabin, rather than in the baggage hold.

We do regret the incident and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and anxiety caused to the group. We will be contacting the affected customers directly to follow up with them. The internal review is intended to determine the full circumstances of the incident to assess how it could have been handled better.

The customers were subsequently transferred to another airline with a direct flight to Europe from Hong Kong.

Yours sincerely

Fergal Fitzgerald
Singapore Airlines London

 

Despite an overwhelming vote in Parliament urging it not to scrap Adam Fischer’s chamber orchestra, the state broadcaster DR announced tonight that it is going ahead as planned with dismantling the ensemble before the year ends. The closure has been endorsed with every sign of enthusiasm by the culture minister. So much for Danish democracy.

 

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