For this weekend’s performance of Schubert’s Great C major symphony, Zubin Mehta decided to rearrange the seating of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons were brought forward to sit around the concertmaster’s seat, at the conductor’s left hand, to accentuate their prominence in the work.

Apparently, it sounded terrific.

Anyone else tried this?

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Zachery Camhi, 23, was last seen walking out of the East Side New York hotel on Lexington Avenue a week ago. he’s a music student at Boston University and a gifted double-bass player who is a Tanglewood alumnus.

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A Find Zachery Camhi site has been launched.

zachery-camhi

Please share on social media.

Rampaging AskonasHolt say they have captured the Scottish violinist.

Nicola has been with boutique manager Charlotte Lee from the start of her career.

Charlotte broke away from IMG last year with a clutch of violinists – Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell and Benedetti – and other artists. We hear Charlotte will continue to manage her in North and South America, although AH disguise this in their announcement.

The part of Nicola that has moved is her Europe and Asia management, which used to be with Elaine Armstrong of Emblem Artists. The main bit stays with Charlotte.

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Nicola and Charlotte, a few weeks ago.

AskonasHolt have issued a crowing press release:

Violinist Nicola Benedetti joins Askonas Holt for general management

Askonas Holt is delighted to welcome acclaimed Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti to its artist roster for general management.

Nicola is a leading violinist of her generation and works with many of the world’s most renowned orchestras and conductors. On Friday 23 September Nicola opened the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2016/17 season with Principal Conductor Vladamir Jurowski. Nicola and Askonas Holt are excited to be starting working together in a season which includes debuts with Gustavo Dudamel in Venezuela and Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. Further highlights include performances with the Israel Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Toronto Symphony amongst many others. This season will also see the continuation of the premiere performance circuit of the Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto written for Nicola with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. 

Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music) and her most recent recording of Shostakovich & Glazunov Violin Concertos has been met with critical acclaim. Richard Morrison of The Times maintains that, ‘This riveting performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto is Nicola Benedetti’s best recording to date.’

A passionate advocate for music education and for the development of young musical talent, Nicola complements her work on the concert platform with her associations with schools, music colleges and local authorities. Nicola works closely with Sistema Scotland, is an ambassador for BBC Ten Pieces and BBC Young Musician, Vice President of the National Children’s Orchestra and was recently announced as Patron of the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST). Nicola has also developed her own outreach and education initiative entitled The Benedetti Sessions that give hundreds of aspiring young string players the opportunity to rehearse, undertake and observe masterclasses culminating in a performance alongside Nicola.

Donagh Collins, Chief Executive at Askonas Holt, commented ‘We are thrilled to welcome the amazing Nicky to our family and I’m sure this will be a wonderful partnership. I’m looking forward to playing my part in the next phase of her career.’

Nicola will be managed at Askonas Holt by Rupert Chandler. Nicola joins Askonas Holt from Emblem Artists, after the relocation of her former manager Elaine Armstrong to Australia, who will continue to represent Nicola in Australia and New Zealand as Emblem focuses its specialism on the Australasian territory.

 

 

 

The obdurate administrators of the Fort Worth Symphony, determined to cut musician wages, have cancelled all concerts for October and the first week of November.

The musicians, refusing to sign a reduced contract, are on strike.

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Hard to remember that Van Cliburn called this heartless place his home.

 

 

This is  El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires.

It used to be a tango theatre.

It’s still a house of dreams.

Click here for glorious images.

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After 12 years with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Canada, Bill Eddins has decided not to renew his contract at the end of the season.

An engaging, outspoken character, Eddins will be titled emeritus music director at the relatively early age of 52.

He has also been principal guest conductor of the RTE Orchestra in Dublin and assistant to Daniel Barenboim in Berlin.

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This is the new release from Juliette Bausor, who has just joined the London Philharmonic as principal flute.

She is conducted by Jaime Martin, who used to be principal flute with the LPO before taking a different career path.

So he’s handing over the baton in more senses than one.

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Celebrity at work.

Lang Lang’s next.

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Our weekly diarist Anthea Kreston is getting the red-carpet treatment with the Artemis Quartet.

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The quartet has been awarded an ECHO Award – the European equivalent to a Grammy. It is the fourth for the Artemis – and will be my first time walking the Red Carpet.  I never anticipated that I would still be wearing dresses after age 40 which will necessitate sucking in – make my daily 22 push-ups, jump rope and jog critical.

The difference in rehearsal style these past weeks has been marked and exhilarating.  When I joined the quartet, I had three weeks to pack my family and move permanently to Berlin, as well as learning 6 new works (2 complete programs).  In addition to having intense culture shock and trying to navigate the shock of my family, the quartet itself was in shock – we had less than three weeks before we were to debut as the new formation. We were all under severe pressure – both self and other.  The world was looking, and we were all trying to rise to the occasion. Rehearsals were fast, long, and frequent. We didn’t have time to dig as deep as we wanted to – we had to rely more on instinct, flexibility, trust. If we hadn’t, we would not have made it – there was no time to indulge in a deep conversation over the sound differences in a phrase between looking back nostalgically or looking back with a tinge of regret.

This is how it has been for the first 8 months. The pace and expectations have been fast and high. But, finally we have the time to rehearse properly. It has been eye-opening, curious, and satisfying.  As I looked at the schedule a couple of weeks ago (people often ask if we rehearse standing – we are one of the few groups which performs standing – and the answer is yes – sometimes 7 hours a day), I was filled with a mixture of excitement and dread – blocks of 4 hour rehearsals were devoted to only one movement, with a duration of less than 6 minutes. Oh dear. What were we going to do?  Would we have enough to talk about (I remembered my mother telling me that she used to prepare index cards with conversation ideas before dates, and would excuse herself to the bathroom to review them during the date).  Should I prepare index cards?  Would we run out of ideas?

The answer became clear quite quickly. Day after day we failed to complete our work – a 6 minute movement proved to complex for a 4 hour rehearsal – we would add more time, work on it again for our “second and third washings”.  How were we to find a productive, organized group work model?  Who was supposed to speak next, how many ideas could be stacked on top of one another for a given phrase, how do each of us parse out and receive criticism?

One very interesting idea in this quartet is the electing of a president for each work. That person is in charge of time management, flow of rehearsal, preps the group score (making bowing suggestions, metronome markings, character ideas, then scanning and emailing to everyone before the first rehearsal) and has generally a wider grasp of knowledge about the piece than the others. After the first rehearsal of that work, the presidency disappears and democracy (or chaos?) takes over. I haven’t yet had a turn as a president, but I can’t wait.

So – because we have the time, and we all are very opinionated, the rehearsals have been animated, to say the least. Finally we are of four equal footing, and the quartet is eager to hear my thoughts. We have clashed, become closer. We have discussed ways of rehearsing, ways of speaking to one another. We have all changed – looking for the strength in one another – finding ways to become stronger together. It has sometimes been very difficult – I have regretted some of the things I have said, or the manner I which I spoke. I always strive to be my best person – and sometimes I am not my best. But I pick up, and move on – looking for a way to dig deep but inspire and get the best out of both myself and the others.

This week, we started to sound really good. Really good. A new sound has come in these recent rehearsals, and we all can hear it and feel it. Diplomacy and debate is key – trust and space to create.

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The Russian baritone, who is receiving treatment for brain cancer, made a strong start to the season in Sochi earlier this month. But he has just notified Vienna that he is too unwell to sing the title role in Verdi’s Simon Boccangera, due to run from Friday.

He will be replaced by Marco Vratogna.

We wish Dmitri a continued recovery.

hvorostovsky putin

The Konzerthausorchester in Berlin has named Yubeen Kim as its new principal flute.

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Yubeen’s quite a catch – easily the hottest contestant at last year’s flute competitions.

And only 19.

He inherits the seat vacated by Silvia Careddu, who went on to become principal of the Wiener Symphoniker and, very quickly, of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Watch that flute.

But, before it does, Norwegian composer Henning Kraggerud has rushed out a tribute aria.

The boy, Aksel Rykkvin, is 13.

In Norway, he’s bigger than Charlotte Church, Laura Bretan and Jackie Evancho put together.

Watch.