Supporters of an ivory ban in the state of Vermont are claiming that al-Shabab in Somalia are profiting from the wholesale slaughter of African elephants. If pianists only stopped demanding ivory keys, they argue, terrorism could be choked off at source. Read here.

Ashley McAvey, an activist from Shelburne who is heading efforts to get a ban passed in Vermont and asked lawmakers to bring the ban bill, said she would like to see legislation similar to the law in New Jersey. She told the Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee that permitting any sales of the materials will encourage an international market that is funding terrorist groups and leading to the likely extinction of African elephants.

“Ivory is ivory is ivory is ivory is ivory,” she said.

Still, Rep. David Deen, the committee chairman, was less certain of the nexus. “People are having trouble connecting their grandmother’s piano with terrorism,” he said.

sad-and-piano-piano-30490927-180-240

 

Alfie Boe sings ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ from Pete Townshend’s “Classic Quadrophenia”, released by the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft on June 8, 2015.

the who

Please tell me it ain’t so.

 

The Maestro wants to pass on what he has learned over the past half-century. So he has designed a course this summer for young conductors, opera coaches and singers. It will focus on Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff at the Teatro Alighieri in Muti’s home town of Ravenna in July 2015.

Application details here.

 

CSO120920_087

 

Norman Lebrecht will be speaking at two sessions of the LOA’s annual convention in Cleveland, next month.

More details coming soon for registered participants.

If you’re at the LOA, come by and say hi.

 

Norman-Lebrecht.-February-007

Laura van der Heijden, BBC Young Musician of 2012, turned 18 this month.

Today, the cellist was named artist in residence with the London Mozart Players, starting in June, as soon as she finishes her A-Levels.

Go, Laura.

Laura 7

The orch announced its new season this morning. Rattle will conduct a Beethoven cycle six times over as part of his heavy schedule of 64 concerts and 10 opera performances.

Three new conductors will make debuts – François-Xavier Roth, Juanjo Mena, Matthias Pintscher  – and the American director/provocateur takes a stellar role.

Press summary below.

peter sellars

Information on the 2015/2016 Season

The Berliner Philharmoniker will present a total of 123 symphony concerts and 10 opera performances during the 2015/2016 season:

83 concerts in the Philharmonie with

32 different programmes

6 concert/semi-staged opera performances (2 programmes)

1 concert in the Waldbühne

35 concerts on tour

4 concerts at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden

4 opera performances at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden

Sir Simon Rattle will conduct 64 concerts and 10 opera performances with the Berliner

Philharmoniker, including 30 concerts and 6 opera performances in Berlin, plus 31 concerts on tour

as well as 4 opera performances and 4 concerts at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden.

Programming Highlights Beethoven and France

The focus of the season will be the cycle of the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, which

the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle will present twice in Berlin in October before taking

it on tour. The complete cycle will be performed in Vienna, Paris, New York and Tokyo, with single

concerts in Frankfurt am Main and Taipei.

Another emphasis, which will extend over the entire season, is French music from Lully to Boulez.

Along with Sir Simon Rattle, many of the guest conductors will also present French repertoire.

Conducting Debuts

François-Xavier Roth (29/30 November, 1 December 2015), Juanjo Mena (26/27/28 May 2016) and

Matthias Pintscher (12/13 September 2015) will make their debuts conducting the Berliner

Philharmoniker during the 2015/2016 season.

Guest Orchestras

The Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation has again invited guest orchestras for the 2015/2016 season:

The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (Young German Philharmonic Orchestra), conducted by Jonathan

Nott (5 October 2015) and the Bundesjugendorchester (National Youth Orchestra of Germany) under

Sebastian Weigle (5 April 2016) will appear.

Kammermusiksaal

45 concerts will be presented in the Kammermusiksaal featuring soloists and ensembles, including

scholars from the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as guest artists and

ensembles. 14 chamber concerts will also be given in the Philharmonie, including 3 Late Night

concerts (16 January 2016, 20 February 2016, 4 June 2016), 5 organ concerts and piano recitals by

Krystian Zimerman (6 November 2015) and Maurizio Pollini (30 May 2016).

42 Lunch Concerts will be given in the Foyer of the Philharmonie on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm.

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic

The series Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic continues in its fourth season with 4 concerts.

Artist in Residence

Theatre director Peter Sellars has been invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker to serve as Artist in

Residence during the 2015/2016 season. The director has maintained a close association with the

orchestra since 2010; in particular, their intense collaborations on the St Matthew and St John Passions

still evoke vivid memories. Peter Sellars will direct 3 productions of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Foundation during the coming season. Please see the attachment for a detailed biography and further

information on the concerts.

Daniel Hope is the new music director of Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington next year.

Daniel, 41, has been artist in residence through this season.

Daniel_Hope_MAIN_PHOTO_credit__Harald_Hoffmann_2

photo (c) Harald Hoffmann

It’s a good orch, but a mountain to climb. Zurich is a bankers town that struggles for cultural attention.

The 2015 Nobel Prize Concert will be conducted by Franz Welser-Möst with soloist Daniil Trifonov, it was announced this morning.

The December 8 programme with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic consists of Rach 3 and Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben. Tickets on sale from 19 May at Konserthuset.se.

welsermost1

Friends and colleagues are stunned at the sudden death of Katy Jones, from a brain haemmhorage.

Katy was appointed two years ago to head the Ten Pieces project, the BBC national teaching campaign for ten works of classical music. A former investigative journalist who uncovered important truths about the Hillsborough soccer disaster, she commissioned more than 130 programmes for BBC Learning over the past four years.

Our sympathies to her husband, Mike Spencer, and their children.

katy Jones

UPDATE: Families of the Liverpool FC Hillsborough victims pay tribute here.

The anti-abuse campaigner Ian Pace has written a powerful, personal article in the current issue of Music Teacher magazine on the need to safeguard students of all ages at music institutions. Here’s a sample:

piano lesson

From those I encountered during my own

musical education, I know of at least
four suicides – not to mention other
lives plagued by alcohol and drug abuse,
chronic depression and more. Clearly,
responsibility for such problems does
not lie entirely with the institutions,
but it is vital that colleges take the
emotional wellbeing of their students
more seriously.
Those who enter specialist music
education are made immediately aware
of the privileged world they are entering,
and of their limited chances of achieving
career success. Such a situation creates
an aura around those who teach them
and who, to some extent, hold some of
the keys to that success.

I will be forever
haunted by the stories of the violin
teacher who would tell his 14-year old
female students how he was the one
person who realised their true potential,
but could only help them realise this if
they demonstrated their total trust and
faith in him, which would be followed
by a suggestion that they strip naked to
play in front of him. On other occasions,
fully aware of their vulnerability and
insecurity at that age, he would devise
means of reducing them to tears at the
beginning of a lesson, in order to take
them on his lap seemingly to comfort,
but in reality to abuse, them.

 

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, bouncing back from bad times, is forming a formidable artistic team.

It has now added Pekka Kuusisto, the Sibelius winner to a top table comprising the pianist Jeremy Denk, clarinettist Martin Fröst and two other violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Thomas Zehetmair. Pekka, 38. says the new job ‘gives me reindeer-bumps.’

That may sound better in Finnish.

Pekka Kuusisto

‘I am not a candidate,’ he told the Morgenpost at the season launch of the Berlin State Opera. His dismissive comment is confirmed by El Pais.

barenboim check suit

Barenboim yesterday, checking suits with Jürgen Flimm.

(Can we have some comments on the suits?)