Hot news from the squeeze-box:

The lovely Ksenija Sidorova, who has done more for her instrument than anyone in memory, has got engaged today to the very presentable Jose Luis Arizaga Lobeto.

 

jose luis

 

Our abundant congrats to the happy couple.

Ksenija Sidorova foto Aiga Redmane 03

 

Fort Lauderdale, which was about to lose its residency by Florida Grand Opera, can breathe again. Larry Johnson reports that a shy donor has offered to match every dollar raised by the FGO in order to keep the Fort on the opera map. They now need to find $200,000.

 

south florida

In a fascinating 1977 documentary unearthed by Meloclassic, the man who taught Boulez harmony declares that there’s no such thing as a French composer. Every one as far back as Berlioz, he proclaims, is affected by external influences – either German or Oriental.

Watch (en francais).

And see how many of his students you can name.

 

Messiaen-+-Boulez

 

 

She’s rehearsing Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Met and has gone very quiet on social media after facing an onslaught of criticism for her support of Vladimir Putin.

So the Met has now taken on the responsibility of publishing her production pictures.

anna netrebko bed

He will make his debut in late Verdi at Covent Garden two years from now, he tells Reuters.

 

 

JonasKaufmann

Jose Antonio Abreu, visionary founder of Venezuela’s El Sistema movement and its worldwide subsidiaries, is in hospital in Houston, Texas, reportedly on a ventilator. Abreu, 75, suffers from a longterm health condition. He is now recovering back home in Caracas.

abreu dudamel

One of my favourite Lebrecht Interviews was with Stephen Kovacevich, an artist so open about his anxieties that you are on constant alert to broach sensitive areas with care in order to risk no harm. And then Stephen, once he relaxes, comes out with an anecdote more self-revealing than anything the most aggressive interrogator could ask for.

Here’s a performance tension story he has just shared with Melanie Spanswick:

 

 

Stephen_Kovacevich_main

I remember I heard Bartok’s second concerto when I was about 23, 24 and I thought, “What a sensational piece!” and I bought the music, and I wasn’t being coy. I can’t do it, and in those days I occasionally dropped in on Colin Davis and I dropped in and I said, “I just heard this incredible piece and I went out and bought the music. I can never play.” I wasn’t fishing. He was in charge of the BBC and he asked me to do it at a Prom 9 months later. Well, I accepted. I knew I could always cancel it, but I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. Twice during that period – thank god I don’t remember which hand – it was paralyzed. I couldn’t hold an orange. I woke up the morning and it looked like this or like this, whichever hand, and I had massage and a lot of treatment. The doctor who I was seeing at the time said, “Well, you can play the first performance. It’ll hurt, but you won’t damage yourself.” It did hurt. It wasn’t the world’s greatest performance, but I got through. The next performance was terrible, and then – you were speaking of nerves – the next performance was live and for a festival opening night. I was so scared that I couldn’t give the BBC – this is with Bartok 2 – a balance test. Everybody had to do it cold, just like that.

And I walked on stage with my speech of abdications saying my hand hurts, you know. And there’s two things that I find very difficult, one is on the third page and a lot of – even people who have much more experience with that kind of music – they wobbled a bit in these parts. It’s not important, but it’s very awkward. And then I had another problem a bit later, and I’d worked all summer on this piece. And Martha Argerich was sitting in the public with another pianist who died, you wouldn’t know him, and they knew about my bête noires in this piece, and when the second one came up, they held each other, and I got through it. And when I got through it I get completely ballistic. And I walked away thinking, “Now I know how to do it.” Well, no. [Laughter] Yes, I know how to do it if you want to work the whole summer on one piece, but you can’t live like that.

cunning little vixen

This winter’s opera premiere at the Finnish National Opera is the fairy-tale opera The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček, in a production designed by celebrated Finnish designer Klaus Haapaniemi. The FNO’s contribution to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius is Tero Saarinen’s new work Kullervo to music by Sibelius.

The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček will be premiered at the FNO on 23 January 2015. Internationally celebrated Finnish designer Klaus Haapaniemi, who is now based in London, designed a fantastical production for the opera together with set and costume designer Mark Väisänen. Directed by Immo Karaman, the production showcases an encounter between wild nature and human society. Fabian Posca’s choreography brings the colourful animals of the forest to life. The performances will be conducted by Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska. The cast will include Jaakko Kortekangas and Ville Rusanen as the Forester, Mari Palo and Hanna-Leena Haapamäki as the Fox, and Hanna Rantala and Kaisa Ranta as the Vixen. With this production, the FNO will have staged all of Janáček’s principal operas in the 2000s: Katya Kabanová, Jenůfa and The Makropulos Affair. Unlike these great tragedies, The Cunning Little Vixen will be performed in a Finnish translation and is suitable for the whole family.

Hans Michael Beuerle, conductor since 1983 of the internationally known Freiburg Bach Chorus and Freiburg Bach Orchestra, has died at the age of 73.
beuerle

The conductor turns 60 tomorrow. He was a driving force in national life as music director in Birmingham for 18 years, a pioneer in music education and the hurricane behind the building of an exemplary hall. He went on to win the conductorship of the Berlin Philharmonic.

As such Rattle can lay claim to being the most successful British-born conductor that ever lived, although Beecham, Wood and Boult made a greater contribution to national activity and John Barbirolli served as chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic. You may wish to consider the relative merits at leisure. Certainly, Simon Rattle is the most acclaimed British conductor of modern times.

We congratulate Simon on his 60th birthday and wish him many more years of fruitful activity. We look forward also to his possible return as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has much more to give to the world.

That said, the BBC jamboree around his 60th birthday – see press release, just landed, below – seem just a trifle excessive. A performing musician is turning 60. That’s all you need to know.

rattle Berlin Philharmonic Prom 64_CR_BBC Chris Christodoulou_3

EXPLORING THE CULTURAL IMPACT OF SIMON RATTLE

 ON BBC TWO, BBC FOUR AND BBC RADIO 3

 

THE FIRST TELEVISION BIOGRAPHY FOR 15 YEARS, REDISCOVERED RECORDINGS AND A SERIES OF LIVE CONCERT BROADCASTS

 

  • A major new BBC Two documentary, Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro, the first television biography of the British conductor for 15 years, charts Rattle’s career through the lens of new and archive footage and an in-depth interview with the maestro himself (Saturday 14 February). An extended version of Rattle’s interview will also be available on BBC Arts Online (bbc.co.uk/arts).

 

  • BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four broadcast Rattle’s major London Residency  with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Barbican and Southbank Centre in February 2015. The Residency is showcased by BBC Radio 3’s Live in Concert (Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 & Saturday 14 February) and a BBC Four broadcast from the Barbican (Sunday 15 February) as part of the BBC Arts initiative to bring significant cultural events from the greatest cultural venues to its audiences. Additional content will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

 

  • BBC Radio 3 broadcasts previously unheard recordings of Rattle conducting his first ever Beethoven symphony cycle in 1995 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt (Monday 19 – Friday 23 January).

 

BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 mark the 60th birthday of Sir Simon Rattle, one of Britain’s best-loved and arguably one of the world’s greatest living conductors, with a month of special programming across January and February 2015.

 

A major new BBC Two documentary Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro (Saturday 14 February), the first television biography of the British conductor for 15 years, charts Rattle’s formidable career spanning four decades through the lens of new and archive footage and an in-depth interview with the maestro himself. The documentary follows the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker for a year, gaining unrivalled insights and access into the life of a world-leading conductor, observing Rattle in rehearsals and performance with five different orchestras, and exploring what makes and drives a great conductor. From his early days with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of 22 to becoming a household name whose dynamic leadership of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is said to have inspired the rebuilding of a city, Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro follows a remarkable journey. It shows Rattle talking candidly about his life and beliefs with contributions from artists and friends who have worked closely with him including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, composer Thomas Adès, singers Roderick Williams, Mark Padmore, director Peter Sellars and Managing Director of the Barbican, Sir Nicholas Kenyon. BBC Arts Online (bbc.co.uk/arts) will also feature an extended interview with Rattle drawn from the documentary, and a film archive collection which charts Rattle’s career as documented by the BBC and his significant creative commitment to television as a medium for drawing a new audience to classical music.

 

BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four broadcast Rattle’s upcoming major London Residency with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Barbican and Southbank Centre in February 2015. BBC Radio 3’s Live in Concert broadcasts Rattle conducting the complete Sibelius symphony cycle in the 150th anniversary year of the composer’s birth (Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11 & Thursday 12 February – Barbican), Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ and Helmut Lachenmann’s Tableau (Saturday 14 February – Southbank Centre). As part of the BBC Arts initiative to bring significant cultural events from the greatest cultural venues to audiences, presenter Kirsty Wark hosts a BBC Four broadcast of Rattle conducting Sibelius’ Symphonies 5, 6 & 7 (recorded at the Barbican on 12 February) on Sunday 15 February, and Sibelius’s Symphonies 1, 2, 3 & 4 (recorded at the Barbican on 10 & 11 February) will be available on BBC iPlayer.

 

Previously unheard archive recordings of Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra twenty years ago are broadcast for the first time on BBC Radio 3 across Rattle’s birthday week (Monday 19 – Friday 23 January). Listeners will be the first to hear the recordings when they are broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s In Concert, presented by Tom Service. Recorded over five days at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in the autumn of 1995, listeners have the opportunity to hear Rattle conducting his first ever Beethoven symphony cycle with the orchestra he led for eighteen years. A unique record of one of the great partnerships between conductor and orchestra in British music, the recordings also include Beethoven’s Overture toFidelio, his Leonore Overtures No.’s 1 & 2 and the Funeral March for Leonore Prohaska.

 

Other highlights include BBC Radio 3’s Essential Classics featuring Rattle as its Artist of the Week (Monday 19 – Friday 23 January) and BBC Radio 3’s Through the Night offers the chance to listen again to Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presenting Peter Sellars’ staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion for the first time in the UK at the BBC Proms 2014 (Sunday 18 January).

 

Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor, BBC Four, says: “With definitive biography on BBC TWO, and brilliant performances on both BBC FOUR and Radio 3, this will be a fitting testament to one of the UK’s greatest musical talents. I’m delighted that we’re able to celebrate Sir Simon’s life and achievements across so many BBC channels and services.”

 

Emma Bloxham, Editor, BBC Radio 3, says: “As the home of classical music, BBC Radio 3 will offer some unique insights into Rattle’s development as an artist, and the programming represents a feast of music-making of the very highest quality. We will bring Radio 3 listeners the opportunity to not only hear Rattle live with two of the world’s greatest orchestras, the LSO and the Berliner Philharmoniker, but also recorded in the wonderful Beethoven cycle with the CBSO.”

 

Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican Centre, says: “Sir Simon Rattle has been one of our most inspirational musicians for so long that it is a shock to realise he is reaching sixty! His energy and his musical leadership are stronger than ever, and we are delighted to be welcoming him back to the Barbican with both the LSO and the Berliner Philharmoniker. It is great that the BBC, with its renewed commitment to the arts, is marking the occasion so fully across its networks and relaying the concerts from the Barbican Centre during The London Residency 2015.”

 

 

BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 Simon Rattle programming:

 

BBC Radio 3 Live in Concert

  

Tuesday 10 February

Barbican

 

Sibelius: Symphony No.1
Sibelius: Symphony No.2

 

Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Wednesday 11 February

Barbican

 

Sibelius: Symphony No.3
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Sibelius: Symphony No.4

 

Leonidas Kavakos violin

Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Thursday 12 February

Barbican

 

Sibelius: Symphony No.5
Sibelius: Symphony No.6
Sibelius: Symphony No.7

 

Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Saturday 14 February

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

 

Lachenmann: Tableau
Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Resurrection)

 

Kate Royal Soprano
Magdalena Koženà Mezzo-soprano
London Symphony Chorus
City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus

Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle Conductor

BBC Radio 3 In Concert – Rattle conducting his first ever Beethoven symphony cycle in 1995 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt

 

Monday 19 January

Beethoven: Symphony No.1

Beethoven: Symphony No.3

 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Tuesday 20 January:

Beethoven: Fidelio Overture

Beethoven: Leonora No.1 Overture

Beethoven: Leonora No.2 Overture

Beethoven: Symphony No.2

 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Wednesday 21 January:

Beethoven: Symphony No.4

Beethoven: Funeral March from Leonora Prohaska

Beethoven: Symphony No.5

 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Thursday 22 January:

Beethoven: Symphony No.6

Beethoven: Symphony No.7

 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

Friday 23 January:

Beethoven: Symphony No.8

Beethoven: Symphony No.9

 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rattle Conductor

 Other highlights include a BBC Radio 3 Live in Concert broadcast of Rattle conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and soloists in a performance of Schumann’s 1843 oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri at the Barbican (Sunday 11 January), BBC Radio 3’s Essential Classicsfeaturing Rattle as its Artist of the Week (Monday 19 – Friday 23 January) and BBC Radio 3’s Through the Night offers the chance to listen again to Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presenting Peter Sellars’ staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion for the first time in the UK at the BBC Proms 2014 (Sunday 18 January).

 

 

BBC Radio 3 Through The Night

 

Sunday 18 January

A chance to listen again to Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presenting Peter Sellars’s staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion for the time in the UK at the BBC Proms 2014

 

 

BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics

 

Monday 19 January-Friday 23 January:

Essential Classics features Simon Rattle as its Artist of the Week throughout the week.

 

 

BBC Two

 

Saturday 14 February

Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro

 

 

BBC Four

 

Sunday 15 February

Broadcast of 12 February The London Residency concert at the Barbican, presented by Kirsty Wark

 

Sibelius: Symphony No.5
Sibelius: Symphony No.6
Sibelius: Symphony No.7

 

Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle Conductor

 

ENDS