America’s orchestras were originally ranked by budget, hence the term Big Five. But the money has shifted from East Coast to West. On current budget rankings, here are the new Big Five:

 

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1 Los Angeles Philharmonic                            budget $117,813,629

2 Boston Symphony                                                        $88,543,401

3 Chicago Symphony                                                      $80,482,607

4 San Francisco Symphony                                           $74,566,128

5 New York Philharmonic                                              $73,256,773

 

Of the historic Big Five, Cleveland comes in 6th with $51,303,220 and Philadephia 7th with $45,366,875.

dudamel la phil2

June 30, 11am, Brompton Cemetery. All welcome.

peter feuchtwanger funeral

Many students from abroad will wish to attend.

Rune Bergmann will become principal conductor and artistic director of the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin from September.

Bergmann, 40, was formerly kapellmeister in Augsburg, Germany.

rune bergmann

The opera has just informed us of the death of the baritone Alfred Šramek, at the age of 65.

He had been a value ensemble member since 1975 and last sang on the main stage in Tosca on April 16, 2016.

A student of Hilde Zadek and Peter Klein, he sang everything from Mozart’s Figaro to Schigolch in Lulu and was hugely popular both with the Viennese public and with his singing colleagues. He mastered more than 100 roles and sang Benoit in La Bohème more than 100 times.

Internationally, he sang in Germany, Spain and the US.

Away from the opera, he worked on his vineyards in Lanzendorf. He had struggled with cancer for eight years.

Alfred is survived by a daughter, Katharine Dorian. A second daughter predeceased him.

alfred sramek

alfred sramek2

The Argentine pianist Martha Argerich will be decorated at the 39th annual Kennedy Center Honors in December, it was announced today.

Others on the podium are the rock band the Eagles, actor Al Pacino, gospel and blues chanteuse Mavis Staples and legendary musician James Taylor.

(Martha and the Eagles? I don’t think so.)

Martha said: ‘I am deeply humbled and amazed to be one of the Kennedy Center Honorees. When I was 11-years-old in Argentina, my mother Juanita dreamed for me to study in the United States; instead we went to Europe where I started my career and where I have been living ever since. My late mother would be very proud today, and I would like to share this wonderful tribute with her.’

martha argerich

 

Speculation of an affair with the English soprano Nancy Storace, for whom he wrote the role of Susanna in Marriage of Figaro, was sparked in 1945 in a book by the musicologist Alfred Einstein and gets revived every time someone does a radio or television feature about her. As someone in Munich did this week.

Clearly there was something going on between them. Mozart wrote a Scena con Rondo for them to perform together and co-wrote an opera for her with Salieri. He was solicitous when Nancy experienced vocal troubles and adjusted Susanna’s part to make it easier for her.

They are said to have exchanged a lot of letters, which is only to be expected of a composer and singer working on a new opera. Nancy was trapped in an abusive marriage. Mozart may have aroused her interest.

But none of the letters survived. There is not a shred of evidence – not one scrap of paper – to validate rumours of an affair. Like Beethoven’s landlady knocking at the door, it’s one of those fables that cannot be disproven.

nancy storace

 

Birmingham musicians are mourning the passing of Karen O’Connor, second oboe of the CBSO during the Rattle and Oramo years and a much-loved member of the ensemble.

Karen started out as a founder-member of the orchestra of Opera North. The young Simon Rattle charmed her into coming to Birmingham.

After retiring from the CBSO, she went on to study performance psychology, working with students at Birmingham Conservatoire and helping many established professionals deal with performance anxiety and related issues.

There will be a cremation service next Friday, July 1.

KarenOConnor LisaCarpenter460

photo: Lisa Carpenter/Guardian

Playing a solo, she’d say, was like playing golf: ‘when you’ve played your shot and you walk, with lots of time to think … it’s about how you stay in the right place in your head.’

Our sad thoughts are with Karen’s family and friends.

Such a shame that the Guardian has all but given up covering county cricket and classical concerts, the two pastimes that Neville Cardus turned into essential breakfast reading.

Many non-lefties bought the Guardian for those two subjects. No longer.

neville cardus quote

UPDATE July 18: The Guardian has finally buried cricket by getting rid of chief correspondent Mike Selvey.

Mike tweets:  no longer want 50 yrs intimate knowledge of cricket, cricketers and how game is played for future coverage.(cont)

(cont) so after 31 years with them, Im leaving at end of September. Sorry.

 

Will Humburg, 59, has told Darmstadt he’s leaving in 2018.

No reason given.

His predecessor, Constantin Trinks, did the same in 2012.

will humburg

When Ronald Perelman stormed out as Carnegie Hall chairman after a breakdown of relations with its exec director, Clive Gillinson, he took with him a promised gift of $30 million, plus some reportedly unfulfilled past donations.

That left a big hole in the $125m fundraising campaign.

Today $25m was made good by Warner’s Len Blavatnik, one of Perelman’s former adversaries on the board.

Still some way to go.

Press release follows.

carnegie hall interior

 

NEW YORK, NY—Carnegie Hall today announced that, in recognition of a leading gift of $25 million from Len Blavatnik and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Hall’s first-level seating tier in its historic main auditorium will be named the Blavatnik Family First Tier from the start of its 2016–2017 season.

A Carnegie Hall trustee since 2014, Len Blavatnik has been a major supporter of Carnegie Hall for more than ten years, and a Founding Patron of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, a program created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in 2013.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation’s $25 million commitment to Carnegie Hall’s ongoing 125th Anniversary campaign will fund the continued growth of the Hall’s artistic, educational, and digital initiatives as they are expanded over the next decade. Other key supporters of this campaign include the Fund II Foundation, founded and led by Carnegie Hall Chairman Robert F. Smith, as well as trustees Beatrice Santo Domingo and Nicola Bulgari.

The newly-named Blavatnik Family First Tier in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage will be unveiled with a pre-concert celebration at Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala on Thursday, October 6, a festive evening featuring a performance by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. The tier will hold this special name and designation for the next 50 years.

Len Blavatnik said, “Carnegie Hall is the world’s premier music destination, the place where all of the finest artists have aspired to perform. It is important to me and my family that the Hall continue to thrive, bringing together artists and audiences for exceptional musical experiences and creating programs to engage and inspire the next generation of musicians and music lovers. We are proud to support Carnegie Hall as it enters its next 125 years.”

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra named Christopher Gough as its new principal horn. Chris, 25 and from Surrey, has been playing in the RSNO for the past year.

 chris gough

We are sorry to learn of the death of Harry Rabinowitz. He turned 100 in March and was due to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra once more in November.

Harry was, in his day, music director at BBC Light Entertainment and a regular at the Proms.

The first conductor of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, he also conducted the film scores for Chariots of Fire,The Remains of the Day, and The English Patient.

Rest his gentle soul.

 

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