There have been many worthy attempts at singing the anthem this week in solidarity with French suffering.
Most have drifted far from the score. This recording by the great tenor Georges Thill (1897-1984) is about as accurate as it gets – every note in place, every syllable pronounced, even the second verse rendered in full.
Liberté, liberté, cherie!
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given Dallas Opera half a million dollars to support its training program for conductors of the under-promoted gender.
‘This innovative program is designed to support the career aspirations and advancement of women conductors in the field of opera, while addressing the thorny problems resulting from ingrained gender inequality at the top of the profession.‘ More from the press release below.
The inaugural institute is scheduled to take place in Dallas from November 28th through December 6, 2015 with participants (six institute fellows, four additional US observers) selected from more than 100 qualified applicants originating in 27 countries around the globe. There is no comparable program today for addressing the needs of talented young female conductors seeking to make their mark on the world’s top opera organizations.
Although “Level One” opera companies in North America (as defined by OPERA America) produce approximately a hundred different opera productions each year, women conductors will stand at the podium for only around 5% of the total number of productions during the 2015-2016 Season.
The situation is equally dire in the symphonic world: of the top symphony orchestras in the U.S., only one is led by a female music director (the Baltimore Symphony’s Marin Alsop, pictured).
Recent trends indicate the gender gap may, in fact, be widening. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that over the past decade, 44% of Masters Degrees and 30% of all doctorates in conducting went to women. Nevertheless, a mere dozen female conductors are positioned to lead the top 103 high-budget orchestras on this continent (League of American Orchestras report, 2013). “To some extent,” opined The Independent (U.K.) in 2010, “the scarcity of female conductors is a vicious circle. With so few women…in high-profile posts, the role models have not existed to inspire more, so the situation becomes self-perpetuating.”
The lakeside festival is taking a huge risk next summer with Hamlet by Franco Faccio (1840-91), premiered in Genoa in 1865 and revived six years later at La Scala.
Its only subsequent production was by Opera Southwest at Albuquerque, in 2014.
UPDATE: The rediscovery is the work of conductor Anthony Barrese, who will lead a new production at Delaware in May, ahead of the Bregenz staging.
Faccio (c) Lebrecht Music&Arts
Bregenz Intendant Elizabeth Sobotka has loved the score since she was a student. The title role will be sung by Pavel Cernoch, a tenor from Brno. Details were announced today.
Bregenz’s other big show is Turandot.
Puccini’s, since you asked.
You won’t get it.
The pianist is the great teacher and interpreter, Seymour Lipkin, who died on Monday.
Photo courtesy Ron Ephrat.
Alexis (Leksi) Paterson is the new chief executive of England’s Three Choirs Festival. She was previously half the artistic management team of the Cheltenham Music Festival.
Press release below.
The Three Choirs Festival Association has appointed Alexis Paterson as its new chief executive, in succession to Dominic Jewel who will leave in December to become managing director of the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain.
Alexis joins the Three Choirs Festival from Cheltenham Festivals, where she has been manager of the Music Festival since January 2011, working alongside director Meurig Bowen to deliver all aspects of the past five editions. Her previous experience includes working on the concert management team of Presteigne Festival and for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as an education assistant and as coordinator of the orchestra’s contemporary music ensemble Kokoro. Immediately prior to arriving in Cheltenham, she combined freelance work with part time teaching at the universities of Cardiff and Salford. Her undergraduate degree at Exeter University was in Music with Mathematics and her PhD from Cardiff University is in Musicology.
‘I’m delighted to be taking on this role with such a prestigious organisation – it’s not often that you get to say you’re looking forward to seeing a festival flourish as it enters its fourth century!’ she said.
Arianna Neikrug, niece of the composer-pianist Marc Neikrug, has been named winner of the 4th annual Sarah Vaughan vocal competition. She wins a record contract, a few grand and a slot at the 2106 Montreal Jazz Fest.
More credentials? Arianna’s granddad is the great cellist-pedagogue George Neikrug.
The work is Da pacem Domine, by Arvo Pärt.
The conductor is Lionel Sow.
The Puccini Festival Foundation at Torre del Lago has tipped its hat to…
Jonas.
As part of Canada’s new open government policy, prime minister Justin Trudeau has published letters to each of his ministers specifying what he expects from them over the next four years.
Here’s what the Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly has been ordered to deliver:
Dear Ms. Joly:
I am honoured that you have agreed to serve Canadians as Minister of Canadian Heritage.
We have promised Canadians a government that will bring real change – in both what we do and how we do it….
As Minister of Canadian Heritage, your overarching goal will be to implement our government’s plan to strengthen our cultural and creative industries. Our cultural sector is an enormous source of strength to the Canadian economy. Canada’s stories, shaped by our immense diversity, deserve to be celebrated and shared with the world. Our plan will protect our important national institutions, safeguard our official languages, promote the industries that reflect our unique identity as Canadians, and provide jobs and economic opportunities in our cultural and creative sectors.
You will be the leader of a strong team of ministers, supported by the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities and the Minister of Status of Women.
In particular, I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes to deliver on your top priorities:
Review current plans for Canada 150 and champion government-wide efforts to promote this important celebration.
Restore and increase funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, following consultation with the broadcaster and the Canadian cultural community.
Review the process by which members are appointed to the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors, to ensure merit-based and independent appointments.< Double investment in the Canada Council for the Arts.
Increase funding for Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board.
Restore the Promart and Trade Routes International cultural promotion programs, update their design, and increase related funding.
Increase funding for the Young Canada Works program to help prepare the next generation of Canadians working in the heritage sector.
Work with the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to make significant new investments in cultural infrastructure as part of our investment in social infrastructure.
Develop a new multi-year Official Languages plan to support English and French linguistic minorities
Establish a free, online service for learning and retaining English and French as second languages.
Work with the President of the Treasury Board to ensure that all federal services are delivered in full compliance with the Official Languages Act.
Work in collaboration with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to provide new funding to promote, preserve and enhance Indigenous languages and cultures.
Work with the Minister of Justice to update and reinstate a Court Challenges Program….
I know I can count on you to fulfill the important responsibilities entrusted in you. In turn, please know that you can count on me to support you every day in your role as Minister.
I am deeply grateful to have this opportunity to serve with you as we build an even greater country. Together, we will work tirelessly to honour the trust Canadians have given us.
Yours sincerely,
Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
GOLD FLUTE STOLEN IN VIENNA
On 14 November at Palmenhaus (Wien), this Sankyo Flutes 24k flute (serial No 82685) with 14k mechanics and a 22k Wiener Flötenwerkstatt headjoint was stolen. With it: a NAHOK Music Instrument Case Bags, white with brown straps.
PLEASE HELP and share. Any information to any Austrian police station, via email to office@paladino.at or directly to the police: bmi-ii-bk-spoc@bmi.gv.at.
UPDATE: We understand the flute belongs to a member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
GOLDFLÖTE GESTOHLEN
Am 14. November wurde im Palmenhaus (Wien) diese Sankyo-24k-Goldflöte mit der Seriennummer 82685, 14k-Goldmechanik und einem 22k-Kopfstück von Werner Tomasi (Gravur: WF) gestohlen. Dabei: Eine cremeweiße Nahok-Tasche mit braunen Riemen (sh. Foto).
BITTE UM HILFE DURCH SHARE. Informationen an jede österr. Polizeidienststelle, an office@paladino.at oder natürlich direkt die Polizei: bm-ii-bk-spoc@bmi.gv.at
The new chief conductor of the Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz is to be Garry Walker.
Winner of the 1999 Leeds Conductors Competition, Garry, 41, has held guest posts with several UK orchestras, including the RPO and RSNO. This is his first foreign posting.
Elsa Delplace and her mother, Patricia, died on Friday inside the Bataclan. Elsa, friends told Le Point, ‘played the cello brilliantly’.
Elsa’s son Louis, who was with her at the concert, was found later in Vincennes hospital, covered in his mother’s blood.
We learn also of the death of Marion Petard-Lieffrig, 30 (l.), a flute pupil of Michel Rousseau at the conservatoires of Orléans and Paris. Marion was murdered with her sister Anna, 24 at the restaurant, Le Petit Cambodge.
This atrocity just gets worse and worse.
