Quin Ballardie stays in control, but violist Lawrence Power becomes artistic director from next season. A small step for an orchestra that sometimes feels it’s from another era. Press release below.

From Quintin Ballardie, ECO

“In 1960 I founded, with my friend Dr Ursula Strebi, the English Chamber Orchestra as it is today.  I am very pleased to announce the exciting news that my colleague Lawrence Power, surely now one of the foremost violists and musicians in the world, has graciously accepted to become the Artistic Director of our English Chamber Orchestra Charitable Trust.  It goes without saying that when I announced this to our, all important colleagues in the Orchestra they were equally thrilled. We all wish him every success in his many and varied future activities with the Orchestra”.

Quintin Ballardie OBE FRAM, Managing Director

Lawrence Power writes

 “ I am delighted to have been appointed Artistic Director of The English Chamber Orchestra Charitable Trust from the 2016/17 season. It is well known that this is an orchestra with an extraordinary heritage having performed and recorded with many of the most important musicians and composers of our time from Benjamin Britten onwards. It will be an honour to continue this tradition while also developing new, exciting projects and artistic partnerships. 
I am very grateful to Kings Place for their support to me in developing my first London series with the ECO at this special and innovative venue. Joining the orchestra and myself in the 2016/17 season will be some of the most interesting artists performing today – pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias, violinists Vilde Frang, Anthony Marwood and  Daniel Hope, tenor Mark Padmore, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and trumpeter Alison Balsom. 

I’m incredibly fortunate as a musician to have a diverse career that allows me to perform as soloist with orchestra, collaborate in chamber music and also to work closely with composers. I’m very excited to be able to combine these three elements as Artistic Director of the ECO.  Certainly there will be chamber music in each programme, something that is at the very essence of this special orchestra. I also very much look forward to working closely with composers, again something that is at the heart of the orchestra’s history. To begin with in my opening season,  following the recent loss of one our most important and beloved composers, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, there will be a concert to celebrate his life and music, which will be presented by Tom Service. I’m honoured that we will be joined by composers Oliver Knussen, Thomas Larcher, James Macmillan, Sally Beamish, David and Colin Matthews with some new pieces especially written for the occasion. 

The ECO also has a tradition of championing young talent and I’m delighted to continue this in a new partnership with the Royal Academy of Music. This close association will support the endeavour of the Academy to keep the walls between music education and the profession as porous as possible while making it possible for ECO to mentor and nurture emerging young players as they approach the end of their studies and embark on performing careers. 

Finally I would like to thank Quintin Ballardie and the ECO Charitable Trust for all their help and advice. The ECO has been at the forefront of music making all over the world for the last 56 years and the responsibility to continue this incredible tradition is something I take very seriously.

News media are reporting that the green candidate Alexander Van Der Bellen is the new president, defeating Norbert Hofer in the count of postal votes. But was a close-run thing.

Austria cannot go back to business as usual.

not totally green, then…

Message just in from the Concertgebouworkest PR, an infrequent communicant:

!Contact.Engelse_Aanhef_brief__c},

Attached you will find the press release about the fact that Unesco has granted patronage to RCO meets Europe.  

Kind regards,

What’s wrong with this?

1 It assumes that we know (or care) about RCO meets Europe.

2 It assumes we don’t know (or care) that Unesco is a discredited bureaucracy of no cultural merit.

3 It does nothing to persuade anyone of sound mind to open the attachment.

Binned.

Must be time for another list of world’s worst classical PRs. Any new nominations?

After deliberating for months over the rival merits of Clemens Flämig of Dresden and Markus Teutschbein from Basel, the process was stopped this morning and both candidates were told they had failed.

Instead, the city will now instal interim cantor Gotthold Schwarz, a local man, in the position once held by J S Bach.

Photo (c) Matthias_Knoch

Several members of the Pittsburgh Symphony are giving up one of their two days off in a gruelling fortnight’s tour to play a concert of music by composers persecuted and killed by the Nazis.

The May 22 concert at the Theresienstadt (Terezin) camp will consist of works by Schulhoff, Ullmann and Korngold.

Up to 50 members of the orchestra are expected to attend. Details here.

The Clarion Quartet of the PSO: Tatjana Mead Chamis, Jennifer Orchard, Marta Krechkovsky, Bronwyn Banerdt
PHOTO BY JIM JUDKIS

The UK cultural industry has published a list of 282 arts figures who want Britain to remain in the EU.

Not one classical personality was approached.

No composer. No conductor. No soloist. No orchestra. No singer.

That’s what the arts business thinks of classical music. (Makes you want to vote Brexit?)

List below.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Actor
Abi Morgan, Writer
Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Artists
Adrian Scarborough, Actor
Akram Khan Dancer, choreographer
Alexandra Shulman, OBE Editor-in-chief, British Vogue
Alfonso Cuarón Director, screenwriter, producer
Alistair Spalding, CBE Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Sadler’s Wells
Allie Esiri Poetry anthologist, director of iLiterature
Allon Zloof Creative Director, Tom Smarte London
Alt J (Gus Unger-Hamilton, Joe Newman, Thom Green), Musicians
Amahra Spence*, Director of MAIA Creatives
Amanda Levete, Architect
Amanda Nevill*, CEO, The British Film Institute
Andrew Hurst, Chief Executive One Dance UK
Andrew Kötting, Artist
Andy Harries, Producer / Chief Executive, Left Bank Pictures
Anna Maxwell Martin, Actor
Anna Schmitz, Executive Producer of Told By An Idiot
Annoushka Ducas MBE, Jewellery designer and entrepreneur
Anoushka Shankar, Musician
Anthony Burrill, Designer
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Actor
Arlene Phillips, CBE Choreographer
Asif Kapadia Filmmaker
Baroness Oona King*, Channel 4 Diversity Executive
Bella Freud, Designer
Ben Evans, Director of the London Design Festival
Ben Harris, Publicist / Founder Run Music
Ben Rivers, Artist
Benedict Cumberbatch CBE, Actor
Benjamin Caron, Director
Bill Nighy, Actor
Bob and Roberta Smith, Artist
Brian Blessed, Actor
Bridget Floyer, Independent Producer
Bryony Gordon, Writer
Caro Newling, President of the Society of London Theatre
Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate
Carol Main MBE, Director, Live Music Now Scotland/International Development (UK)
Caroline Skinner, Executive producer
Carrie Cracknell, Theatre director
Charles Finch, CEO, Finch and Partners
Charles Saumarez Smith, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts
Charlotte Mendelson, Novelist
Chiwetel Ejiofor CBE, Actor
Chris Dercon, Director of Tate Modern
Chris Jackson, Author
Christine Molloy, Director
Christopher Wright, Actor
Cornelia Parker, Artist
Dame Harriet Walter, Actor
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, DBE FRSL Writer
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Actress
Dame Marina Warner, Writer
Dame Pippa Harris DBE, Film and TV producer
Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE, Fashion designer and activist
Daniel Fletcher, Menswear designer
Daniel Rubin, Executive Chairman, The Dune Group
Danny Boyle, Director
Dave Haslam, DJ and Author
Dave Price, Composer
David Adjaye, Architect
David Arnold, Film composer
David Batchelor, Artist
David Heyman, Producer
David Joseph, CBE Chairman and Chief Executive of Universal Music UK
David Jubb*, Artistic Director & CEO of Battersea Arts Centre
David Lan, Artistic director of the Young Vic
David Morrissey, Actor
David Oyelowo OBE, Actor
David Puttnam, Film producer
David Sproxton CBE, Executive Chairman, Aardman Animations studio
David Yates, Film director
Deborah Bull*, Assistant Principal (London) King’s College London
Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive of the Design Business Association
Declan Donnellan, Artistic Director, Cheek by Jowl
Dominic Cooke CBE, Director
Dominic West, Actor
Douglas Gordon, Artist
Dr. Sandie Shaw Chair, Featured Artist Coalition
Ed Simons, Musician
Eddie Izzard, Comedian
Edie Campbell, Model
Editors, Musicians
Edward Hall, Artistic Director Hampstead Theatre
Elizabeth Karlsen, Producer and co-founder of Number 9 Films
Elizabeth Price, Artist
Emily Eavis, Co-organiser of the Glastonbury Festival
Eric Fellner, Co-Chairman, Working Title Films
Fabrizio Zappaterra, Chairman, Temperley London, and Director, Hunter Boot Limited
Felix Barrett, Founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk
Fergus Linehan*, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival
Francesca Hayward, Ballet Dancer
Franz Ferdinand (Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy, Nick McCarthy, Paul Thomson), Musicians
Gail Rebuck, British Publisher, Chair of Penguin Random House UK
Gary Hume, Artist
Gavin Turk, Artist
Geoff Dyer, Author
Geoff Travis, Rough Trade Founder and co-Managing Director Rough Trade Records
George Longly, Artist
George Want, Directr
Glenn Brown, Artist
Greg Hilty, Director, Lisson Gallery
Hannah Pescod, Producer and co-founder, Bandstand Productions
Hans Ulrich Obrist*, Curator, Artistic Director at the Serpentine Galleries, London
Heidi Thomas, Writer
Helena Bonham Carter, Actor
Heydon Prowse, Satirist
Hot Chip, Musicians
Howard Davies, Director
Hussein Chalayan Designer
Iain Archer, Producer / songwriter/ artist and visiting Professor, Leeds College of Music
Ian Livingstone CBE, Video Games Entrepreneur and Author
Ian McEwan, Novelist and screenwriter
Ilan Eshkeri, Composer
Ilse Crawford, Founder and Principal of Studioilse
Imran Amed, Founder and CEO The Business of Fashion
Jack Thorne, Writer
James Capper, Sculptor
James Daunt Founder, Daunt Books
Jamie Bell, Actor
Jamie Byng, CEO of Canongate Books and founder of Letters Live and World Book Night
Jamie Lloyd, Director and producer, founder of The Jamie Lloyd Company
Jamie MacColl, Musician, Bombay Bicycle Club
Jarvis Cocker, Musician & broadcaster
Jason Watkins, Actor
Jatinder Verma, Artistic Director, Tara Arts
Jay Jopling, Founder of White Cube
Jeff McMillan, Artist
Jefferson Hack, CEO & Co-Founder, Dazed Media
Jenny Agutter, OBE Actor
Jeremy Deller, Artist
Jess Search, Chief Executive BRITDOC
Jessie Ware, Artist
Jo Brand, Comedian
Joanna Hogg, Director
Joe Murphy, Artistic director, Good Chance Theatre
Joe Robertson, Artistic director, Good Chance Theatre
Joe Wright, Director
John Kampfner, CEO, Creative Industries Federation
John le Carré, Author
John Madden, Director
John Pawson, Designer
Jolyon Rubinstein, Satirist
Jonathan Reekie, CBE*, Director of Somerset House Trust
Joseph Mount (Metronomy), Musician
Joseph Richardson, Actor, Musician and Puppeteer
Josh Berger CBE*, President and Managing Director, Warner Bros UK and Ireland, and Chairman of the British Film Institute
Jude Kelly CBE*, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
Jude Law, Actor
Juliet Stevenson, Actor
June Sarpong, MBE Broadcaster, campaigner
Kanya King, MBE Founder and CEO of the MOBO Organisation
Kate Mosse, Novelist and playwright
Kate Unsworth, Founder and CEO VINAYA
Katharine Hamnett, Fashion designer
Kathy Lette, Author
Katie Mitchell, Director
Katie Moore, Actor
Keira Knightley, Actor
Keith Milow, Artist
Kelly Hoppen MBE, Interior designer, author and entrepreneur
Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp, OBE Chief Executive, The Place
Kerry Hudson, Author
Kevin Macdonald, Director
Kevin O’Hare* Director, The Royal Ballet
Kit Neale, Fashion designer
Koo Jeong, Artist
Laura Bailey Model, writer, Contributing Editor; British Vogue
Laura Wade, Playwright
Laura Wright, Singer
Lee Hall, Dramatist
Lisa-Marie Hoctor, Performer and Co-Artistic Director of Mighty Heart Theatre Company
Louisa Hutton, Artist
Marcus Davey OBE, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, The Roundhouse
Martha Freud, Artist
Martin Parr, Photographer/curator
Mary Swan, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Proteus
Mat Whitecross, Director
Matthew Baker, Head of acquisitions, HanWay Films
Matthew Hale, Artist
Matthew Herbert, Musician
Meike Ziervogel, Publisher at Peirene Press
Michael Craig-Martin, Artist
Michael Frayn, Writer
Michael Mack, Publisher
Michael Morpurgo, Author
Michael Morris and James Lingwood, Co-Directors, Artangel
Michael Winterbottom, Director
Mike Leigh OBE, Writer and director
Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, Co-founders of Belarus Free Theatre
Nicholas Hytner, Director
Nick Dear, Playwright
Nick Ormerod, Artistic Director, Cheek by Jowl
Nicolai Schumann, Founding Director, Alice’s Pig
Nicolas Brown, Producer
Nicolas Kent, Director/producer; ex- Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre
Nicole Farhi, Sculptor
Nigel Carrington*, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London
Nik Powell, Producer
Nina Gold, Casting Director
Nitin Sawhney, Musician
Noel Clarke, Actor, director, writer
Noel Qualter, Producer/writer, Cineman Films
Ol Parker, Screenwriter and Director
Orlando von Einsiedel, Director
Paloma Faith, Artist
Patricia Rodriguez and Merce Ribot, Little Soldier Productions
Patrick Grant, Designer
Paul Hosking, Artist
Paul Roseby, National Youth Theatre, director
Paul Williams OBE, Director, Stanton Williams
Pawel Pawlikowski, Director
Pete Czernin, Producer, Blueprint Pictures
Peter Florence, MBE Director, Hay Festival
Peter Morgan, Writer
Peter Rice, Sound Design
Peter Strickland, Director
Philip Pullman, Writer
Polly Stenham, Writer
Professor Eyal Weizman, Architect and Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Director of the Centre for Research Architecture
Professor Jonathan Shalit, OBE Chairman, ROAR Group
Professor Tom Inns*, Director of the Glasgow School of Art
Rhodri Meilir, Actor
Richard Curtis, Writer and Director
Richard Gregory, Artistic Director of Quarantine
Richard Rogers, Architect
Richard Wentworth, Artist
Robert Montgomery, Artist and Poet
Ron Arad, Designer
Amir Amor and Piers Aggett (Rudimental), Musicians
Russ Shaw, Founder, Tech London Advocates
Sabrina Guinness, Producer
Sally Wainwright Writer, Director and Executive Producer
Sam Taylor-Johnson, OBE Film Maker, Artist
Sam Thorne Director, Nottingham Contemporary
Samuel Hodges, Director/CEO of Nuffield Theatre, Southampton
Samuel West, Actor
Sandi Toksvig OBE, Founder of the Women’s Equality Party, author, comedian and presenter
Sara and Leonie Lowri, The Eggs Collective
Sarah Solemani, Actress and writer
Saul Dibb, Director
Shaun McDowell, Artist
Shirazeh Houshiary, Artist
Simon Patterson, Artist
Simon Stephens, Writer
Sir Anish Kapoor, Sculptor
Sir David Chipperfield, CBE RA RDI RIBA Architect
Sir Derek Jacobi CBE, Actor
Sir John Hurt CBE, Actor
Sir John Sorrell CBE, Chairman of Creative Industries Federation
Sir Matthew Bourne, Artistic Director, New Adventures
Sir Patrick Stewart, Actor and activist
Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE, Playwright and screenwriter
Sonia Friedman, Producer
Sophie Fiennes, Director, producer
Sophie Okonedo, Actor
Stephen Daldry CBE, Director and Producer
Stephen Frears, Director
Stephen Woolley, Producer, director
Steve Coogan, Actor, Producer, Writer
Steve McQueen, Artist
Susannah Tresilian, Theatre director and founder of Ariadne
Tacita Dean, Artist
Tara Robinson, Artistic Director of The Conker Groups
Thandie Newton, Actress
Thea Sharrock, Director
Thomas Heatherwick, Designer
Tim Bevan, Co-chairman, Working Title Films
Tim Pigott-Smith, Actor, director, writer
Tom Geens, Director
Tom Harper, Director
Tom Hooper, Director
Tommy Franzén, Dancer
Tony Bevan, Artist
Tracey Emin, Artist
Tracey Seaward, Producer
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, London
Vicky Ireland, MBE Vice Chair of Action for Children’s Arts
Wayne McGregor, CBE, Choreographer and founder of Studio Wayne McGregor
WIlliam Nicholson, OBE, Writer
Wolfgang Tillmans, RA Artist
Yana Peel*, CEO of the Serpentine Galleries

*These people have agreed to sign the letter in a personal capacity.

The veteran English mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer ‘has been advised on medical grounds’ not to take part in the forthcoming production of Jenufa’.

The role of Grandmother Buryja will be played by Valerie Reid.

The conviction of Siegfried Mauser for sexual assault of two female colleagues is yielding consequences beyond the courtroom, where Mauser still has the right of appeal.

The Salzburg Mozarteum is reported to be seeking a new rector to replace Mauser, whom the Munich judge designated ‘a groper’.

The city of Salzburg is also considering a postponement of the next music biennale, of which Mauser has been artistic director.

Details here.

The Landestheater Salzburg has given the world premiere of Max Brand’s Stormy Interlude, conducted by its music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

Brand, whose Maschinist Hopkins was one of the great operatic hits of the Weimar era, was forced into exile and prolonged oblivion by the Nazi regime.

Stormy Interlude, a piece of social realism about a bored adolescent girl, was composed in 1955 and subsequently lost.

The revival appears to have been a popular success. First review here.

photo © Anna-Maria Löffelberger

This may be a first. (It may also be a last.)

The most famous living Armenian has been flashing images of herself and husband Kanye West at Sofia Coppola’s debut as an opera director in Rome this weekend.

More pics and video here.

The conductor has written an affecting memoir of his life history with his fellow-Argentine pianist.

I’ve known Martha Argerich since 1949. There was a house in Buenos Aires, owned by a former violinist and businessman, where chamber music was played every Friday. All the great musicians who came to Argentina – Adolph Busch, Igor Markevitch, Sergiu Celibidache – could be found there. That’s where I first met Martha. I was seven, she was eight. We played together underneath the piano…. There is hardly anyone I have known for so long.

Read on here (auf Deutsch).

That’s music director Theodore Kuchar on leaving the Fresno Philharmonic after 15 hectic years.

The orchestra president says: ‘It is fair to say that the relationship between music director and exec director in professional symphony orchestras is a complex one. Both the music director and executive director are charged with making the organization successful and fulfilling its mission in a financially sustainable way. For an organization to be successful, it absolutely has to be a partnership. That’s absolutely true.”

Read the full breakdown article here. They should teach these things in music school.