The death is reported of Fernando Laires, a Portuguese pianist who became an important teacher at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He was 91.
Laires founded the American Liszt Society in 1964. He made several noted recordings of Chopin and Beethoven.
The death has been announced of Jamie Dietz, a gifted percussion player who worked with major orchestras.
From the family notice:
He received his BSM from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he won The Albert Greenfield Concerto competition of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Jamie obtained his MMA and Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music. While at Yale, Jamie was honored with both The Theodore Presser Award and Yale School of Music Dean’s Prize. He completed a Teaching Artist Fellowship with The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Julliard School and The Weill Music Institute.
Jamie’s musical career included solo, orchestral, chamber and ensemble performances, throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He recorded for New Amsterdam, CGA Records & Equilibrium.
Our sympathies to his sorrowing parents.
The Tokyo Philharmonic has made a surprise appointment of Andrea Battistoni as Chief Conductor, effective immediately.
Battistoni, born 1987 in Verona, has been working mostly with opera houses in Berlin, Dresden and Stockholm.
He first conducted a Nabucco with the Tokyo Phil in 2012 and the relationship has deepened.
Peace may have broken out in Philadelphia but in Pittsburgh both sides have hit the mattresses.
The PSO has cancelled all concerts up to and including October 27.
Nobody seems to be negotiating.
It may be the shortest strike in recent history.
On Friday, musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra walked out on strike.
On Monday, they walked right back after a 73-11 vote to accept a new offer.
Here’s what both sides are saying. It does look like the management side blinked first.
Management:
Musicians:
We, the Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, with the deepest respect for our music, our audience, the City of Philadelphia, and the world’s musical community, have today ratified a new contract. This agreement covers the next 3 years, and gives us modest increases of 2%, 2 1/2% and 2 1/2%. These increases do not achieve our goal of being compensated on a level comparable with other leading American Orchestras.
The Philadelphia Orchestra Association has indicated to us that it will be engaging in new methods to enhance the position of the Orchestra in the community and to reach new donors. The musicians have committed to working with the Association in these endeavors.
The musicians believe that the vast majority of the recommendations made by Michael Kaiser should be adopted by the Association. We will be closely watching to see if this occurs.
When we reluctantly went on strike a few days ago, we had no expectation that we could quickly restore this Orchestra to the compensation and working conditions for which we are striving. But we felt that, after years of decline which threatened to become irreversible, this was the only way in which we could call attention to a situation we regarded as desperate.
Three years from now, we look forward to ratifying a contract which will truly restore the Philadelphia Orchestra to its rightful place among the great orchestras of the world.
We hope to see you at any of our October 4th Audience Appreciation Day concerts. Further information can be found on our website:www.POMusicians.org.
