The diva’s looks back with Toronto Symphony music director Peter Oundjian.

Here’s what we find attached to the incredibly detailed contract of The MozArt Group:

Dear partners, promoters, colleagues,

This technical rider is the most important tool for all MozART group shows and productions. The MozART group is a string quartet with a respectful but very different approach to the so called “classical” music. Therefore some things might be very different from “usual” setups.

All MozART group shows run without intermission and have a duration of approximately 75 to 90 minutes.

No printed program will be provided. Any printed information about the MozART group needs to be approved by the management. Please read carefully and ask us if you have questions or if any parts of this rider are not understandable.

It is absolutely needed and expected to cooperate towards an ideal result and make every show a great experience for audience and artists. The requirements below are MozART group standard. Absolutely all changes need to be approved by the management. Please avoid “we have never done this before” or “this is not possible”. It is always better to talk and work together on the best possible solutions.

The MozART GROUP performs only with its own sound and light technician. He must have the possibility to change light & sound during the concert from his FOH position. The control/mixing tables must be placed inside the concert hall, behind the audience and next to each other. One person will work on both tables. Stage must be absolutely ready upon arrival of the artists following the requirements below.

The MozART group technician, Mr.Jurek Drozda will setup our own wireless microphone system (MIPRO ACT- Series) upon arrival. Also further sound and light setup will be done upon arrival. In case of an unprepared stage, the MozART group will not start setup and sound check. Local technicians must be available upon arrival at the venue and remain available until the end of the show. Only publicity materials sent by MozART group management can be used. No other materials are approved at all.

PR materials can be downloaded via http://www.mozartgroup.net/images/upload/riders/main.zip No recording, video taping, recording “just for archives”, taking pictures is allowed during rehearsal, setup and show without written approval. The management will not tolerate any of this. The purchaser will make sure, the audience is well informed about it. Open Air shows are possible and need a special agreement. The MozART group signs DVD’s after the show. Please provide one person for the merchandising stand.

Got that? 

Principal doublebass player in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and fonder of the Chineke! orchestra, Chi-chi Nwanoku has been named Black British Business Person of the Year, 2016.

She has been congratulated by the prime minister and the Mayor of London. Go, Chi-chi!

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:

It is so rare to hear the Gurre Lieder live that most of us are acquainted with it only on record — in memorable interpretations by Rafael Kubelik, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado and others. The work employs a vast orchestra and chorus for an unbroken duration of ninety minutes, much of which occupies a zone of uncertainty as to whether what we are hearing is ancient or modern.

Schoenberg began composing the cycle in Wagnerian modalities in 1900, abandoned it three years later, finished it in 1911 as a provocative atonalist, and achieved the greatest triumph of his life at its 1913 Vienna premiere, turning his back on the cheering audience and acknowledging only the participant musicians. Austere Arnold was not cut out for popular acclaim….

Read the full review here.

And here.

Also here.

Take your pick.

Message from the Austrian violinist, Daniel Auner:

The Auner Quartet are on a concert tour through Brazil, playing in several cities. Before we left Austria, the Austrian Ambassador to Brazil, Marianne Feldmann, contacted me regarding a children’s orchestra ‘Reciclando Sons’.

They contacted the Embassy as they need strings for their instruments.

So I went in Vienna to the Thomastik-Infeld Factory and explained the situation, they were asking for 100 sets of violin and 50 sets viola strings for the kids. Two days ago the Embassy organised a concert for us to give the orchestra its Strings.

Thomastik Infeld did not send 150 sets. It sent 1000 sets – 4000 individual strings. We will now be able to support several other music institutions in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia. It was unexpectedly very generous.

We have received sad news of the death of Anne Pashley, who sang soprano roles at Glundebourne, Covent Garden and across Europe. Anne died of cancer in a south of England nursing home, aged 80.

Before she took up singing, she won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 relay in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Among many roles, she sang a beautiful second niece in the epic Colin Davis recording of Peter Grimes and was soloist in one of his seminal Berlioz sets.

Anne was married to the tenor Jack Irons, who died in 2005. She is survived by a daughter, Cleo.

From Science Daily:

Together with colleagues from London and Amsterdam, MIB postdoc Niels Chr. Hansen, analysed thousands of musical themes composed by French, Italian, and Austro-German composers living in 1600-1950.

The venerable Charles Dutoit, 80 years old today, tells Rodrigo Carrizo Couto in a rare interview that next summer will be his last as music director of the Verbier Festival.

swissinfo.ch: Usted dirige la Orquesta del Festival de Verbier, en Suiza.

C.D.: Sí, una semana al año. Pero la próxima edición será la última, pues tengo ya una edad respetable, y el trabajo diario con una orquesta de jóvenes me agota. Los he dirigido durante nueve años y considero que es suficiente. Verbier tiene mucha suerte de contar con el talento de un director, Martin Engstroem, que supo hacer este festival conocido mundialmente.

The full interview, which will be published in English and German versions tonight, contains lovely tales of his short marriage to Martha Argerich and their long friendship. Click here for English version.

Berlin yesterday

Tokyo, about the same time

At the glamorous summits of classical music they are so proud of these pictures.

Parisians paid 25 percent above normal ticket prices to see Jonas Kaufmann in Tales of Hoffmann next month. He cancelled.

So here’s the deal.

Instead of offering a refund, the Paris Opéra is telling subscribers it still expects to see them at Tales of Hoffmann – now with Ramon Vargas – but will also offer them free tickets to another opera or ballet of their choice.

Good deal?

It’s only on offer to subscribers. Single-ticket holders have not been contacted.

Here’s the letter, published by ForumOpera:

Cher abonné,

Vous avez été informé récemment de l’impossibilité pour Monsieur Jonas Kaufmann de débuter dans le rôle d’Hoffmann dans Les Contes d’Hoffmann en novembre prochain à l’Opéra national de Paris. Monsieur Jonas Kaufmann a expliqué dans un courrier adressé aux spectateurs de nos théâtres et publié sur notre site Internet, les raisons de santé majeures qui l’obligent malheureusement à annuler sa participation à ce spectacle très attendu par tous.

Dans ce moment difficile, je lui souhaite un prompt rétablissement en espérant l’accueillir très vite sur nos scènes. Je tiens aussi à remercier chaleureusement Monsieur Ramón Vargas qui interprétera le rôle d’Hoffmann du 3 au 18 novembre, en accord avec le Metropolitan Opera de New-York. Grâce à son engagement et à l’ensemble de la distribution qui l’entourera, dirigée par le maestro Philippe Jordan, notre directeur musical, vous assisterez à un très beau spectacle, dans la mise en scène de Monsieur Robert Carsen.

Toutefois, pour atténuer la déception que vous pouvez ressentir après la nouvelle de l’annulation de Monsieur Kaufmann, et parce que vous êtes un abonné fidèle de l’Opéra national de Paris, je souhaite vous inviter sur une représentation de votre choix parmi 10 spectacles de la saison 2016-2017 (8 opéras et 2 ballets) :

– Lucia di Lammermoor (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 14 octobre)
– Cavalleria Rusticana / Sancta Susanna (au Palais Garnier, à partir du 30 novembre)
– Iphigénie en Tauride (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 2 décembre)
– La Flûte Enchantée (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 23 janvier)
– Trompe-la-mort (au Palais Garnier, à partir du 16 mars)
– Wozzeck (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 26 avril)
– Rigoletto (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 27 mai)
– Carmen (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 13 juin)
– Jirí Kylian (au Palais Garnier, à partir du 29 novembre)
– Drumming Live (à l’Opéra Bastille, à partir du 1er juillet)

Je vous invite à réserver gratuitement dès à présent le spectacle de votre choix, en contactant un conseiller au 01 73 60 26 26. Vous pourrez obtenir le même nombre de billets, dans la même catégorie, que ceux que vous avez acquis pour Les Contes d’Hoffmann auquel, naturellement, vous assisterez.

Je souhaite, par cette invitation, vous remercier à nouveau très chaleureusement pour votre fidélité à l’Opéra de Paris.

Je vous prie de croire, cher abonné, en l’expression de ma meilleure considération.

Stéphane Lissner

The board of directors of Los Angeles Opera has renewed Placido Domingo’s contract as general director for another three years, to the middle of 2022, when he will be 81.

The tenor turned baritone joined LAO as artistic consultant in 1984 and as artistic director for two years before becoming general director in 2003.

We regret to report the sudden death of Jonathan Biggers, professor of organ and harpsichrd at Binghampton University in upstate New York and a regular soloist with major orchestras. He was engaged, at the time of his death in performing the complete organ works of J S Bach.

At the age of 25, he won a unanimous first prize at the 1985 Geneva International Pipe Organ Competition, followed by the 1990 Calgary International Organ Festival Concerto Competition. More here.