Dawn Hui is a Juilliard-trained violinist who played tutti in the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Today, she’s Asst. Professor Surgery at St Louis University Hospital.

Around Christmas time, Dawn pulls on a sweater and plays for the patients.

Watch.

 

And read more here.

 

dawn hui

The great Russian baritone will resume his treatment for brain cancer in London early in the New Year.

He has therefore cancelled Il Trovatore at the Met on February 3, 6, 9 and 13.

Dmitri will be replaced in the role of di Luna by Juan Jesús Rodríguez, making his Met debut.

dmitri hvorostovsky

In 1944 the great violinist Jascha Heifetz made a spontaneous violin-piano interpretation of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, which Decca promptly transcribed and rush-recorded with an orchestra.

Jascha, however, never wrote down his arrangement and the orchestral parts were lost.

 

Heifetz undated

Sixty years later Nate Sabat of Berklee College of Music has carefully reconstructed it for violin and piano. Enjoy.

Like the Pope in St Peter’s Square, the maestro has given his annual interview blessing to Corriere della Sera.

In in, Riccardo Muti laments the decline of the essence of Italy, its savours, its habits and its music. He has a nice way of evoking an image:

The Alps separate the world of frost and suet from the sun and the  oil. Our blood circulates differently. And the essence of our spirit is melody. Pavarotti was the greatest of the past half-century not just for voice, but because he sang with a mixture of joy and sadness that is in our nature.

Unfortunately Italy today can no longer either suffer, or smile.

 I remember the first time I went to the Bellini (Theatre). It was 1966, and Catania was filled with the scent of orange blossoms; today you smell only kebab. I owe everything to Italy. In particular, I owe it all to the South.

pavarotti muti

Minuit Chrétien, ‘O Holy Night’ is a Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the poem ‘Minuit, chrétiens’ by Placide Cappeau.

Enrico Caruso made the recording on February 23, 1916. He recorded no other seasonal novelty.

Enrico_Caruso

The never-to-be-forgotten sings about infidelity at holiday time.

The title means Happy Christmas. Full lyrics here.

barbara laptop

photo from « Barbara, photographies inédites ». Castor Astral. 35 euros

Radio France has conducted an investigation into conductors’ earnings and finds that monstrous fees are a thing of the past.

Music directors of regional orchestras receive 2500 and 8000 Euros monthly, rising to 15 000 if the conductor is of international stature.

Douglas Boyd at the Paris Chamber Orchestra, for instance, is paid 3,000 Euros per month for his role as musical director, plus 8000 Euros for each concert.

Major international maestros appearing with the Paris orchestras can still command up to 50,000 Euros a night, but the budgets are tightening and the top fee is paid less often.

Report here (en francais).

philharmoniedeparis3

This is the late conductor, fooling around for his student Brett Mitchell at Vienna Airport.

DSCN1109.JPG
photo (c) Brett Mitchell

Brett, assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, has sent us some memories of Kurt:

Nothing illustrates better the musician and human being I came to know than the time I asked him about a certain crescendo he requested of an orchestra: “Maestro, if Mozart wanted a crescendo there, why didn’t he just write one?” Masur replied, “Because if he wrote it down, you’d do it with your head instead of with your heart.” For Maestro, music was never about sharps and flats, dots and dashes; at its core, music was about communicating thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Technique was important, yes, but only insofar as it served the music; everything else was superficial.

Read Brett’s full memoir here.

The great French-Sicilian tenor has been learning Polish from his wife, Aleksandr Kurzak.

The results are impressive and beautiful. You’ll want to watch twice.

alagna kurzak

Agreement has been reached to merge the Boston Conservatory with Berklee College of Music, effective in June 2016. The merger will release millions of dollars in real-estate sales, as well as payroll cuts.

Neither of the schools is in the national top flight. Boston is also served by the variable New England Conservatory.

Report here.

berklee