It’s May 11, according to Berliner Morgenpost.

All 120+ members of the orchestra are obliged to turn up and vote for a new chief conductor.

If you’re looking for straws in the wind, Mariss Jansons conducts the orchestra the previous two nights.

jansons

The death has been announced of Antoni Wicherek, aged 86. Wicherek, who joined the Communist Party in 1961, was artistic director of Warsaw Opera from 1973 to 1981 before leaving to work in Egypt, Switzerland and Germany.

Returning in 1991, he led the Lodz Opera for four years, presiding over the premiere of Penderecki’s Roi Ubu.

Antoni-Wicherek

Culture minister Vladimir Medinskiy has announced the cut in person to several institutions, including Mikhail Pletnev and his Russian National Orchestra.

pletnev russian national orch

Among other losers listed today by Izvestia are the Symphonic Capella of Russia (115 million rubles), Goskapella St. Petersburg (100m), Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre (141m), the Moscow Children’s Musical Theatre (114m) Novosibirsk Theatre Opera and Ballet (165m), the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (139m) and Rostov State Musical Theatre (124m).

Gergiev’s Mariinky Theatre and the Bolshoi are apparently exempted.

 

Why are trombonists hot? Are cello players good in bed? What do oboe players earn?

Ricky O’Bannon of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has collated Google’s most-asked questions about orchestras and created an infographic, published below and (larger) here.

infographic orchestra

We have received sad news of the death of Hanns-Joachim (Hajo) Westphal, principal second violin of the Berlin Philharmonic through the Karajan years. He was 85.

Hajo features on numerous chamber music recordings with friends in the orchestra. On retiring from Berlin, he gave valuable help to Claudio Abbado in forming the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, where he played for nine summers.

‘Our whole LFO second violin section really loved him,’ writes Etienne Abelin. ‘We had the tradition of going for burger, fries and a Guiness in a local pub wherever we were, be it in Lucerne or on tour, which was always great fun. He was a passionate musician, extraordinary leader and man with never ending curiosity and wit.’

hajo westphal