The Times published a letter this morning from Humphrey Burton about rumoured threats to the future of English National Opera. Not rumoured, actually. The Arts Council is anti-ENO, full stop.

We hear however that the Covent Garden music director is putting together a follow-up letter to try and get a Save ENO bandwaggon rolling.

 

PappanoPresident

 

Here’s Humphrey:

 

Sir, Rumours are swirling around the corridors of the British operatic world
that the chorus of English National Opera is under threat of emasculation,
perhaps even elimination, as happened a decade ago in Scotland.
 
Last Friday I attended ENO’s controversial new production of Verdi’s The
Force of Destiny. Certain aspects of the show could be criticised, but there
was universal admiration for the powerful contribution made by the chorus
under ENO’s dynamic new music director Mark Wigglesworth. Energy, power,
clarity: all were there in spades; in nearly 70 years of opera-going I’ve
never heard better choral singing.
 
I don’t think it’s going too far to argue that it would be cultural
vandalism to sacrifice ENO’s splendid chorus on the altar of economy. Such
radical proposals should be publicly discussed in advance of
decision-taking. Public opinion forced a rethink on tax credits; why not on
opera house cuts, too?
 
 
Humphrey Burton
 
Former head of music and arts at BBC Television

 

 

More than 1,000 gathered in a cold Helsinki square on the composer’s 150th.

Click on link below.

Sibeliuksen Finlandia Senaatintorilla 8.12.2015Näin upeasti Sibeliuksen Finlandia kajahti yli tuhannen laulajan voimin hetki sitten Senaatintorilla! Kansallissäveltäjämme syntymästä on tänään tasan 150 vuotta.Juttu: http://yle.fi/uutiset/8511828

 

 sibelius gallen-kalleia-drunk

Nobody wants any part of this hatemonger in their hands or on their face.

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Obituaries of Nicholas Smith, who played the floor manager Mr Rumbold in Are You Being Served, report that he wrote string quartets for a hobby. (As one does.)

And one of his proudest moments was holding open a door for Ralph Vaughan Williams.

nicholas smith

The Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, presently staging Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust at the Opéra de Paris, is at the centre of a media storm in Germany after telling Hamburg’s Thalis theatre he did not want to work in ‘a refugee welcome centre.’

In a letter published by the theatre, Hermanis went on to equate refugees with terrorists. He called the city ‘unsafe’, claimed the 9/11 attackers came from Hamburg and opined that we are now in a war in which everyone had to choose sides.

Hermanis, 50, is a capable director who has become a summer fixture in Salzburg with successive productions of Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten (2012), Birtwistle’s Gawain (2013) and Il trovatore (2014).

It is not clear what motivated his unpleasant and irrational outburst but there are now growing calls for German theatres to boycott this wayward, Baltic personality.

alvis_hermanis

Drew Carey is a nationally known TV presenter, actor and sports commentator in the US. He is among the biggest local fans of the Cleveland Browns football team, who are doing very badly this season. So he’s giving up.

‘You don’t have to support them just because they’re in Cleveland,’ he tells an interviewer.

Then Drew goes on to say: ‘Listen, you don’t want those Browns to be part of your mental state… You know, the whole ‘Cleveland is bad, the Browns are bad, Cleveland bad, I’m bad because I’m from Cleveland,’ dance. You don’t want that thing to be part of your brain. There are so many good things in Cleveland. Concentrate on the Museum (of Art) — it’s one of the best in the world. Concentrate on the Cleveland Clinic and all the great things they’re doing.

Go to the orchestra. It’s the best orchestra in the whole wide world, arguably, and it’s right in our city. Take the money you were going to spend on the Browns, take your kids, and go to the (bleeping) orchestra. Then you can have pride in your city. That’s the thing to be proud of.’

This is very good advice, indeed.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra should insert it as an advertisement in Aston Villa programmes. Likewise the Halle Orchestra.

 

manchester united fans

La Scala boss Alexander Pereira appeared before the curtain ahead of last night’s season opener to announce that the Spanish baritone Carlos Alvarez was sick with bronchitis. Devid Cecconi, making his Scala debut, stepped in as father of Giovanna d’Arco.

The Verdi opera, which had not been seen at Scala for a century and a half, went down well with Anna Netrebko in the title role. They applauded Anna for eleven minutes.

 

netrebko joan of arc

first pic from La Scala

The Royal Concertgebouw has scrambled up subs for Andris Nelsons, who is out for several weeks with a shoulder complaints. Here’s the announcement:

The concert on 11 December will be conducted by Paavo Järvi. The programme will remain unchanged: Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto featuring Baiba Skride’s first performance with the RCO, Le tombeau de Couperin and the second suite from Daphnis et Chloé – both by Ravel.

 

paavo-jarvi-rudolf-buchbinder-orchestre-de-paris-salle-pleyel_d

 

The concert performances of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin on 18 and 20 December will be conducted by Sir Mark Elder. A highly experienced Wagner conductor, the Englishman has made regular guest appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 1996.

Chopin winner Seong-Jin Cho has just been awarded his sixth platinum disc for Korean sales of his debut DG album. It’s the top-selling classic in Korea for a decade, say DG, outstripping Sumi Jo’s Missing You.

More than 40 percent of buyers from one e-tailer said they had never bought classical music before.

cho platinum

From the conductor’s site:

Andris Nelsons withdraws from his upcoming performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (December 11, 18 and 20, 2015), on Doctor’s orders, with an acute shoulder strain issue. Mr Nelsons will have complete rest from conducting duties for a number of consecutive weeks, whilst receiving a course of physiotherapy. Mr Nelsons is expected to make a full recovery, returning to the podium in January 2016.

opolais nelsons wedding

He won’t be doing any of this

CBC Canada has come up with a jolly list, and very hipster they are too.

But there are always more lurking in the wardrobe, awaiting their call to fame. Here’s Slipped Disc’s Top Ten (can be read either way up), with judging notes for extra transparency.

mahan esfahani dg

Note the matching car

yuja wang-salonen-bowl-la0018975205-20140717

Check those matching bow-ties

joyce yannick

Total Ballroom Champions of 2015

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Sweet-singing psalmist of Savile Row

sol gabetta

The cello came, too

Eschenbach_Christoph11__credit_Eric-Brissaud_

Doktor Kuhl (photo: Eric-Brissaud)

yundi new image

Collar of the Year

Mojca-Erdmann-Mozarts-Garden

Gardening Gear of the Year

renee fleming kangaroo

With matching ‘roo

 

lang lang rio

Best beach boy

We regret to share news from Dance Europe of the death last Wednesday, from a heart attack, of Bryony Brind, former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.

Bryony, who was 55, created roles for Ashton, Macmillan and David Bintley, leaving the ROH to go freelance in 1991. She was outspoken about the need for Covent Garden to attend more to developing British talent.

bryony brind