We hear that Lance Ryan (pictured) is out of this summer’s festival. His replacement is Stefan Vinke, as part of a widespread shakeout from a stumbling Ring production.
The Queen Elizabeth competition for violin was won last night at midnight by a Korean, Lim Ji Young, 20.
She receives 25,000 euros ($27,470) and a four-year loan of a 1708 Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Second was Oleksii Semenenko of Ukraine and third William Hagen of the USA.
Our contacts in the jury room say the judging was fair, according the rules.
But they may have stuck too closely to the rules, picking a safe and correct player above talents of greater potential.
Stephen Waarts of San Francisco, who came fifth, brought the house down with his final Bartok performance and walked off unusually with both audience prizes, French and Flemish (there’s not much the two halves of Belgium can ever agree upon).
So, why didn’t he win?
UPDATE: Here’s a eyewitness account from Ariane Todes and a further Belgian report on an ‘enorme confusion‘ in announcing the awards.
Not everything is coming up roses in Buffalo.
The excellent Buffalo News reports the dismissal and imminent law case of principal oboist Pierre Roy, who has been accused, among other offences, of playing flat in the Buffalo Philharmonic to disrupt some of his less friendly colleagues.
Read the full story here.
The Buffalo Philharmonic have renewed JoAnn Falletta to 2021. She has served as music director since 1999, the longest term in the orch’s history. She is also music director in Virgina, and served a brief term in Ulster.
press release:
| BUFFALO, NY – JoAnn Falletta will remain at the helm of the Buffalo Philharmonic for another six years.
Falletta, already the longest-tenured Music Director in the history of the Buffalo Philharmonic, received a contract extension that was formally announced at the final concert of the BPO’s 2014-15 M&T Bank Classics Season on May 30.
Since Falletta came to the BPO in 1999, she has revitalized the orchestra’s recording program, establishing a house label, Beau Fleuve, and working with the international classical music giant Naxos to release 32 CDs. She has taken the orchestra to Carnegie Hall twice, mounted two multi-city tours of Florida with a third in the works, and led the orchestra in performances in Saratoga Springs and Utica, with a performance at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake planned for this summer.
The orchestra has performed multiple world premieres under her direction, including several pieces commissioned for the BPO and its musicians. A champion of the music of our times, she has earned several ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. The orchestra’s performances are heard nationwide on the syndicated “Performance Today” program, and their CDs are played on classical stations all over the world. With her leadership, the orchestra received its first Grammy Award for their 2009 recording of John Corigliano’s “Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.”
Through partnerships with colleges, universities, museums, and dance and theater companies, Falletta has integrated the orchestra into the Western New York community to an unprecedented degree. The orchestra worked with Irish Classical Theatre Company and LehrerDance this fall to present Moliere’s play “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” with Richard Strauss’ music. The Charles Ives festival incorporated dance, music, art and literature and took place at the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery, Buffalo and Erie County Library, and University at Buffalo. The orchestra performs annually at Canisius College and at UB, and worked with the Albright-Knox, Burchfield Penney and Darwin Martin House to feature images from their collections on the covers of a series of CDs. In 2012, she worked with UB to bring poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko to Buffalo for readings and for a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, “Babi Yar,” which was inspired by his works.
Falletta is based in Buffalo, and also serves as the Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center. She is an in-demand guest conductor, and has led orchestras in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America as well as throughout the United States. She has been awarded 12 honorary doctoral degrees and prestigious international conducting awards such as the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award and the Toscanini Award for Conducting.
“JoAnn Falletta has really taken the orchestra to the next level. Her vision and leadership have raised our profile both within the community and on a national level. She’s a tremendous asset, and we’re pleased that she will be remaining with us,” said Louis Ciminelli, BPO Board Chair. “The community has come to respect and trust her, the musicians have thrived artistically under her leadership, and the board and staff work extremely well with her. We couldn’t be happier to announce this piece of news.”
“I am truly happy to be able to spend another six years with the BPO in a city I have loved for 15 years,” said Falletta of her contract extension. “It is a dream situation for a conductor- a superb orchestra committed to excellence and to its community, an exemplary board, a visionary executive director and wonderful staff, dedicated volunteers, and an audience that encourages us to reach for the highest level of artistry and supports us with curiosity, open-mindedness and love. I look forward to continuing our artistic journey together!”
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We have reported the recent travails of the Leipzig Quartet, whose leader Stefan Arzberger has been detained in New York on a charge of attempted murder after being found running naked through a boutique hotel. Arzberger strenuously protests his innocence, insisting he was the victim of a drug assault by a transsexual prostitute.
The quartet have continued their work, strongly supported by the Leipzig music community. Two distinguished players have stepped up successively to replace Stefan in the hot seat. That, however, is not enough for some venues.
The Wigmore Hall has cancelled their forthcoming date, due to the change of personnel.
Matthias Moosdorf, cellist in the quartet, informs Slipped Disc:
While musicians support Stefan and our ensemble with great solidarity the director of Londons Wigmore Hall, John Gilhooly cancelled a concert in June because we are temporarely touring with Conrad Muck instead of Stefan Arzberger. Remarkable is his mail to our agent who wanted to assist him with any support:
Dear Ute,
Please stop emailing us: the decision to cancel is final.
You have broken the contract, and this correspondence is now closed.
No further correspondence will be read or responded to.
John Gilhooly
