The new BMW 5 series is said to ‘resemble a prestigious music conductor wearing a tuxedo’.

But who?

Him?

(c) Creutziger

Him?

Her?

The enterprising Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine has acquired a 1732 Stradivarius violin for her Foundation, which loans out fine instruments to up-and-coming soloists.

The ‘Arkwright Lady Rebecca Sylvan’ Strad came to Rachel as a gift from retired New Mexico music professor Joseph Sylvan, who inherited it from his father.

Rachel herself plays a 1742 Guarnerius. Her foundation has helped more than 70 artists.

The Court of Appeal in Paris has banned the sale of Dmitri Chernyakov’s 2010 Munich production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites.

The cae was brought by the Poulenc and Georges Bernanos heirs, who called the production ‘a betrayal’.

Now the BelAir label has been ordered to remove the video from sale.

So much for freedom of expression.

Report here.

Chaos again at the flagship theatre.

The veteran Vladimir Fedoseev has walked out after one rehearsal of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, saying the place is not functioning properly.

Anton Grishanin has been summoned as his replacement.

Say what you like about Gergiev, but this does not happen at the Mariinsky.

source: ClassicalMusicNews.Ru

UPDATE: He’s coming back.

Shag is the official dance of South Carolina, apparently.

‘In the shag, we go up and back in accordion fashion.’

Read here.

h/t: Bruce Wolosoff

Here’s the rotten news: Vandals have stolen the statue of the Cunning Little Vixen from the park in Hukvaldy where the opera’s composer was born (and caught his death of a cold).

The statue was made of bronze, and that has melt-down value.

The good news, Jan Hališka tells us from Hukvaldy, is that a replacement has been swiftly cast and will be erected in the park any day now.

‘The gorgeous mezzo soprano Patricia Kern … passed away yesterday,’ reports her former student, the Canadian bass-baritone Trevor Bowes.

Welsh born, Patricia was a star of Sadlers Wells in the 1960s, going on to appear at Covent Garden, Chicago and Washington DC before becoming an influential teacher in Toronto.

Patricia was 88. She was widely treasured and will be widely missed.

Her Lieder voice has an almost-vanished Ferrier timbre.

When  Behzod Abduraimov turned up at Radio France last week to rehearse the third Prokofiev concerto, he found the piano inadequate – flat, colourless, no dynamic contrast. They promised him a replacement.

He came onto the concert stage, sat at the piano, put his hands on the keyboards and pressed down.

The same flat old piano.

What do do?

Behzod played on, signalling to the conductor, Vasily Petrenko, to tamp down the orchestra so that he could make himself heard.

Interesting review here by Bertrand Boissard (en francais).

We’ve had a message from Iva Návratová, artistic director at Trossingen, about why this happened 90 minutes before this weekend’s orchestral concert.

Ida writes:

The rostrum (additional stage) for the piano wasn’t solid enough. Apparently, the stage technicians have not extra strengthened the part of the stage, where the big and heavy Steinway came. One side tilted and of course no one could be able to keep the force of the moving piano….

We actually have not seen how this is happened. When we came, we saw already the result.

Kind regards, Iva

Miraculously, the concert went ahead…

Andrew Rose of Pristine Classical has come up with a genuine find: the brilliant pianist Jascha Spivakovsky, whose musical career was overshadowed by his violinist brother.

Read this, by Mark Ainley.

Then try some of this.

Tonight, compare it to whoever wins the Chopin Competition.

h/t: Patricia Hammond

The music critics association of Moscow have chosen Dr Polina Efimova Weidmann as their musician of the year. She came top of a shortlist that included Vladimir Jurowski and a banned Wagner production in Novosibirsk.

A researcher at the Tchaikovsky House Museum, Weidmann said: ‘For me, this award is a complete surprise. And a bit embarrassing to come ahead of Vladimir Jurowski, who has supported us from the very beginning in exploring the unknown Tchaikovsky.’

source: ClassicalMusicNews.ru

Lev Sivkov, from Siberia, took the $15,000 first prize at the Naumburg 2015 International Cello Competition.  A student of Jean-Guihen Queyras at Freiburg, Sivkov also wins two New York recitals.

Tied for second place were Juilliard’s Jay Campbell, 26, and Brannon Cho, 21.

The jury: Nicholas Mann, David Geber, Natasha Brofsky, Thomas Demenga, Norman Fischer, Bonnie Hampton, Marta Casals Istomin, Michael Kannen, Hei Yi Nei, and Richard Wernick.