The programme director of NDR public radio, Barbara Mirow, has published a statement of regret that her site published an unfavourable comparison between the heroic German conductor Christian Thielemann and the Berlin Philharmonic’s incoming conductor, Kirill Petrenko, ‘ the tiny gnome, the Jewish caricature of Alberich’.
Ms Mirow said there had been ‘shortcomings’ in Sabine Lange’s article and the editorial team would take care that there was no repetition. The obscene reference has been removed. Read the apology here.
We hear that Ekaterina Frolova will join the first violins of the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera (moonlighting as the Vienna Philharmonic) from November.
Good signing.
His new title was announced at a press conference this morning.
Nobody’s saying out loud that it’s a consolation prize for not getting the Berlin Phil.
First intimation of the new dictatorship – er, directorship – appeared three days ago on Slipped Disc.
This year, it’s a Stradivarius. Credits to Sand in Your Eye team Jamie Wardley and Claire Jamieson. The artwork reflects a beautiful 300-year-old Stradivarius violin that has been loaned to the Festival this year.
It will all be gone by nightfall.
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press release: Monday 29 June 2015: A 3-D anamorphic drawing of a giant violin took shape on Elie beach at low tide this morning to celebrate the annual East Neuk Festival. It was created by the Sand in Your Eye team of Jamie Wardley and Claire Jamieson in honour of the beautiful 300-year-old Stradivarius violin loaned to the Festival this year, and to reflect the Festival programme of chamber music performed this coming week in churches and venues throughout the East Neuk. This work of art is a limited edition in every sense of the word as it existed for only a few hours – until the tides rolled in and washed it away. The first concert is tonight in Dunino Church; celebrated violinist Hugo Ticciati improvising on, and playing solo violin music by JS Bach.
The flourishing Ivor Bolton has signed on as music director of the Basle Symphony Orchestra, starting September 2016. The Swiss will announce it any day now.
Ivor starts as music director of Teatro Real Madrid in September. He will also retain the period-instrument Dresden Festival Orchestra which he co-founded in 2012.
He is presently rehearsing Handel’s Saul at Glyndebourne, in a production by the Komisch Oper’s Australian chief director, Barrie Kosky.
UPDATE: Official announcement:
Commencing with the 2016/17 concert season, British conductor Ivor Bolton will take the helm in a four-year contract running till the end of the 2019/20 season. Polish Conductor Michał Nesterowicz has also been named as the orchestra’s new Principal Guest Conductor.
Expressing his excitement over the collaboration, Bolton said: “I am very happy to work with this committed and highly professional ensemble. For a concert to become a memorable experience for both, audience and orchestra, there has to be trust, open-mindedness and passion. All of which I could immediately sense in abundance with the Basel Symphony Orchestra. I am hungry for our shared discoveries in symphonic music, ranging from the classical period up to classical modernism”.
The European Union Youth Orchestra, hit by Vladimir Ashkenazy’s walkout two weeks ago, has scrambled up a substitute partnership. Liverpool’s Vasily Petrenko will be chief conductor, with Bernard Haitink as conductor laureate.
Press release below.
The European Union Youth Orchestra is delighted to announce that Vasily Petrenko will take up the position of Chief Conductor of the Orchestra in September 2015 and that Bernard Haitink CH, KBE, is appointed as Conductor Laureate of the EUYO with immediate effect.
Vasily Petrenko has established an impressive relationship with the Orchestra over a number of years. Last summer he took over a demanding and varied set of programmes with the EUYO at short notice to great critical acclaim at the BBC Proms and elsewhere in Europe. He will lead the Orchestra in projects on a regular basis in future years, working with the EUYO to help plan its music programme and ensure the maintenance of the highest standards in all aspects of its artistic work. His achievements as Chief Conductor Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor Mikhailovsky Theatre St Petersburg have shown him to have exceptional skills, both as a conductor and also as a leader of orchestras.
The British pianist, Nicholas McCarthy, who was born without a right hand, has been signed to Warner Classics.
Nicholas, 26, will record arrangements by Paul Wittgenstein, and some of his own, for release in September.
press releae:
Fort Worth, Texas, June 28, 2015—At the end of seven days of inspiring performances from 23 young, elite pianists from all over the world, Jon Nakamatsu, chairman of the jury for the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival (June 21-28, 2015), at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, announced the winners on Sunday night from the Ed Landreth Auditorium stage.
The First Prize winner is Alim Beisembayev, 17, Kazakhstan.
The Second Prize Winner is Arsenii Mun, 16, Russia.
The Third Prize Winner is Youlan Ji, 16, China.
Alim Beisembayev, the First Prize winner, will receive a cash award of $10,000 cash plus $2,000 scholarship.
He used to be talked of as the next music director of the Concertgebouw and the Boston Symphony. Now, it’s all going south.
As of March 2016, Edo de Waart will be music director of the world’s most remote concert organisation, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Edo, 74, has been music director successively of the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orch and the Sydeny Symphony. He has usually held two or three jobs at once. He is presently music director in Milwaukee and at the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, both of which will end in 2016-17.
In New Zealand he has an opportunity to leave a real legacy. He is by far the highest calibre conductor they have landed.
More maestro moves shortly.
press release:
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is delighted to announce that esteemed Dutch conductor Edo de Waart will assume the role ofNZSO Music Director from 2016.
NZSO Chief Executive, Christopher Blake says: “Maestro Edo de Waart is a well regarded and acclaimed conductor working at the highest level internationally. He has a prolific and illustrious conducting career spanning five decades and he has worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“The NZSO is delighted to begin its exciting new artistic relationship with Maestro de Waart and be part of his enduring contribution to the world of music making. We look forward to presenting more exhilarating orchestral music under his distinguished leadership in future Seasons.”
Edo de Waart will begin his tenure with the NZSO next March when he conducts Mahler’s masterwork Symphony No. 3. He will then take Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’ and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 on his inaugural tour as Music Director to eight centres around the country. Concertgoers can expect to hear some of the world’s most compelling orchestral works by composers such as Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart and Strauss in future NZSO Seasons, hand-picked from de Waart’s extensive repertoire.
Edo de Waart is currently Chief Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He has previously been Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also Chief Conductor of De Nederlandse Opera.
Maestro Edo de Waart says: “I am delighted to deepen my artistic relationship with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra – an orchestra I have come to know well over the years. We share a common bond – a mutual love and respect for excellent music-making and a desire to share this spirit with all New Zealanders. We want to give New Zealanders the opportunity to have unforgettable musical experiences.”
Russian media, quoting family sources, report that the great baritone in undergoing treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, for a brain tumour that he announced last week.
He is still undergoing tests to determine the extent of the treatment. Dmitri has made his home in London with his wife, Florence, and two children.
The entire music world is praying for a positive outcome for one of its most well-liked and sought-after performers.
The competition goes into its final concerto stages today, for cello, violin and piano.
The qualifying stages on the previous two instruments have been subdued. Decent performances, safe list of finalists, nothing to set the heart racing.
It was much the same last time, and the time before. You have to go back to 1982 to find the last name-drop artist to win the violin competition. (Don’t even mention the voice contest.)
The piano, though…. that’s where the action is.
There are three or four hotly-tipped winners out of six finalists, all of them high-calibre. We’re still calling it as a Lucas vs Lukas showdown, but there’s an excited following for the American George Li, and an air of anticipation for each of the other three.
It’s all down now to fingers on keys.
In 33 years as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan never lived in the city.
He stayed at the Kempinski hotel on the Ku’damm, turning it into an elite hangout for Berlin Phil soloists and guests. You could catch him before breakfast in the pool.
Today there’s a huge painting of Herbie right behind the reception desk.
But, as the surrounding area gets upgraded, the Kempi (built in 1952) is showing its age. The site owners want to pull it down.
So many personal memories will go with it … Maestros of all shapes and sizes, Midori in her teens dining only on desserts, Berthold Goldschmidt talking for hours about Berlin before and after…
