The venerable Maria João Pires has cancelled Sunday’s recital at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr.
She is replaced at two days’ notice by the Canadian, Janina Fialkowska.
The brilliant and prolific composer, who died last weekend, reflects in this moving recent film by Mark Trunk on the loss of his wife, Marjorie, who died in 1992. A beautiful man.
Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory have been pursuing the same goals – and student pool – for half a century. Now they want to create a ‘powerhouse’.
It’s getting tenured music teachers worried right across the USA. And beyond. One widely respected administrator calls it ‘enlightened’.
Read here.
Sascha Goetzel has terminated ‘with immediate effect’ his job as principal guest conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, a post he has held for three years.
He blames the orchestra’s administrateur général, Marc Feldman, over changes in future programming and the removal of Goetzel’s name from the orchestra’s website.
A summer spat, in other words.
COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE
Sascha Goetzel, directeur artistique et chef principal du Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, ainsi que premier chef invité du Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra au Japon, a démissionné avec effet immédiat du poste de premier chef invité de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne qu’il occupait depuis 2012. Dans une lettre au Président de l’orchestre, il justifie la décision qu’il se voit contraint et forcé de prendre cette action en raison des décisions de l’administrateur général de l’orchestre, Marc Feldman, concernant la future programmation, ainsi que face à sa décision unilatérale et sans précédent d’avoir retiré le nom de Sascha Goetzel sur le site Internet de l’orchestre. Il écrit : «C’est un honneur et un plaisir pour moi d’avoir travaillé avec les musiciens de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne. Ils m’ont témoigné leur appui et leur sympathie à de multiples occasions, et un rapport honnête et amical a toujours présidé à cette collaboration.»
Un musicien de l’orchestre a commenté: «J’avais lu dans la plaquette de la saison que nous venons de recevoir, que Sascha Goetzel n’était plus premier chef invité, mais je pensais que la Direction de l’orchestre l’en avait informé. Vous me voyez désolée que cela se passe ainsi. Je regrette profondément cette façon de faire de notre administrateur général.»
Sascha Goetzel a fait ses débuts avec l’Orchestre National de France la semaine dernière à Paris avec deux programmes. Parmi ses nombreux engagements internationaux de la saison 2015-2016, il dirigera l’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, l’Orchestre National de Lorraine et l’Orchestre National de Bordeaux. À Vienne, sa ville natale, il dirigera plusieurs représentations de Don Giovanni à l’Opéra de Vienne.
25 juin 2015
He missed out on the Berlin Phil – and that hurts.
But Bayreuth may have compensated Thielemann with a new title.
Here’s what has gone up in the parking lot.
‘Reserviert für Musikdirektor C. Thielemann’
Until now, apparently, the parking spots were just marked with ‘Dirigenten’ and ‘Festspielleitung’. Now, it has been personalised and dignified with a title.
We are saddened to learn of the death of Avis Herseth, widow – after a 69-year marriage – of the inextinguisbale Chicago Symphony principal trumpet, Bud Herseth. Avis, an academic librarian, was 95.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests gifts to either the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or Merit Music Chicago, in support of Merit’s celebrated trumpet ensemble, which Avis supported.
Perfect peace.
We asked our Moscow observer Marina Evreison Arshinova for an assessment of the piano finals, the only part of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition that has yielded big personalities and public involvement.
Here’s Marina’s report:
The second round of the Competition included 2 stages: solo program and a Mozart’s concerto. In his solo program Lucas Debarque of France absolutely won the spectators’ love. His interpretation of a rarely performed Medtner sonata was vital and fresh, and his Garpard de la Nuit was stunning. This performance was fabulous and became the high point of the competition.
Debargue plays in the legendary style of Samson Francois. Debargue’s Mozart concerto was also beautiful, beyond any comment, and deserved standing ovations. The Moscow audience was full of praise. Almost all days of the second round the hall was sold out.
Maria Mazo (32, Germany) didn’t pass to the final. She represented quite sophisticated program which included, apart from Beethoven’s and Skryabin’s Sonatas, Igor Stravinsky’s Danse infernale de tous les sujets de Kachtchei, Berceuse, and Finale from The Firebird, transcribed for piano by Guido Agosti. Her playing was impeccable in many respects, she was one of the prospective finalists and was liked by many listeners.
George Li (19, USA) is the pianist of post Lang Lang’s era: he adds such new dimensions to piano playing as fantastic brightness, feeling of endless possibities. ‘His innovative attitude to piano structure made it sound like in the new сoordinates,’ wrote Rossiyskaya gazeta. At the same time, it’s quite distant stylistically and aesthetically from the respectful format of standard European music’s practice.
Lukas Geniusas and Daniel Kharitonov remain among the race’s leaders, although Geniusas’ playing in the second round satisfied neither himself nor his numerous fans. His performance was perfect but rather cold. By contrast, 16-year old Kharitonov seems to be full of spontaneous enthusiasm. He possess splendid technique. He is a real artist, immersed in his work, if still immature.
UPDATE: The other finalists, Sergei Redkin and Dmitry Masleev, studied at the Piano Academy Lake Como where Dmitry Bashkirov, a jury member, teaches. Redkin played better in the first round, Masleev played well throughout.
On TV news it was announced that Masleev’s mother died just before the Competition. We wish the young talented pianist strength through the healing powers of music.
(c) Marina Evreison Arshinova/Slipped Disc
Marina graduated from the StPetersburg Conservatory as a pianist, is a winner of international piano competitions and worked at the St Petersburg State Phiilharmonia (in the PR department). She is now an independent author and producer, living in StPetersburg.
Andreas Blau, who delayed his retirement by a year while a successor was sought, has bid farewell to the orchestra, in which his father played before him.
His seat will be taken by Mathieu Dufour, ex-principal flute of the Chicago Symphony.
(Photo: Monika Rittershaus)
press release:
“I’ve always considered it a privilege to be able to play in this orchestra.” With these words Andreas Blau, principal flautist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, said farewell to his colleagues and Sir Simon Rattle after his last concert on 20 June 2015. The son of a Berliner Philharmoniker, he knew the orchestra from childhood. After his music studies with Karl-Heinz Zoeller and at the National Music Camp at Interlochen in the USA, he became principal flautist at the age of only 20. He was a member of the Philharmoniker for more than 46 years and played under three chief conductors: Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. But not only that: “When I started, it was a completely different orchestra. In effect, I’ve played with an orchestra of 250 members in the course of my career,” he said humorously.
Andreas Blau was not only a dedicated orchestral musician who enchanted audiences again and again with his clear, flexible sound and his stupendous phrasing, he was also much in demand as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. As Sir Simon said in his brief farewell speech, his presence would long be felt in the Philharmonie: “I always believed that concert halls remember their music and that it’s somehow left on the walls. All your beautiful sounds are on these walls and they remain here. And may we say, you are deep in our hearts and you remain there. Thank you Andreas!”
Four out of six of the finalists are home-grown:
Lucas Debargue (France)
George Li (US)
Sergei Redkin
Lukas Geniušas
Daniel Kharitonov
Dmitry Masleev (all Russian).
Maria Mazo, the hotly fancied German, was among those eliminated. It’s a cruel old world.
The six finalists are:
Pablo Ferrández (Spain)
Andrei Ioniță (Romania)
Seung Min Kang (S Korea)
Jonathan Roozeman (Netherlands)
A
Those eliminated include the experienced and widely recorded Leonard Elschenbroich (Germany) and two fancied Frenchmen, Bruno Philippe and Trstan Cornut.
Pavel Milyukov (Russia)
Alexandra Conunova (Moldova)
Bomsori Kim (S Korea)
Yu-Chien Tseng (Taiwan)
Clara-Jumi Kang (Germany)
Haik Kazazyan (Russia)
No great surprises.
Her name’s Arielle Baril, and she’s 11.
She starting singing at 2:05.
