The BBC has reported that Terry Jones, the phenomenal Monty Python comedian, has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia.

His communication has been affected and he is no longer able to give interviews.

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Jones, 74, has always been involved with other art forms. In 2012 he wrote a libretto for Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat for Covent Garden, set to music by Anne Dudley.

A review in the Abendzeitung attacks the music director for his cursory rehearsal practices. The performance of Beethoven’s Eroica was, writes Robert Braunmüller, ‘casually improvised’. Textures were cloudy, ensemble flawed. The Munich Philharmonic sounded shoddy.

Gergiev’s pianist, his pal Denis Matsuev, received a similar drubbing.

Gergiev’s rehearsal absences are well attested, but in all his years with the LSO I don’t remember London critics calling him out so frankly.

Read here.

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Not drowning but waving.

 

Numerous international artists have not been paid five months after appearing at Brisbane Baroque – according to Limelight magazine and confirmed to us by several artists.

The bilked artists include: Mahan Esfahani, Vivica Genaux, Brett Weymark, Erin Helyard, Ulrike Schneider, Carlo Vistoli, Russell Harcourt, Joao Fernandes, Owen Willetts, Keri Fuge, Kiandra Howarth, Morgan Balfour, Nicholas Tolputt, Brenton Spiteri, David Greco, Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache. No money has been seen either by any of  the ensembles including Latitude 37, Orava Quartet, Camerata of St. John’s, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Brisbane Baroque is still trading, apparently. The artists are the one who are going broke.

Beware.

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Gustavo Dudamel was due to to say a few words at the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal ceremony at the White House yesterday.

Instead, he jumped up and conducted the Marine Chamber Orchestra in what appears to be the only little symphony in their repertory – the Mozart G minor (known as the one from Amadeus).

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phone photo: Deborah Borda

Report here.

The Russian-sponsored breakaway state of Donetsk has issued its first postal stamps.

 

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The first issue marks the 125th birthday of Sergei Prokofiev, a native of the region.

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Do not be tempted to buy the stamp. It contravenes international law.

Earlier this week, we reported the ‘exemplary’ Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for the six-year deal it had struck with musicians, among other successes.

Yesterday, its chairman Louis P. Ciminelli was arrested at his home, cuffed and charged with bribery and corruption. He denies the charges.

 

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Ciminelli, a philanthropist who has given millions to the Philharmonic and to Catholic causes, is accused of having attempted to rig bids for public construction projects.

The orchestra quickly announced that the board had decided in July that he would step down as chairman after two terms. The chair has passed to the board treasurer.

Read Mary Kunz Goldman here. It’s all hopping and popping in Buffalo.

 

 

photo: Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News

More than 30,000 people have signed a petition to the European Union, asking it to secure more money for artists who are paid a pittance or nothing every time their work is accessed online.

It’s called the Fair Internet Campaign.

You can sign here.

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The college orchestra has announced its European tour of the century for May next year, visiting Helsinki, Bremen, Berlin, Dresden, Salzburg, and Vienna.

Minnesota’s Osmo Vänskä will conduct. Peter Serkin will play Brahms’s first piano concerto.

In the other concerto,  Penderecki’s Concerto doppio, the soloists will be Benjamin Schmid (Violin) and Roberto Díaz (viola). Mr Díaz is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music.

Not impressed? Then name another college president who goes out on the road in a contemporary concerto.

Valladolid, 20/5/2015. Roberto Diaz en el CCMD. Foto Ricardo Otazo.

John Donnelly, 64, was found dead in Turkish holiday resort in June.

Two local men were charged today with his murder.

John had been an amateur music director, active with the Association of Irish Musical Societies and the Wexford Light Opera Society.

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First birthday greetings from the LA Phil president to her infant neighbour.

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Bobby Breen was an RKO star in the late 1930s, briefly a rival to Shirley Temple.

Then his voice broke, and war broke out.

He got a life, was house pianist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra, then became a talent agent in Florida.

Bobby died this week, aged 88.

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