The Deutsche Bank has renewed its munificent sponsorship of the flagship orchestra until 2020, reinvesting in education projects and the Digital Concert Hall. The bank has been a lead partner of the Berlin Philharmonic since just before the world changed, in 1989. No money is specified in the press release (below). This is all about art and social progress. Simon Rattle said: ‘Nice bank, thank you very much’.

 

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Deutsche Bank and the Berliner Philharmoniker have extended their cooperation agreement for

another five years and will continue their partnership until 2020.

Jürgen Fitschen, Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank: “We are

proud to be a partner of the Berliner Philharmoniker for more than a quarter of a century now and

thrilled to continue actively supporting this first-rate orchestra in the years ahead. The exclusive and

long-standing bond shared by the orchestra and the bank is unique anywhere in the world. The

combination of discipline, skill and innovative strength make the Berliner Philharmoniker an ideal

partner for Deutsche Bank.”

Martin Hoffmann, General Manager of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation: “The Berliner

Philharmoniker are eagerly looking forward to another five years of partnership with Deutsche Bank.

Together, we have already achieved so much, including our education programme, the establishment of

the Digital Concert Hall and the latest addition, “Vocal Heroes” − the long-term choir programme in

various districts in Berlin. Thanks to the generous support of Deutsche Bank, we will be able to continue

along this path.”

Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Artistic Director of the

Philharmonie Berlin: “Music is not a luxury, but a basic human need. Thanks to Deutsche Bank, we

have been able for many years not only to make this claim, but also to help make it a reality. Without

the bank’s support, our education programme would not have been possible. We owe our thanks to

Deutsche Bank for another five years of support for our ideas!”

The extension of the partnership was announced on Friday at the Easter festival at the Festspielhaus

Baden-Baden, which was held for the third time. Deutsche Bank has been lending its support to the

Berliner Philharmoniker since 1989. Together, the two partners have initiated and implemented a

number of visionary projects.

One truly unique project in the world of classical music that was made possible by the bank began in

2009 and aims to make music more accessible across national and social boundaries: the Digital

Concert Hall. It allows music lovers around the world to view the concerts of the Berliner Philharmoniker

at any time over the internet in superb image and sound quality. Since its launch, more than 550,000

users have registered in the Digital Concert Hall.

The ability of music to transcend boundaries is also demonstrated by the Berliner Philharmoniker’s

education programme, which has introduced more than 37,000 children and young people to classical

music since 2002. Whether through dance, by singing or playing an instrument, every child is given the

opportunity to go on his or her own journey of musical discovery. Since autumn 2013, the “Vocal

Heroes” choir project has formed the focus of the education programme. Venues in three districts in

Berlin have been created for the purpose of bringing people together to sing and make music. The

project is especially designed for children who have not had any exposure to classical music.

As a reliable private patron, Deutsche Bank will accompany and support the Berliner Philharmoniker in

the years ahead as they go on tour through Germany and abroad, and at the opening concert in Berlin

of every new season.

The pianist John Humphreys has intimate memories of the great composer and pianist, who died on Saturday.

 

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In 1967 I was a piano student in Vienna. One day I dropped by a record shop to see what was ‘new’ on the piano front and an HMV record caught my eye ­ a work by Ronald Stevenson, a composer I had never heard of performed by a pianist I certainly had ­ John Ogdon who, after his shared triumph with Vladimir Ashkenazy at the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition was at the height of his powers. It was in a spirit of eager anticipation therefore that I forked out however many Austrian schillings it cost in order to listen to a…. ‘Passacaglia on DSCH’ by this evidently very handsome young composer. What I had failed to notice was that I had purchased only record one of a two record set ­ the companion record contained not only the conclusion of the ‘Passacaglia’ but also Tippett’s 1st Sonata and many a dealer had sold the second record in error to anyone requesting a recording of the Tippett. So, frustratingly I never heard the ‘Passacaglia’ complete but what I did hear excited my interest in a way that has rarely been equalled ­ an experience which ranked alongside my first encounter with Bach’s ‘Goldberg’ Variations and Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’. No other recordings were then available of the ‘Passacaglia’ except a privately issued set signed and numbered 1 to­ 100 from South Africa recorded by Stevenson when he was Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of Cape Town and which had been distributed amongst friends.

The following year I was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Music at Bromsgrove College of Further Education. The Head of Music, Harold Taylor was also Artistic Director of the Bromsgrove Festival, one of the most enterprising festivals in the country and in 1969 it featured Stevenson as composer and pianist. I was delegated with the responsibility of meeting the great man at ‘The Midland Hotel’, Birmingham and driving him to Bromsgrove. I arrived at the hotel full of heady anticipation ­ what would this extraordinary composer of my Vienna LP introduction be like? I found him waiting patiently in the hotel lobby as handsome and engaging as the record photo had promised sporting a wonderful Fedora and with a smile to quieten the most nervous of spirits. I was twenty four and he forty one and I was in awe. Suffice to say that we remained life­long friends and he was largely responsible for initiating my interest in the music and personality of Ferrucio Busoni about who, even at this stage Ronald was an acknowledged authority.

Busoni’s artistic credo informed Ronald’s entire outlook on life and music with much of the ‘transcendental tradition’ as exemplified by Busoni finding its way into Ronald’s own approach to the piano. Ronald was a magnificent pianist with a swash­buckling, Graingeresque technique allied to the most luminous sound and displaying a consummate understanding of the instrument and its possibilities; a performer very much in a direct line to the great composer pianists of the 19th century and as such representing something of an anachronism in the late 20th/21st century when composers seem to have little concept of how to write for the instrument. His generosity, without regard to the clock nor the purse was boundless as fellow composers, students and young pianists who visited him and spent time in his rumbustious company would testify.

The Stevensons had literally an open door at their house in West Linton ­ from street into living room. Little appeared to annoy him but he would cast a cold eye on musical (or any) insincerity, sloppiness or laziness and his own work regime was one of the most extraordinary rigour and discipline.

Our families spent much time together and these occasions were accompanied by considerable jollity, wonderful punning, word play, fine food and drink and with the inevitable reference to Busoni, an eminence grise at every such occasion. Joan and Ronald had a shared interest in both poetry and Mahler and Ronald’s masterly transcription of the Adagio from the 10th Symphony is dedicated to her (in ‘fons et origo’). Too many anecdotes to mention but, plucking from my very deep (non Fedora) hat, a visit to Southwold on the east coast the night before Ronald was to perform at the Aldeburgh Festival and a few of us drank…how shall I put it…’healthily’ in an Adnams pub before staggering to a friend’s caravan, Ronald stumbling around in the dark and losing his precious pipe in the sea but seemingly none the worse for wear the following day….or driving him to London, via my parent’s house near Maidenhead one morning where we stopped for coffee and Ronald regaling us with his astounding pianism on their deplorable upright piano. I never knew him complain about a piano ­ he transcended the instrument’s limitations in a way that few other pianists can.

At the age of sixty-three he had a stroke which might well have signalled the end of his performing career but, exhibiting an astonishing triumph of the will performed the ‘Passacaglia’ with clearly no loss of pianistic prowess. It is difficult in so few words to give an adequate picture of this remarkable man but his questing, Mowgli spirit and total lack of anything which smacked of self­-aggrandisement or personal advancement place him in a category far removed from the meretricious vulgarity which disfigures so much of our music industry today. I offer no analysis of his wonderful music which speaks for itself and has attracted the attention of innumerable fine performers but his songs are as fine as any written and his affectionate and skilful drawing on different world musics as an inspiration for his own creativity gives his own work a special ‘colour’ and feeling.

He has honoured other composers through masterly transcriptions. His seven minute ‘Peter Grimes Fantasy’  encapsulates the essence of the opera in a way that astonished Britten at a private performance in Aldeburgh and as a pianist he introduced me to much obscure repertoire, investing each performance with as much devotion as he would lavish on the finest Mozart, Liszt or Chopin. It would be unthinkable to conclude this reminiscence without reference to Marjorie Stevenson who, over sixty three years of marriage has proved herself the most wonderful, unselfish and supportive of wives. Ronald was unique and his death leaves us all diminished. His like will not be seen again…

John Humphreys

 

 

The New York Post reports this morning that the leader of the Leipzig String Quartet ran amok at the Hudson Hotel at Columbus Circle in the early hours of Friday, forcing his way into a fellow-guest’s room.

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Police sources told the paper that a 64-year-old woman from North Carolina ‘heard a knock and opened her door slightly’ to find a wild-eyed, ‘completely naked’ intruder. The cops arrived soon after.

Stefan Arzberger, 42, was arrested and spent a night in jail. He was charged with strangulation and burglary and released Saturday morning on $100,000 bail.

Sources close to the musician say he has no recollection of the incident. ‘He’s an upstanding member of society without a criminal record who has devoted his life to the arts,’ his lawyer told the Post.

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Friday’s last Fb post from the Leipzig Quartet reported ‘a nice evening walk in New York City’.

UPDATE: The Leipzig String Quartet have shared the following message: We have to announce that Stefan became on Sat. 26th victim of a serious crime in New York City. Things are in clearance now. At this time the lawyers do not allow to divulge more information. We feel great solidarity and hope for a sudden end of that nightmare! Stefan, we are with you!

More here.

UPDATE 2: ‘He was drugged’. Here.

Varvara Turova reports:

Today, 29 March, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Medinsky, announced that Boris Mezdrich had been fired from his position as Director of the Novosibirsk State Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The decision was taken in connection with Tannhäuser, an opera directed by Timofei Kuliabin. Mezdrich is succeeded by Vladimir Kekhman of Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

(See UPDATE at foot of page)


He will start work on 30 March and will combine work at two theatres. The new Director of Novosibirsk State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Vladimir Kekhman, intends to rename the establishment which he took over today.
— “The first thing I will do (in the position of Director) is to give the Novosibirsk theatre back its historic name, the Grand Theatre of Siberia,” Kekhman said to Izvestia newspaper.

Kekhman spoke critically of the opera during the course of public hearings at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. “My teacher, Elena Vasilievna Obrastsova, would often say, “I only sing because God gave me talent; without the Lord I am no one.” What was done at the Novosibirsk Opera Theatre is blasphemy. As a person of faith, someone who has been baptised, an Orthodox Christian believer, a Jew, I perceive this as offensive. It is a demonstration of inner wickedness in the style of the militant atheists of the Soviet period. I won’t hide the fact that I spoke to Mezdrich today and he told me that he is not going to give up this opera and will hold out to the end. My view is that he should resign and the opera should be pulled from the Theatre’s repertoire,” he said.

According to Taiga.info the General Director of Mikhailovsky theatre, Kekhman, will be presented to the staff at the theatre on 31 March. Previously the Novosibirsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and members of the United Russia ruling party spoke out in favour of Mezdrich being fired.

Vladimir Kekhman founded one of the largest Russian companies specialising in the import of fruit from abroad.

At the end of 2014 he was accused of misappropriation of funds. He is also the holder of several awards from the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2007 he was appointed General Director of Mikhailovsky Theatre and according to Delovoi Peterburg newspaper spent 500 million roubles (at the time approx. 20 million US dollars) on its restoration.

Tannhäuser has been showing at the Opera theatre since December 2014. Timofei Kuliabin transposed Wagner’s opera to the present day, casting the knight, Heinrich Tannhäuser, as a film director. The poster for the film “Venus’ grotto” created by the character in the performance, portraying a man being crucified – reminiscent of Jesus Christ – between the legs of a naked woman, was found disturbing by Orthodox Christian activists, many of whom admit that they have not seen the performance. The public court of law did not find any signs of injury to religious symbols.

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation suggested that the leadership of the Theatre publicly apologise to “all those whose religious feelings had been injured” by the opera Tannhäuser. At a national level government officials announced that there would be an inspection of the finances of the Opera theatre in connection with a large number of requests regarding the sums used to finance the performance of Tannhäuser, the producer’s and actors’ fees.
tannhauser siberia
In an interview with Izvestia newspaper Boris Mezdrich said that it was today that he found out that he had been fired, on meeting the first deputy of the Ministry of Culture, Vladimir Aristarkhov, at the airport, the latter having flown in from Moscow.  While still at the airport the deputy minister handed Mezdrich the document ordering that his contract be terminated and Vladimir Kekhman be appointed as Director. “I am glad that I didn’t give into pressure and that I didn’t give up Tannhäuser. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to resist to the end and win. But I am grateful to all those who supported us: colleagues, members of the audience and the staff at the theatre. I think I have run my race and finished well,” said Boris Mezdrich in his interview.

UPDATE: Internationl opera director responds here.

The Paris-based Van Kuijk Quartet won the triennial Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition ast night. Joint runners-up were the Piatti Quartet (UK) and Verona Quartet (US). Third Prize went to the Aizuri Quartet (US).

The winning combo is composed of Nicholas van Kuijk (violin), Sylvain Favre-Bulle (violin), Grégoire Vecchioni (viola) and François Robin (cello).

29 March 2015Albion Media

photo: Ben Ealovega

The weekend’s big openings were greeted with all the maturity we have come to expect from elements in the opera audience of Vienna and Berlin, divided as they are between traditionalists and progressives.

There were cries of ‘hooligan’ at the Vienna State Opera’s new production of Elektra, director Uwe Eric Laufenberg.

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It opened with a group of young women naked in the shower, spattered with blood, and their maids behaving like concentration camp guards (original, huh?)

Berlin’s Parsifal, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, directed by  Dmitri Tcherniakov, was likewise over-endowed with sexual imagery and hints of incest.

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Not to mention men with beards.

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press photos from Vienna and Berlin state operas