Following Welsh National Opera boss David Pountney, speaking in Welsh, Dame Kiri te Kanawa has announced Nadine Koutcher, 32, from Belarus, as winner of Cardiff Singer of the World 2015.

nadine koutcher

 

In the final she displayed all the pluses and minuses of the old Soviet teaching system. Maximum technical command, minimum emotional intelligence. Fully developed instrument, not really a young singer. She’s exactly the type of singer opera managers pick for safety. But her performance of the Bell Song probably clinched it.

The audience prize went to Amartuvshin Enkhbat of Mongolia.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat

We are saddened to learn of the death of Gunther Schuller, aged 89.  Christopher O’Reilly reports that he died at 7.55 on Sunday morning, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy playing by his bedside.

A composer who was equally at home in orchestral music and jazz, in 1957 he coined the term ‘Third Stream’ to point optimistically to a fusion future.

Gunther was a formidable advocate for fine music, a lucid writer and a generous teacher.

He leaves more than 160 scores.

gunther schuller

By way of brief biography, he played principal horn in the Met orchestra in the 1950s, founded the Modern Jazz Society with John Lewis and served as president of the New England Conservatory. A rich and varied life.

UPDATE: First obit in the Boston Globe. Updated file obit from Allan Kozinn in the NY Times.

UPDATE: Read a personal memoir here.

The rumour comes in Die Welt from Manuel Bruig, who can be unreliable, but it has legs. Brug says the players have chosen Kirill Petrenko, music director of the Bavaria State Opera. The Berlin Phil press office has promised ‘more tomorrow’ in an email to Slipped Disc.

Independent of his report we were informed last week that Petrenko had been offered the job on election day and turned it down. There is no sign yet that he has changed his mind – unless his recent Bayreuth anger at Thielemann has made it a point of honour to accept.

Here’s Brug (in German). More as we hear.

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An opening set of two Italian arias and one Wagner has put Amartuvshin Enkhbat top of the leader board in the Cardiff Singer of the World final.

Showing neither nerves nor emotion, Amartuvshin played his set straight down the fairway and set a tough challenge for the remaining four contestants.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat was first prize winner in Placido Domingo’s 2012 Operalia competition. Apparently, that was not enough to get him out of Ulanbator and onto the world stage.

He conducts interviews through an interpreter. Language may have been his drawback until now.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat

Lauren Michelle from Los Angeles has a lovely instrument and a convivial stage presence, but she suffered pitch lapses early on and never saturated Korngold’s 3-hankie aria from Die Tote Stadt.

Money’s still on Mongolia.

Oleksiy Palchykov, 29, tenor from Ukraine, has got what it takes. Voice in good shape and presentation vivid. He totally nailed Una furtiva lagrima. He’s a definite contender, probable winner of audience vote. Real showman in Lehar. Collects football scarves. Has he got enough up front?

Nadine Koutcher, 32, from Belarus,displays all the pluses and minuses of the old Soviet teaching system. Maximum technical command, minimum emotional intelligence. Fully developed instrument, not really a young singer. She’s exactly the type of singer opera managers pick for safety. If they go for a compromise winner, she’s in with a chance.

Her Bell Song rang out to perfection.

Jongmin Park, 28, Korean winner of the Song Prize, is the finished article. He sang without fear or favour, full of confidence. He’s the finished article. A fine bass, though not overwhelming.

The conductor, 79, is worried about militarisation in the Far East and worsening relations between China and Japan.

He calls on Japan to ‘demonstrate itself to the world as a good example of a country that does not wage war.’

Read here.

ozawa tokyo afp

Seiji is summering with his academy in Switzerland and France.

The US mezzo opens tonight in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, her mind shadowed by violence and war.

joyce didonato stonewall

 

Joyce writes:  I dedicate my run of performances as Romeo here in Zurich to my fellow human beings who have had to suffer the continued effects of rampant racism in my Country; to the mothers who have to explain to their beautiful young sons, that because their skin is dark, they must expect to be targeted and therefore must constantly be on the defense; to the utterly misguided, ill-educated, lost and fearful people who thing eradication is a solution; to the devastated, grieving families of the 9 human beings slaughtered in their place of worship, who, within HOURS of losing their loved ones, stood in front of the world and the person who murdered their family members and taught us what love is by simply saying “We forgive you”.

Read her full post here.

The author Marina Evreison Arshinova, who used to work at the competition, assesses the mood at the end of Week 1.

The first stage of the Piano #tch15 is over, the second has begun.

The Russian-Lithuanian pianist Lukas Geniusas, 24, second prize winner at the 2010 Chopin Competition, has been  winning the media vote. His playing in the first round was cheering and revitalizing indeed.

By contrast, the Queen Elisabeth winner Yury Favorin, 29, fell victim to the system of refereeing and did not pass to the second round which was very disappointing.

For certain circles of audience Andrey Korobeinikov, 29, was one of the most wanted participants; however, he was absolutely unwanted by the major part of the jury. He made it easier for both groups – his performance was weak and unfocused, and even those who admire him, agreed that he сouldn’t go any further in the Competition.

Among those who will be playing in the second round Muscovites very much liked the second Lukas – French pianist Lucas Debargue, 24, particularly his inspiring interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonata op.10/3 . Maria Mazo, 32, born and raised in Moscow now lives in Germany. Under the guidance of the prominent piano teacher and juror Aryeh Vardy she achieved international recognition. In the second stage of the Competition she will play Beethoven’s Hammerklavier. The American George Li, 19, has excellent fingers. His depth has yet to be proved.

Daniil Kharitonov, 16, a student of Central Music School, pupil of Denis Matsuev’s teacher Valery Pyassetsky, is in with a chance. Kharitonov is strong in Rachmaninov, and has framed his second repertoire around that composer.

kharitonov1

So what will the jury do? We shall see, and judge them all.

Kiri’s old pad is for sale on Long Island. 

Sales blurb:

Here is a rare opportunity to purchase a unique property, tucked away at the end of a cul de sac, located on almost 4 acres in one of the most desirable areas of Oyster Bay Cove in the Syosset school district. This house boasts a long history as it is believed that Theodore Roosevelt socialized here. The previous owner was the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, who lived here in the 1980s. Full of warmth and character, this special home integrates sophistication with country elegance.

kiri's house

 

h/t: Shleppy Nabucco

 

kiri's pool

Yale is engaged on a restoration of Benny Goodman’s film bequest, which is beginning to disintegrate.

Remember when artists were proud to be sponsored by an oil company?

Read here. The promo’s on the last clip.

goodman_in_moscow

Dave Valentin is a legend on jazz flute. Three years ago he suffered a stroke, followed by a heart attack. Then another stroke. Dave, 63, needs help of every kind. Go to crowdfunder.

And hit one of the social media buttons at the bottom of this page to share.

dave valentin

In an article of serene unreality, the New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini responds to comments by a former head of Lincoln Center, accusing him of ignoring financial failure while extolling artistic success.

Tommasini sets out his credo in response to the charge:

His comments got me thinking about whether critics should take financial realities into account in writing about the arts. Should they dig through the details, or imagine what could be?

As I see it, imagination should win out. In-depth coverage of budget battles and managerial incompetence is better left to arts reporters. A critic is empowered to dream, to provoke, to foster excitement. The challenges facing classical music, the performing art most fixated on the standard repertory, demand that critics stand up for principle, even at the risk of seeming bent on a cause or unrealistic.

Read the full article here.

My personal view of this statement is that it is intellectually dishonest and professionally lame.

A critic’s job is to report and engage, not to campaign for a better world. If a critic were to pursue dreams, most review space in the New York Times would be taken up by esoteric productions in lofts and colleges, rather than at the major orchestras and opera houses whose full-page advertisements sustain the newspaper’r culture department and indirectly pay the critic’s salary.

To ignore these priorities is not just myopic. It runs counter to the raw instincts of journalism, which are to be curious about all aspects of any matter which you are reporting or reviewing. A journalist in an opera house needs to be alert to all prevailing circumstances. A pack-horse wears blinkers, not a music critic. Tommasini, in this credo, disables his vocation.

I can readily imagine what his streetwise forbear Harold Schonberg would have made of it.

NL

harold schonberg

Sandra Bernhard, who worked at Houston Grand Opera for many years, has died in a Houston hospice. Sandra guest directed around the country and headed the opera program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as well as teaching at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

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Photo: Alberto Demestres