Clarinettist Richie Hawley has a list.
And it’s not a short one.
Tick the behaviours that infuriate you most. Click here to read.
The music industry manager Medi Gasteiner lost her first husband Peter Girth to cancer in July 1997. They had been married for just under a year.
Medi worked as head of PR for Philips and Peter was general manager of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Medi went on to become a music manager in Frankfurt. Today we had the lovely news that she has got engaged to Dr. Alexander Rastädte, mayor of Bad Homburg / Gonzenheim.
We wish them every happiness.
Lauri Porra’s new work “Kohta” for rapper, symphony orchestra and omniwerk was premiered on Friday by the Finnish radio orchestra, conductor Dalia Stasevska.
Porra is the son of Sibelius’ granddaughter and bassist of a heavy metal band, Stratovarius.
You can watch the performance by clicking here.
Lauri Porra [r] with rapper Paperi T:
The MacArthur Fellow pianist has been talking to our pal Zsolt Bognar about what it takes to go from zero to hero on the concert stage.
Watch here:
The Mayor of Berlin Michael Mueller today unveiled a plaque reading ‘David Bowie (1947-2016) lived in this house 1976-1978’.
He added: ‘With David Bowie we are quite certain he will remain an important symbol for Berlin for years to come.’
Has London got a Bowie memorial?
It’s not one of the world’s opera destinations, but Boston Lyric are turning a 40th anniversary to good use.
Looks like they have defined a market hunk.
Press release:
Boston, MA — August 22, 2016 – Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) Stanford Calderwood General and Artistic Director Esther Nelson announced today a multi-platform, regional recognition of the robust opera and vocal music offerings in Greater Boston over the next six weeks, and debuted an online calendar that combines them all as part of the company’s “40 Days of Opera” celebration.
Inspired by BLO’s 40th season and its status as the most-enduring opera company in the city’s history, “40 Days of Opera” includes free and low-cost live events designed for audiences of all ages and all levels of familiarity, including those experiencing opera for the first time. BLO, its artistic partners, and producers and music artists across the city will be part of the celebration. In addition to live events, fresh opera-related content on partner sites and social media platforms (#40DaysOfOpera on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) will spread opera history and information to a variety of audiences. The initiative begins this week with three opera-related events at the Boston Public Library and ends with the final performance of BLO’s Carmen on October 2.
“At the heart of our mission is the belief that opera is for everyone,” Nelson said, “As the largest, oldest opera company in the region, we take seriously our position to develop future audiences for the art form and support the local organizations who produce, present and support it. It is heartening to see how many Boston-area groups are dedicated to making opera a vibrant force here.”
Among the activities during the “40 Days” event: an Opera Walking Tour of Boston from Boston by Foot; concerts and educational events at the Boston Public Library and the Boston Center for Adult Education; a weekend of film screenings of acclaimed opera productions at ArtsEmerson; a special film screening and event at the Somerville Theater; live performance events from Boston Lyric Opera, the Handel and Haydn Society,Odyssey Opera, Guerilla Opera, Opera on Tap, Cerise Jacobs’ Ouroboros Trilogy (presented by ArtsEmerson and Beth Morrison Projects), and local conservatories. An in-school performance will be coordinated with theBoston Public Schools’ Arts division. Other participating groups will share Boston-centric opera highlights and create digital events across social media platforms throughout the 40 days. Additional activities are expected to be added to the calendar.
picture caption: (L.-r.) Alex Davis, Joseph Yonaitis, Richard Wingert, Dave Ginsberg. Photo: Robert Leger
From yesterday’s Sunday Times.
Here’s the actual text:
A round robin from William Cheng, of Dartmouth College:
Dear colleagues,
I write to share news of the release of Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good (University of Michigan Press, 2016, foreword by Susan McClary). Taking aim at the elitist, antagonistic, and imperialistic dimensions of classical music scholarship and beyond, this book advocates for a care-oriented musicology—namely, for a musicology that upholds interpersonal care as a core feature (rather than merely extracurricular option) of our everyday work.
And you thought it was about understanding the history and meaning of music? How very quaint.
It’s the CD that I described as ‘the one we’ve all been waiting for’, but it’s a poor state of affairs when only one recording tops 100 weekly sales in the whole of the US on the Nielsen Soundscan rankings.
Four, five years back, one hundred sales would not have made it into the top twenty. That’s how far we have fallen.
Just for the record, the next best-selling record was Tetzlaff-Vogt Brahms sonatas. In third place was a Kevin Puts symphony, with 80-odd sales.
Toots Thielemans, the Belgian harmonica player who played the theme tune for the 1970s film Midnight Cowboy, has breathed his last.
Christened Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans, Toots was sought out by such jazz greats as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He also accompanied Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel.
He was often nominated as the greatest living Belgian.
Toots died early this morning in his sleep, aged 94.
The effulgent Italian soprano, who died this weekend at 59, sang mostly in her own language.
Here, in Rome in April 2012, she performed Richard Strauss’s immortal valediction in German.
The music company BMG has paid the BBC an unspecified sum to own and exploit theme music from shows such as Doctor Who and Wolf Hall.
This could result in popular signature tunes being attached to brands of crisps, soft drinks and motor vehicles.
It doesn’t sound good. Report here.
