Having brought the musicians to their knees under threat of closure, the Fort Worth Symphony now says it won’t enforce the wage cuts it extracted.
That’s a relief for the musicians. Their families can still eat. But the longterm future looks bleak in Fort Worth.
Report here.
When all is done and dusted, there is only one question to ask about the appointment of a new music director at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Simply this: If this was the last concert of your life, who would you get to conduct it?
Very few would come up with the name that the New York Phil put yesterday in the frame.
Yet New York City has the world’s biggest and richest classical audience. It is New York, New York, for heaven’s sake. Why must it always settle for less than the best?
Here’s a list of is music directors in modern times:
1909-1911 Gustav Mahler
1911-1923 Josef Stransky
1922-1930 Willem Mengelberg
1928-1936 Arturo Toscanini
1936-1941 John Barbirolli
1943-1947 Artur Rodziński
1947-1949 Bruno Walter (music advisor)
1949-1950 Leopold Stokowski (co-principal conductor)
1949-1958 Dimitri Mitropoulos
1958-1969 Leonard Bernstein
1969-1970 George Szell
1971-1977 Pierre Boulez
1978-1991 Zubin Mehta
1991-2002 Kurt Masur
2002-2009 Lorin Maazel
2009–2017 Alan Gilbert
2017 Jaap van Zweden
It goes, more or less, hit – miss – hit – hit- miss – miss – dunno.
Then Mitropolous, Bernstein, Boulez. After which, it has been almost consistently miss. Why is that?
In past times, the music director would be chosen by the manager and endorsed by the board. Latterly, the players are told they get to choose the music director. But that’s an illusion. The manager (now known as president) takes care to present the players with a carefully censored selection of guest conductors, the ones he is confident that he can personally manage. Blockbuster names and rising talent do not get on the list.
And the board has a lot to say in this. They don’t want a maestro of ambition, a man (let alone a woman) who might cause turbulence. They want a manageable investment.That’s why the New York Philharmonic gets the music directors it does. The ones it deserves.
Jaap Van Zweden has his supporters – you can read their comments on Slipped Disc – but he’s far from being a first choice, either on track record or even on the manager’s shortlist. He’s another miss.
Amsterdam police forced their way into an opera singer’s apartment after complaints from neighbours of a possible assault. The male singer, unnamed, was found singing along in headphones to a recording.
The incident on Tuesday, in the Zuid-Buitenveldert district of the city, was reported by the police with a photo on their Facebook page.
The singer was not named.
Perhaps he’d like to out himself on Slipped Disc? No pressure. Could happen to any of us.
Police report:
Nachtelijke nachtegaal !
Dinsdag 26 januari 2016, nog vroeg in de nacht, kregen de collega’s een melding van huiselijk geweld. De melder hoort een angstaanjagend gegil uit de woning. Ter plaatse horen de collega’s ook gegil uit de woning en trappen de deur in. Op dat moment komt de bewoner naar de deur. Hij blijkt alleen in de woning te zijn. De bewoner was lekker muziek aan het luisteren met een koptelefoon op en was mee aan het zingen met een opera. Zowel de collega’s als de melders (bezorgde buren) en de bewoner hebben erg om het voorval kunnen lachen. Uiteraard is de bewoner verwezen naar juridische zaken.
It’s hall happening on Wigmore Street this week.
Reading backwards, on Friday night a pianist of advanced years will make his belated debut. Simon Rattle, the name is. There has been a late programme change here.
Thursday evening, the guvnor John Gilhooly will go live online to break the new season, including – for the first time – live streaming.
And more. Twice as many £5 tickets for under-35s. Apparently, parts of the Wigmore Hall have undergone a demographic metamorphosis.
A woman composer in residence.
Cecilia Bartoli.
Brigitte Fassbender.
An Igor Levitt Beethoven cycle.
Mahan Esfahani doing the complete Bach over five years.
Debuts by Barbara Hannigan and Emmanuelle Haïm.
The Wigmore just carries on reinventing itself. Don’t miss the launch.
Selections from the press release below.
Artistic Director, John Gilhooly doubles the number of £5 tickets for under 35s for 2016/17 Wigmore Hall season announced today
Doubling of number of £5 tickets offered to under 35s
New digital capability of Wigmore Hall further extended internationally with new partnership with medici.tv
Helen Grime becomes Wigmore Hall’s first female Composer in Residence
Major artist residencies and series from trumpeter Alison Balsom, pianists Angela Hewitt, Igor Levit & Francesco Piemontesi; violinists Janine Jansen & Patricia Kopatchinskaja; harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and Takács Quartet
Vibrant Early Music & Baroque Series includes Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen as first Baroque Ensemble in Residence, plus performances by Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Les Arts Florissants, Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Poème Harmonique, The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, La Venexiana, Vox Luminis
Major contemporary music with Thomas Adès Day ‘Arcadiana’, Ensemble 360: Music in the Round weekend and 52 major premieres including 25 world premieres of Wigmore Hall co-commissions
Return concerts for Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Sir András Schiff, and Violeta Urmana
Masterclasses by Brigitte Fassbaender and Sir András Schiff
Wigmore debut recitals from René Pape and Barbara Hannigan. Emmanuelle Haïm makes her debut as a conductor
Christian McBride returns and celebrated pianist Vijay Iyer becomes Jazz Artist in Residence
Schubert: The Complete Songs continues with outstanding and compelling visions of the composer’s late song-cycles, as well as the songs in English as part of Wigmore Hall’s Learning programme
Wigmore Hall’s rich legacy of great performances, artistic revelations and creative daring is set to grow throughout the 2016/17 season. The Hall’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director John Gilhooly was last Sunday named as one of Britain’s 500 most influential people in Debrett’s 2016 People of Today list, published in The Sunday Times. He announces his bold new 2016/17 programme on Thursday 28 January, shortly before a performance given by an ensemble of remarkable young artists. The season launch and subsequent concert is the first event to be streamed live from Wigmore Hall, inaugurating an online series designed to broaden international access to Europe’s leading venue for chamber music, early music and song. It was also announced that Wigmore Hall’s 115th Anniversary Gala Concerts on 31 May, 1 & 2 June 2016 will be streamed live in partnership with medici.tv.
Wigmore Hall now attracts capacity audiences to many of its 488 concerts each year,’ observes John Gilhooly. ‘We want to share the experience of great music-making with the greatest possible number of people. This is why we created a world-class digital studio as part of our £2.1 million building infrastructure upgrade last year. I am also delighted to announce that, as a result of its overwhelming success, we will increase our £5 ticket scheme for Under-35s from 10,000 tickets this season to 20,000 tickets in 2016/17. Our digital capability and work to attract new and younger audiences belong to the Hall’s vitally important investment in its future.’
Wigmore Hall’s complete survey of Schubert’s 600-plus songs, launched in September 2015 and presented in partnership with Austria’s Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and Hohenems festival, unfolds with 20 concerts across the new season. The series offers the chance to hear many of the world’s finest Schubert interpreters and a carefully chosen group of exceptional young talent. This season’s roster of distinguished Schubertians – singers and pianists – includes Florian Boesch, Robert Holl, Graham Johnson, Simon Keenlyside,Elisabeth Kulman, Stephan Loges, Malcolm Martineau, Georg Nigl, Mauro Peter, Christoph Prégardien, Anna Lucia Richter, Dorothea Röschmann, Markus Schäfer, Sir András Schiff, Violeta Urmana and Elizabeth Watts. The series contains complete performances ofWinterreise with Matthew Rose and Gary Matthewman (15 February), Die schöne Müllerin with Henk Neven and Imogen Cooper (11 April), and Schwanengesang with Ian Bostridge and Lars Vogt (10 May). The song-cycles can also be heard in new English translations by Jeremy Sams, performed under the umbrella of Wigmore Hall’s Learning programme by Toby Spence, Roderick Williams, Sir John Tomlinson and Christopher Glynn.
Several substantial new series come to Wigmore Hall in 2016/17. Igor Levit starts his first complete survey of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in a major concert hall, comprising a total of eight concerts. Beethoven Cycle: Igor Levit opens on 28 September with four works, including the early Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2 No. 1 and the dramatic ‘Waldstein’ Sonata. Takács Quartet: Beethoven String Quartet Cycle presents a prominent platform for Wigmore Hall’s internationally acclaimed Associate Artists to explore some of the greatest works in the chamber music canon. The Takács Quartet’s series starts on 3 February 2017 and unfolds with five further concerts. Angela Hewitt: The Bach Odyssey, devised by John Gilhooly to run over several seasons, starts on 25 September and continues on 20 January and 10 June. The divinely-inspired composer’s keyboard fantasies, inventions and sinfonias provide the creative launch pad for this landmark series, which will grow in 2016/17 to include a complete survey of the French Suites. Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, also at John’s request, begins a long-term survey of Bach’s keyboard works on 21 December with theGoldberg Variations.
Good vibes coming in from the philharmonic orchestra of Radio France.
Mikko Franck, their music director, has come down with flu.
There’s an all-star cast lined up for Saturday’s concert performance of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt – take a look here.
Orchestra and cast were offered a replacement conductor, called in at short notice. They replied: we want Marzena.
Marzena Diakun, 34, from Wroclaw, Poland, has been Mikko’s assistant conductor for just four months. She’s quickly making an impression as more than an assistant. This is the second time she’s replacing Mikko.
Bookmark that name.
Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony from 1985 to 2010, has posted this assessment of his former music director, announced today as next chief of the New York Phil:
Jaap belongs to few conductors that I have met during my 40 years as an orchestra musician, 39 of which as Concertmaster I met only a handful who had ” their sound” Jaap had it.This talent became obvious during our first rehearsal with him. The very first note revealed that immediately. It was focused, hot and very muscular!!
The transformational effect of his conducting remained through the program and in many subsequent concerts.
The orchestra recognized it and chose him to be their Music Director. and now almost a decade later the New York Philharmonic made the same choice. Good for them and good for the NY audience. I think he may be one of the most effective conductors they have ever had.
And Caleb Young, cover conductor at St Louis Symphony, writes:
The rumors I have been hearing have been confirmed this morning, Jaap has risen to the top and will be going to the Big Apple. Being a young conductor I have followed the Maestro’s career and have always been fascinated by his work.
When my significant other won a position with DSO last year I was fortunate enough to see the Maestro work on a very regular basis. I have to admit; I’ve been damned impressed. From his Brahms to Bruckner, the level of artistry in Dallas is of the highest level. For the record, his Bruckner 4 was the finest I’ve ever heard. She reports of determined and focused rehearsals, but this intensity is born from the music and his high standards. I have also spent some personal time with the Maestro at DSO “functions” and I’ve only found him warm and receptive. (And short for the record…) His mingles well, sharply dressed, usually in a blue suit.
I have covered and worked with some of the finest conductors around, and I promise, Jaap can hold his own. Recently with unnamed major US orchestra, I’ve had many conversations with players and admin who admire Jaap’s work and consider him the highest of talents. He might not have the breadth of repertoire when it comes to new music, such as Alsop or Gilbert, but he is interested and capable.
I for one am excited to see where Maestro van Zweden will steer this ship in New York. There were many options, but I feel this is a positive change of guard. All may not like his methods, but I know he is deeply respected for what he brings to the table musically… The big D has big shoes to fill.
The winner of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2017 has just been announced.
It’s the excellent Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. He gets to perform a couple of concerts in Copenhagen next January and goes home with DKK600,000, which he can change at the airport for EUR80,000, or US$125,000.
The citation says: ‘Leonidas Kavakos is one of the most expressive violinists you can hear today. He interprets the masterpieces for violin from Bach and Mozart to the classics of the 20th century with authority and with profound musical understanding. His strong personality, virtuosity and the honest, direct nature of his playing mark him out as an artist of rare calibre.’
Five reasons the NY Phil got the wrong man.
1 Take a look at these names: Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Jurowski, Kirill Petrenko, Paavo Järvi, Daniele Gatti, Andris Nelsons, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding. All these outstanding interpreters were considered last year (some briefly) by the Berlin Philharmonic. None was invited to audition at the New York Phil. The NY choice was made from a shortlist of three. Too short a list and with the wrong names on it.
2 Consider these names: Simone Young, Marin Alsop, Susanna Mälkki, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Alodra de la Parra. Yes, women who are excellent conductors. It’s 2016. Not one came into the reckoning at the redneck New York Phil. That’s half the human race written out of the orchestra’s future.
3 And let’s not begin to ask about ethnic minorities. A decade ago the NY Phil tried to poach Gustavo Dudamel from Los Angeles. That’s the closest they’ve got to departing from an all-white script in a multicultural city (unless Gilbert counts as half-Japanese)*.
4 Jaap Van Zweden’s career up to this point has been almost as modest as Alan Gilbert’s. Zweden started out at 18 as concertmaster of the Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam. When he took up conducting in his mid-thirties, he found jobs with Dutch orchestras and stuck with them for a decade. His first international position was with Dallas, in 2008. Since then, he has added the Hong Kong Phil to his portfolio. He has not come into the reckoning with any of the major European orchestras, not even with the Concertgebouw when they were on the prowl in the last two years. He was not, in a word, a contender. Except at the NY Phil.
5 His record at Dallas – where he earns $1.5 million – has been bumpy. Players complained of being browbeaten in rehearsals. The orchestra overspent heavily on his programs, coming to within three months of insolvency. A European tour was abruptly cancelled. Van Zweden is not an easy working partner, nor always an effective one. He is also a full league below the calibre that New York expects of its music directors. This can only go bad.
UPDATE: For balance, here’s a different view.
*FOOTNOTE: UPDATE: Someone say Zubin Mehta? That was half a lifetime ago (and he was the wrong choice, too).
The orchestra has named Jaap van Zweden, 55, as its next music director.
A Dutchman, van Zweden is presently music music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
A maestro of modest accomplishments, few would consider him among the foremost in his profession.
Few, except the ever-unready New York Philharmonic.
His appointment was announced at 9 am today by the Philharmonic’s president, Matthew Van Besien. The New York Times was briefed ahead of the rest of world media.
Van Zweden will succeed Alan Gilbert in 2018, cutting back his stay in Dallas by a year.
UPDATE: Why New York got it so wrong. Read here.
Like this.
We’re hearing that Wiesbaden will announce its new GMD this week. The name in the frame is apparently Patrick Lange.
Patrick, who is 35, is a former Abbado assistant at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. He has worked at the Komische Oper, Berlin, since 2010.
An inquest at West London Coroner’s Court has heard details of the sad life and tragic death of Anne Naysmith, who was reduced to sleeping rough after a promising recital career came to a halt.
The coroner, ruling that Anne had been accidentally crushed to death by a lorry travelling at below 10mph, said ‘She was very bent, meaning her vision was the line of the ground. She always dressed in black and moved very slowly.’
Report and video here.
