For the first time since its meeting on 11 November 1918, at the end of the First World War, the French legislature burst into the Marsellaise after observing one minute’s silence for the 17 victims of last week’s attacks.
Watch here. The silence begins at 00:40 (broken only by numbskull photographers). It is not known who started the anthem.
Sir Jack Hayward, chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football club, died today.
In August 2003, the Guardian newspaper was obliged to print the following priceless correction:
In our interview with Sir Jack Hayward, the chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers, page 20, Sport, yesterday, we mistakenly attributed to him the following comment: “Our team was the worst in the First Division and I’m sure it’ll be the worst in the Premier League.” Sir Jack had just declined the offer of a hot drink. What he actually said was “Our tea was the worst in the First Division and I’m sure it’ll be the worst in the Premier League.” Profuse apologies.
Our indefatigable operavores went to see Tales of Hoffman. Elizabeth thought that ‘topless women (with pasties) definitely helped lift the mood’.
Shawn was concerned with more manly stuff: how do you get a $25 ticket?
Read both reports here.
The worry is, there’s no rush for those rush tickets.
David Lowe, now 61, taught English and music at Westminster Cathedral Choir School and at Ampleforth College. He was convicted of indecently assaulting boys under the age of 14, including one who had been picked to sing at his wedding. Lowe coached boys in singing and piano.
He was jailed today for 10 years.
Report here.
The great mezzo soprano will be laid to rest on Thursday.
The funeral will start at the Bolshoi at noon, proceeding to the Novodevichy Cemetery.
It has emerged that her cancer treatment in a German clinic (where she died yesterday) was paid for by the Russian Government, on the authority of deputy prime minister Olga Gorodets.
Click here.
More below.
The magnificent Frank Glazer, a Schnabel student who played well into his 90s, died today at 99. He went to Berlin i 1932 to study with the master, made his New York debut in 1936 and played the Boston Symphony under Koussevitsky two years later.
To the day of his death he held a position as artist in residence at Bates College in Lewiston.
You can watch him play and read an interview here.
We hear that he nipped over to Rome to conduct a memorial service for Countess Yoko Nagae Ceschina, a major patron of his projects.
The three prominent classical review sites in the French language, ResMusica (Fr), Crescendo (Belg) and Pizzicato (Lux), have been shut of of the opening of the new Paris concert hall. Apparently, too many tickets are required for government officials and foreign dignitaries.
Unwise.
It looks as though politicians are close to a deal to secure a future for the insolvent Ulster Orchestra.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the present board, under chairman George Bain, will continue in office.
Bain and his board have been responsible for the arrival and departure of three managers and a welter of unfair dismissal claims.
Five more staff members have left since October, all stating privately that they can no longer work in the present set-up. We understand that local media are investigating the board’s activities but will not publish until the orchestra has fresh funding for fear of frightening the politicians.
Bain, a Canadian with a PhD in industrial relations (sic), is a former president of Queen’s University, Belfast.
What the orchestra needs is a new set of public-spirited faces around its board table.
Letter from a reader:
Dear Sir,
In order to ensure good tickets for an opera I have to book well in advance. How can I tell, prior to reviews, whether the production is a traditional one or one set in a modern setting?
He has a point. Opera houses should consider marking productions (T) for traditional or (R) for radical.
What do you think?
Taylor Swift is tuned in to classical arts. She makes donations to her local orchestra and likes dressing up in a tutu.
What impresses about her video – apart from the viewing numbers – is the sophisticated, spot-on timing of the camera shots.
Puts much else in the shade.
