The Berlin state opera chief, who conducted at Bayreuth from 1981 to 1999, has launched a rocket attack on festival director Katharina Wagner after her lawyers removed her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier from this summer’s festival. Eva, 70, is due to retire in August.
Daniel Barenboim said in a statement: ‘Gibt es in einem freien demokratischen Land für ein solches Verfahren eine rechtliche Grundlage? Ich dachte, man kann den Menschen ihre Bewegungsfreiheit nicht nehmen – außer sie wären Kriminelle. Dieser Umgang ist menschenunwürdig. (Is there any legal basis for such a move in a free, democratic country? I thought you can’t take away people’s freedom of movement – unless they are criminals. This action is the opposite of humane.)’
What Barenboim fails to distinguish is that Bayreuth is not part of a free and democratic country. It is a hereditary autocracy run by members of the Wagner family, none of whom answers to the rules of common decency.
The conductor Kirill Petrenko is threatening, on similar grounds, to withdraw from this summer’s Ring. The only happy maestro at Bayreuth is Christian Thielemann (pictured below with Katie and advisors).
On Monday, the London office of K D Schmid signed the timpanist-turned-conductor Adrien Perruchon.
On Tuesday, the Berlin office announced the signing of the 2015 Malko Competition winner, Tung-Chieh Chuang, 32. He’s from Taiwan but lives in Berlin.
Who’s next?
Slipped Disc editorial
The former Chetham’s violin and head of strings at Royal Northern College of Music was cleared within 90 minutes by a jury of the single charge on which he was tried; the alleged rape of an 18 year-old female student some 30 years ago. Layfield, 63, is under British justice, cleared of all stigma and is free to resume his career.
But the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse at English music schools has not gone away.
In court, under oath, Layfield admitted with regret to having several affairs with his students at Chetham’s during the 1980s. He was not the only teacher to do so. Evidence was heard that Chetham’s was, at best, negligent during that period in exercising its duty of care towards vulnerable teenagers. Further evidence indicated that complaints by students against teachers who abused their authority in this way were not dealt with in an appropriate manner.
Sexual abuse in English music schools has been covered up for a full generation. Those who engaged in the cover-up – governors, headteachers, teachers – have not been called to account. There remains a strong case for a public inquiry to be held where both victims and those in authority can raise their voices and lay the wretched past to rest.
The law is a blunt instrument. Malcolm Layfield, innocent, will have to rebuild his practice from scratch. A public inquiry would obviate the need for further prosecutions and allow the healing process to begin.
UPDATE: More legal action here.
An allergic reaction to a wasp sting is believed to have caused the death of Kelly Thomas, professor of music at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
The tragedy was announced on Facebook by the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music, where Kelly previously taught before moving to his wife’s home state. He was the founding tuba player for the Original Wildcat Jass Band and was recently elected vice-president of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association.
Kelly leaves four young children. A memorial fund has been set up for the family here.
