The wonderful Emmanuel Ceysson, principal harp at the Bastille for the past decade, has won the audition at the Metropolitan Opera for the seat left vacant by the death of Deborah Hoffman in February 2014.
He starts in Tannhäuser this September.
Here‘s how he describes the audition process:
I loved the fairness of [this] audition: we played behind a screen for all three rounds, we picked numbers for the order, our cell phones were confiscated. The jury had no way to know who we were, how we looked, they only judged us on what they heard…
The semi and finals were on the same day, starting at 3 p.m., and we finished around 10 p.m., it was quite a long and stressful day, but [all] auditions are a challenge…
Most challenging excerpt? Well you can make all excerpts challenging, as any piece of solo repertoire. I loved the repertoire for this audition because it gave us the opportunity to express ourselves in many different ways: Lucia, Chenier, Meistersinger for phrasing, Hansel for virtuosity and stability, Walküre for pedal changes, etc.
Word just in: the Antwerp Philharmonic has turned to Joost Maegerman to be its new intendant.
Joost has been a member of the Rotterdam Philharmonic double-basses for the past few years, and chairman of the orchestra’s musicians board. He comes from Antwerp and still lives there.
Rotterdam colleagues consider him a brilliant all-rounder. Yannick will be sorry to lose him.
The Minnesota Orchestra has renewed music director Osmo Vänskä to the end of the decade, by which time he will have been in charge for 16 years.
It has also signed a new deal with the musicians, raising minimum salaries to $2,127 a week by 2020 and increasing the number of players from 78 to 88.
‘Minnesota is my musical home,’ said Vänskä in the press release. But, as we reported yesterday, he’s selling his downtown pad.
Angela Denoke has pulled out of Gianandrea Noseda’s Berlin Philharmonic debut this weekend with a sick note.
Due to sing the Strauss Four Last Songs, she is replaced at very short notice for the three concerts by the Finnish soprano, Camilla Nylund, a Philharmonie regular who happened to be in Berlin, rehearsing Ariadne at the opera.
‘A dream come true,’ says Camilla.
It’s the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and it’s a dazzling opportunity for an over-the-top cross-dresser.
Click here for details. Apply now. Competition will be tough.
photo: Adrian, 1965, in New York’s 82 Club production
Graham Spicer at Gramilano has exclusive and exciting news of the birth of an Italian opera company dedicated to the baroque. All of its members are under 30.
‘Coin du Roi is the first private opera company in Italy for at least the last 200 years. History shows us that our structure is an efficient one, that of the palchettisti [individually owned boxes in the theatre] which we propose today in the form of a membership which will create a new type of cultural patronage,’ claims its music director, Christian Frattima.
We wish them every success. More here.
The British pianist James Rhodes has overcome an injunction by his ex-wife to win the right to publish an autobiography containing accounts of his abuse as a child. His ex-wife had sought to stop publication, claiming it might affect the wellbeing of their 11 year-old son.
She fought the case all the way up to the UK Supreme Court, which has just ruled in James’s favour.
The ruling reads: The only proper conclusion is that there is every justification for the publication. A person who has suffered in the way that the appellant has suffered, and has struggled to cope with the consequences of his suffering in the way that he has struggled, has the right to tell the world about it. And there is a corresponding public interest in others being able to listen to his life story in all its searing detail.
James Rhodes said: Clearly this is a victory for freedom of speech. More importantly it is a powerful message to survivors of sexual abuse. There is already too much stigma and shame surrounding mental health and sexual abuse, and although I am horrified that it has taken 14 months of overwhelming stress and expense, I am relieved that our justice system has finally seen sense and not only allowed me to tell my story but affirmed in the strongest possible way that speaking up about one’s own life is a basic human right. I hope the book will help fellow survivors of rape find the courage to speak up. And I hope it will inspire those in pain to find solace in music and togetherness.
The book will be published next week.
James was accompanied to court by the eye-catching actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, who said: ‘We have been friends since school. I am here to give my support. It is a very emotional moment. It is a searing vindication of freedom of speech.’
There have been work stoppages at several companies over the past two days in anticipation of today’s resumption of wage-bargaining talks by orchestral players and stage staff.
Stoppages of up to half an hour were called at Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Kassel, Leipzig, Giessen, Halle Reutlingen and Münster. Players in state orchestras are seeking a 2.1 percent pay rise.
(2014 picture at the Berlin Philharmonie)
The Ministry of Culture has published the 2014 salaries of the heads of Russia’s leading arts institutions. It’s a revealing chart. In first place, earning six times more than the next orchestra chief, is…. well you’ve guessed:
1 Valery Gergiev 340 million rubles ($6.9m)
2 Vladimir Spivakov 57 million rubles ($1.2m)
Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia
3 Yuri Temirkanov 42 million rubles ($850,000)
St Peterbsburg Philharmonic
4 Vladimir Fedoseyev 34 million rubles ($670,000)
Bolshoi symphony orchestra
5 Vladimir Jurowsky 25 million rubles ($500,000)
Svetlanov symphony orchestra
A New York lawyer contesting an alimony suit from his fifth wife in a London court was relieved yesterday to receive judgement that he could keep his Steinway baby grand.
Counsel for Richard Fields pleaded that his third wife had won his first Steinway in their divorce settlement, leaving him brokenhearted.
‘That wife took the piano from him. He had to relinquish the piano. He wanted such a piano. He went out and bought another such piano,’ said Stephen Trowell QC. The instrument is valued at $100,000.
Nobody mentioned the cat.
Christiane Peitz in the Tagesspiegel says Ms Hahn had the Philharmonic audience at her feet in the penultimate concert before she retires to give birth to her first child. ‘An unbelievable woman,’ raves Christiane. Read her review here (auf Deutsch).
Thursday night she plays Vienna, and then it’s break time.
The following notice has gone up on the former benevolent fund’s site:
We want to announce that David Sulkin has decided to leave his position as the Executive Director of Help Musicians UK with effect from 6 June 2015 to pursue other opportunities. For the period from 19 May 2015 until 6 June 2015, David will continue to promote and support our mission and the activities of our charity.
The Trustees would like to acknowledge David’s significant contribution to the success of Help Musicians UK during his tenure as Executive Director and wish him well as he pursues other opportunities.
Sulkin was responsible for the charity’s rebranding in January 2014. Too far, too fast?
