Ask not the reason why, except that technology makes it possible.
Our friend Eric Silberger, a Lorin Maazel protégé, has layered the complete set of Paganini variations onto one video screen, filmed and produced by fellow-violinist Lara St John. You see it here first.
Beats playing scales any day.
The president of Norway’s parliament, Olemic Thommessen, has attacked banking secrecy in the Channel Islands and the British courts after failing to gain access to a trust fund he set up for his cousin, the brilliant theatre designer, Maria Bjornson.
Maria, who died in London in 2002 leaving no immediate heirs, created sets and costumes for 126 productions, most resoundingly for Phantom of the Opera.
The fund is said to be worth £22 million.
Thommessen told an Oslo newspaper: ‘The whole English legal system is packed in all sorts of firewalls, where discretion and anonymity make it almost impossible to get access to cases that directly concern you.’
Full story here.
Judith Kellock died today.
A pupil of Jan DeGaetani, she performed with leading US orchestras, was a regular at the Aspen Festival and appeared with opera companies in Italy and Greece.
Judith was a popular teacher at Cornell University and a patron of young composers.
UPDATE: Cornell tribute here.
Quotes from an interview today in the Frankfurter Rundschau:
Frage: Herr Thielemann, eine Dresdner Tageszeitung titelte kürzlich: «Dresden ist der Höhepunkt meiner Laufbahn». Im Interview sprachen Sie dann vielsagend von Ihrer «bisherigen Laufbahn». In diesen Wochen fragen sich viele, was da wohl noch kommt?
Antwort: Vielsagend? Also, viele interessante Posten werden in den nächsten Monaten neu besetzt. Die New Yorker Philharmoniker suchen einen Nachfolger für Alan Gilbert. Riccardo Muti wird nicht mehr lange in Chicago bleiben. Die Metropolitan Opera wird irgendwann frei. Und, ja, natürlich, auch in Berlin ist ein Posten vakant. Ich lese ja auch die Zeitung.
Question: Mr. Thielemann, a Dresden newspaper headlined recently: “Dresden is the highlight of my career.” In the interview, there was much talk of ‘so far.’ During the next few weeks, many are wondering what is yet to come?
Answer: Many are asking? So many interesting posts to be filled in the next few months. The New York Philharmonic is looking for a successor to Alan Gilbert. Riccardo Muti won’t stay much longer in Chicago. The Metropolitan Opera will come free some time. And, yes, of course, in Berlin there is also a vacant post. Yes I read it in the newspaper.
We are saddened to report the death, this morning at his home in West Linton, near Edinburgh, of the composer and pianist Ronald Stevenson. He was 87 and had been in poor health in recent weeks.
He is probably best known for his 80-minute Passacaglia on DSCH for solo piano, written between 1960 and 1962 on a theme derived from the initials of Dmitri Shostakovitch, to whom he dedicated the work, one of the longest ever written for solo piano.
He also wrote two piano concertos, a violin concerto for Yehudi Menuhin and a cello concerto in memory of Jacqueline du Pré.
A man of great modesty and no appetite for limelight, he was a source of inspirations for hundreds of young musicians in Scotland – and beyond. He gave seminars at Juilliard and taught at Capetown and York.
A Toccata birthday tribute earlier this month gives a sense of his unique qualities. UPDATE: A friend remembers him here.
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and schooled at what was then the Manchester College of Music (now RNCM), he identified with his father’s lineage and moved to Scotland from his mid-20s.
The Nigerian scammers have a new gimmick:
Kun Ming W.W inport and export corporation
Dear Manager,
Our Co. is a professional import and export corporation in China. The business integrity of our company is well-known in the field.Because of the increased business, we’re going to invite a large orchestra in your company to perform in china .If you are interested in this order , please send us the price of one time, we can have further discussion.
Looking forward to your reply soon.
Best regards.
Mr Ma Dong
Here’s another one:
Hello Dear your party leadership;
We are a company from China. At present, I would like to invite a 65-person orchestra to China for a period of 10 days of touring abroad. Cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Chongqing, Nanjing. Changsha performances in each city. Two field day. Arrival time for China July 25, 2015. If your party intends to cooperate dashing contact me to discuss specific prices and details.
I sincerely look forward to receiving your reply.
China’s yunnan province Wwei lmport& Export Trading Co..Ltd.
Contact person: Zheng Chenggong
Definitely one for the New York Philharmonic shortlist.
Beppo Grillo, the 5* movement leader has crossed all bounds of bad taste by repeatedly comparing his prime minister to the co-pilot on the crashed plane. This insensate comedian makes Berlusconi look decent. Poor Italy.
Report here.
Tomas Tranströmer, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature, died today at the age of 83.
His poems, translated into 60 languages, have been set to music by some of Sweden’s foremost composers.
A passionate pianist, Tomas Tranströmer had to relearn how to play after a stroke in 1990 left him paralysed down his right side. He said that playing the piano every day was the key to saving his life.
Russian media are reporting that the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, opened in October 2013, is to be merged with the Mariinsky Theatre. The decision is said to have been taken personally by President Vladimir Putin. The Mariinsky director, Valery Gergiev, intends to use the Primorsky as his company’s showcase in Asia and the Pacific.
The music director of an opera company in the west of England has pleaded guilty in Torquay to nine charges of making indecent images of children and a tenth of breaching the terms of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order, imposed for previous offences in 2006.
Jonathan Watts, 56, was music director of Devon Opera. A chorusmaster and pianist, he had also taken part in Dartington International Summer School.
Watts will be sentenced at Plymouth Crown Court on April 24.
image: southwestshows
Anne Schwanewilms has pulled out of Sunday’s Elektra premiere. She is replaced as Chrysothemis by Ricarda Merbeth.
Peter Schneider is sick and cannot conduct Parsifal next week. Adam Fischer jumps in.
