December 17, 2015 - Slippedisc

This has been in the works ever since Lucas Debargue signed with the talent warehouse, Cami, and I think we may have reported it before. But from today it’s official: Lucas Debargue, star (and loser) of the Tchaikovsky Competition, joins Lang Lang and Igor Levit as a Sony artist.

Press release:

Sony Classical is proud to announce the signing of twenty-five year old French pianist Lucas Debargue, the most talked-about artist of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition.

As soon as Debargue began to play in the early rounds of the event (routinely hailed as one of the world’s foremost piano competitions), an extraordinary buzz of excitement began to develop around him. By the finals, it had crescendoed into a roar – and not just for his intense, muscular, intellectual playing, or his lyrical phrasing, but because his journey to reach that point had been so unusual.

His unique background was reflected in a paradoxical result. ‘The real winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition is the man who came last,’ said The Spectator. But although he was placed fourth in the final, his remarkable talent was recognised with the award of the Moscow Music Critics’ Association to ‘the pianist whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom have impressed the critics as well as the audience.’

It is all the more amazing in light of his unusual history. Debargue did not touch a piano until he was 11 and then taught himself by ‘tinkering’. At 17 he dropped the instrument completely in favour of the bass guitar. He then began a literature degree and only took the instrument up again at 20 when a friend, who remembered his playing, invited him to perform at the Fête de la musique at Debargue’s hometown.

His playing was so powerful that he was put in touch with the celebrated Russian piano teacher, Rena Shereshevskaya, at the prestigious École Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris. At the age of 24, he dazzled audiences and critics alike with his unique talent at the Tchaikovsky Competition.

Ismene Brown in The Telegraph praised his ‘artistry, originality and technical brilliance’ and went on to say that he was ‘miraculous… His absorbing concentration on sound rather than technique contrasted him immediately with the more virtuosic pianists around.’ In The Spectator Damian Thompson hailed his ‘outstanding performance… Perhaps it’s his intellect. He ‘argues’ the music with a confidence worthy of Richter.’

Debargue’s highly-anticipated debut recording, set for release in March 2016, will include works by Domenico Scarlatti; Chopin’s sublime Ballade No 4; Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz; and Ravel’s demandingGaspard de la nuit (his performance of which in Round 2 of the competition caused a sensation).

Critics and live audiences have already fallen under Debargue’s spell. Now lovers of recorded music will be able to experience the magic of this extraordinary young musician too.

Musicians in the Hartford Symphony, who are fighting for a living wage, have been told to back down or the orch will shut permanently next month.

Stephen Collins, director of artistic operations andadministration, said:

‘By late January at the latest, we need to have stability in our financial position or we’ll going to have to make very difficult decisions. It is conceivable that we could be forced to close our doors at the end of January.’

They sure know how to celebrate Christmas in Connecticut.

President Hollande has approved a swift move by culture minister Fleur Pellerin to instal Stéphane Braunschweig, directeur of the Théâtre national de la Colline, to succeed the late Luc Bondy at the Théâtre National de l’Odéon.

Details have been leaked to a Swiss newspaper of the confidential deal by which the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande paid off its past manager, Miguel Esteban, who was peremptorily dismissed in 2012 after only a few weeks in the job.

After fighting a journalist from the RTS (the Swiss Radio and Television, a major sponsor of the orchestra) all the way up to the Supreme Court to avoid releasing the details of the November 2013 settlement, it appears the orchestra quietly agreed to pay Esteban €527.000, one-fifth of which was designated as moral damages for the assault on his reputation.

Both sides agreed to stay silent on the terms. Someone just broke that deal.

Esteban, who now works for Universal Music, had originally claimed 1.5 million Euros in exemplary damages.

Esteban pictured with Anna Netrebko in Red Square

The chief conductor of the Staatskapelle, a man of nationalist sympathies, has issued a rare statement criticising Pegida, the anti-immigrant mass movement.

Christian Thielemann called on Pegida to stop holding its demos on the Theaterplatz in Dresden’s centre. ‘It’s damaging the reputation of the city. They should demonstrate elsewhere,’ he told the Dresdner Morgenpost.

‘These shots echo around the globe and hurt Dresden’s image,’ Thielemann said. ‘I don’t understand why the city permits them.’

Symphony Australia is giving all sorts of excuses for ending its influential programme for young conductors, composers and performers but the bottom line is… bottom line. There’s no money for new talent down under. Many young hopes will be dashed, and just before the holidays.

Here’s what they are telling past and hopeful beneficiaries of the programme.

Dear ….

I am writing to inform you of changes that will be occurring in Symphony Australia’s Artist Development program from next year. For many years Symphony Australia has offered a national training program for emerging musicians on behalf of our member orchestras, the Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. The opportunities provided by this program have assisted the careers of many composers, performers and conductors and we are proud of the results and the successes of our alumni.

The orchestras have identified that there is duplication between this national artist development program and their own activities in this area, which have developed significantly over recent years. As a result, from 2016 we will substantially reduce our Artist Development program and from 2017 Symphony Australia will cease its Artist Development activities. The orchestras’ individual programs will continue to provide a wide range of training and professional development opportunities, and they remain fully committed to supporting young Australian artists who show potential and are likely to make their career as musicians.

In 2016 we will continue to host a number of Conductor Development activities, including our residential Summer School (in conjunction with the TSO). We will also maintain our long partnership with the Australian Youth Orchestra in offering orchestral and music presentation Fellowship opportunities as well as supporting the Sydney Symphony’s Orchestral Fellowship program. We will co-commission several new works from Australian composers on behalf of the orchestras and co-present a Composer Development school with the TSO.

However, from 2017 this activity will cease to be offered nationally through Symphony Australia, and opportunities will instead be provided by the individual orchestras, reflecting a national focus while also addressing their own state’s particular priorities. The orchestras will collaborate to ensure a range of programs is available to meet the needs of developing artists and Symphony Australia will collate these into a database that can be accessed by any young artist for up-to-date information about opportunities in their state. We will also incorporate a number of relevant opportunities that are not hosted by our member orchestras. This database will be available atwww.symphonyinternational.net before the end of 2016.

For the past few years, Symphony Australia has managed the Young Performers Awards on behalf of its partner, the ABC. As a result of these changes, Symphony Australia will no longer be running YPA and we have been informed by the ABC that it is also not in a position to re-assume responsibility for directly managing the competition. YPA will therefore not be continuing into the future.

The Young Performers Awards has a long and rich history, and we are conscious of the impact this decision may have on some members of the arts community. We are grateful to the many supporters of the competition and assure you that the orchestras remain committed to supporting young and emerging performers in other ways.

Symphony Australia will continue to provide a range of other services to its member orchestras and the wider orchestral community. We look forward to working with the orchestras to communicate their activities in the Artist Development arena and thank you for your support of the program over the years.

Best wishes for a happy and safe festive season, and a successful 2016.

Kate Lidbetter
Chief Executive Officer

Richard Jarman in the Times today on the plight of ENO:

A bankrupt opera company does nobody any good, not least those who have depended on it for their livelihood. Look no further than New York, where the city’s respected second company, New York City Opera, went through a few years of death agonies before the waters parted, the vessel sank and life in the city went on. Except for those who had lost their jobs.

Full article here.

From Kevin Case, new legal counsel for ICSOM:

Board members of symphony orchestras should be well acquainted with the necessity of growth. They are, for the most part, people with a record of success in business and finance. In that world, it would be unthinkable to accept a business model in which growth has no place. It would be equally ludicrous for a for-profit employer to assume that it can keep labor costs flat, year after year after year.

Full article here.

The Komische Oper has announced the death, at 47, of Stella Doufexis after a long illness.

Of Greek origin, Stella sang in the German premieres of Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong and the Philip Glass/Doris Lessing Planet 8. She sang in several major European houses and festivals, including Wigmore Hall.

Stella was married to the composer Christian Jost.

We hear that Carlos Kalmar is leaving the orchestra of RTVE with immediate effect after ferocious disagreements with some of its sections.

He will be replaced as music director by Miguel Angel Gomes Martinez, one of his predecessors.

Kalmar is also music director in Oregon.

Musicians of the Quebec Symphony, Canada’s oldest orchestra, are back at work within 36 hours of being locked out. Apparently, the employer acknowledged the absurdity of their action and the musicians accepted a tiny rise on already minuscule pay, amounting to 0.25 percent.

Commonsense prevailed, but no-one’s happy. Report here (in French).