You can use the short-arm snap, apparently, but not the long.

Read here.

sydney opera evacuated

Robert D. Jorgensen suffered a heart attack in the middle of a July 4th concert in Akron, Ohio. He asked cornet soloist Carolyn Curtis to take over. Later that evening, after surgery, Jorgensen died.

‘The Freedom Brass Band of Northeast Ohio is very deeply saddened …,’ a statement said. ‘Mr. Jorgensen served the band since the fall of 2006… He was also Director of Bands Emeritus at the University of Akron, where he served for 26 years.’

robert d jorgensen

 

Liz Kendall, who is running for the leadership of the British Labour Party, has said she wants arts money from the National Lottery to be spent on ‘deprived children’

Liz is the lone Blairite candidate in a charisma-free, low-key contest. She may have just blown her credentials as the middle-ground candidate – though we should remember that Tony Blair himself took a populist anti-arts subsidy line in his first years as prime minister.

liz kendall

We hear from Mikkeli, in Finland that Dmitry Masleev cancelled his concert last night. His mother died during the Tchaikovsky Competition and Dmitry is taking time out to mourn with his family.

He was replaced as zero notice by the American prize winner, George Li.

george li1

 

Gemma New has been appointed music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

She is only the second woman to take charge of a Canadian orch, the other being Tania Miller at the Victoria Symphony Orchestra*.

Gemma, 28, a New Zealander who studied at Peabody, is presently associate conductor with the New Jersey SO. ‘She’s everything we want in a music director,’ says the Hamilton board chairman.

gemma new

UPDATE: Apparently not; there are more.

The Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky has given his views on the judging process:

Lucas-DEBARGUE-photo-e1369304272622-224x300

 

‘I’m not satisfied with the results of the competition in the sense that our beloved Frenchman Lucas Debargue who deserved as a minimum a bronze, in my opinion even silver, was shifted to the fourth. Surprisingly, it was the decision of non-Russian jury members. The fact that we should respect audience as well who appreciated him and greeted him rapturously didn’t convince them. They said he’s not professional.


‘For me, the best pianists were these who placed first and last.’

Not professional? Maybe that’s why he’s so appealing.

UPDATE: Better to be unprofessional, here.

A South African tenor, Levy Sekgapane, last night won the 34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, which was held in Amsterdam.

But the second-placed Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen won both the audience and the international media prizes, demonstrating perhaps a wider public appeal.

The jury was chaired by John Mordler, the former Monte Carlo intendant.

 

 

 

First prize (7,000 euros)
Tenor Levy Sekgapane

Second prize (3,500 euros)
Soprano Lise Davidsen

Third prize (2,500 euros)
Tenor Their Ki Park

Audience Prize (2,000 euros)
Soprano Lise Davidsen

Price of the international media jury (1,500 euros)
Soprano Lise Davidsen