The opera house in Donetsk was commandeered today for the funeral of Arseny ‘Motorola’ Pavlov, a Russian-backed warlord in the illegally occupied territory.
Motorola, 33, was killed on Sunday by a bomb in his apartment block.
The Ukrainians have accused him of war crimes.
A message from Clean Bandit, one of the most interesting current groups, about its departing violinist, Neil Milan:
It is with great sadness that we must announce that our performances of Tears over the Summer were Neil’s last shows with Clean Bandit. He told us recently that he has decided to leave. We have had a wonderful ride together and we are extremely excited to see what he does next. We are also very much looking forward to our upcoming shows and to sharing our new music with you. Thank you all for your support during this time, and thank you Neil for being part of this amazing journey. We will miss you a lot on this next chapter and we wish you the best of luck for the future. Jack, Grace and Luke – CLEAN BANDIT
The group, which started out as a classical string quartet at university, has scored #1 hits in several countries.
It’s that time of year.
The Curtis Institute of Music has abolished its Board of Overseers, a group of clued-up citizens who advise and sometimes gently restrain the school president. We understand that Roberto Diaz, head of the school, became frustrated with their role and a new chairman agreed to sack the lot.
Here’s the deeply confused letter that has gone out to overseers:
Dear Members of the Board of Overseers,
As Lowell Noteboom indicated in his email from this summer, an ad hoc committee was formed earlier this year to examine the role and relationship of the Board of Overseers to Curtis. The committee included representatives from the Overseers, the Board of Trustees, and staff. In my capacity as chair of this committee, I spoke over this summer with past Board Chairs, Trustees, Overseers, and past members of the Overseers.
It was clear to me that over much of its 20-year existence, the Board of Overseers played an important role, bringing an outside perspective that helped develop Curtis and opening doors nationally and even internationally. As I’ve expressed to you before, Overseers represent an incredible resource for Curtis. The depth of your knowledge was especially clear to me in the External Trends report that Overseers provided to the Board, which so informed the present Strategic Direction.
However as the ad hoc committee examined the relationship between the Board of Overseers and Curtis, it became apparent that as Curtis’s needs had evolved, the collective role and purpose of the Overseers had become less clear. Gathering twice annually for two-day meetings did not seem to be the best use of the limited resources of Curtis—or of the valuable time and expertise of Overseers. It was agreed we needed to rethink how we engage directly with respected industry leaders who support the school.
In the end, after extremely careful consideration based on the committee’s report, the board decided to discontinue the Board of Overseers, while seeking other ways to keep individual Overseer involvement. New bylaws approved by the Board of Trustees are a step in that direction, encouraging greater participation of non-trustees—including constituents with an extensive knowledge of the field of classical music who bring a direct perspective of the field—on Committees with a full vote.
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the entire Board of Overseers and particularly Lowell Noteboom for his tireless work, as well as Cathy French and Dick Neu as Vice Chairs, and Gabrielle Rinaldi, as Secretary. I’m sharing a resolution passed by the Board of Trustees that honors the 20 years of service by the Board of Overseers, and further expresses our deep, collective gratitude for the valuable time and energy you have invested in Curtis. You can view the resolution here.
With great thanks,
Mark E. Rubenstein
Chairman of the Board
Among the overseers who are receiving this letter at this moment are Allison Vulgamore and Anne Parsons, respectively heads of the Philadelphia and Detroit symphony orchestras; the violinist Pamela Frank; Bruce Coppock of the St Paul Chamber orch; Pamela Rosenberg, former boss of the Berlin Phil; the publicist Mary Lou Falcone, who will shortly be going into damage-limitation mode; the clarinet virtuoso Anthony McGill; and the forer NY Times journalist John Rockwell. Not a good bunch of people to affront.
The Welsh composer Peter Reynolds is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for his 1993 opera The Sand of Time, which lasts all of four minutes.
Peter collapsed and died at his home in Cardiff on October 11.
Obit here.
An attempt by the Bolshoi Theatre to live-stream Yuri Grigorovich’s ballet Golden Age to music by Shostakovich was hit first by interference, then by total blackout a few minutes into the transmission.
It appears the Bolshoi was avoiding western servers such as Youtube for the streaming service and using an untested Russian technology.
Better luck next time.
A promoter of pop concerts who staged events in classical venues has been found guilty of two rapes, in 1985 and 1972. Mervyn Conn, 82, awaits sentence at Kingston Crown Court.
Conn has a previous conviction for a sexual assault on his receptionist. Police are asking for any further victims to come forward. More here.
Among the many variety acts Conn promoted were the Red Army Ensemble.
The Komische Oper has promoted Jordan de Souza to Kapellmeister, starting September 2017.
This could be a bigger job than it looks since the orchestra has just shot down the company’s choice of music director, leaving the podium up for grabs.
Sony Music Entertainment has named Rob Stringer, 54, as its next chief executive.
He’s the younger brother of Sir Howard Stringer, former Sony Corp chairman and CEO, and he will replace the industry veteran Doug Morris, 77.
They will cover your violin for £3.20 a day, they say (but see Comments).
Cambridge-based NWBIB has set up specialist cover for musicians by beginning its WeLoveMusicians brand.
The policy is aimed at all levels of musicians from novices to global artists and the broker has a special scheme providing cover for professionals and delegated authority to offer insurance to non-professionals.
Read on here.
The festival has appointed Stephen McHolm, from Canada, to replace Christian Thompson, who is leaving to work full-time for the Orchestre National de Lyon.
Press release:
October 19th 2016 / The Verbier Festival is delighted to announce that from 1 December 2016, Stephen McHolm will become Director of the Verbier Festival Academy (VFA) and Special Projects. Stephen is currently Artistic Director of the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, where he has served as artistic and administrative leader since 2004. Through his role at Honens, he has directed the competition, a festival and concert series, music education and outreach programmes, and has devoted a great deal of time and energy into nurturing and developing the careers of emerging concert artists. He is also a passionate amateur pianist.
Stephen McHolm says “Verbier is in so many ways the ultimate music festival and its commitment to learning has an incredible worldwide reputation. Indeed, two of the three most recent Honens Prize Laureates are alumni of the Verbier Festival Academy! I am honoured to be named Academy Director and very much look forward to leading it in to the future. I see the Academy becoming an essential rite of passage for any young concert artist.”
Martin T:son Engstroem, Founder and Executive Director of the Verbier Festival, says “The moment I met Stephen I knew that he was the right person to lead the Academy. He is very experienced and very respected in the musical world. He is also someone who has devoted much of his career to nurturing young musicians, and his passion and his values correspond very closely to our own.”
Stephen replaces Christian Thompson who, over the last twelve years, has enabled the VFA to become one of the world’s most important learning places for exceptional young musicians. The VFA’s reputation has been built on a commitment to excellence and creativity, an incredible faculty and a visionary approach to how young musicians can build a career in the 21st century.
Here is the text that the great violinist read before the Japanese Royal Family on receiving the Praemium Imperiale award in Tokyo this week, the first violin player to be so distinguished. He used the occasion to resume his assault on the false priorities of the music business. Here is the original text, exclusive to Slippedisc.com:
Message of thanks
Your Imperial Highness, Prince and Princess Hitachi, Chairman of the Japan Art Association, Mr Hieda, Excellencies, International Advisers, Distinguished Members of the Selection Committee, dear Friends,
It is an honour for me to be given an opportunity to say a few words on behalf of ALL the laureates of this year’s Praemium Imperiale.
Being singled out for this distinction in the field of music means a great deal to me personally – and I am sure that each of us here would echo my sentiments. In acknowledging our life’s achievements, the Praemium Imperiale brings us close to the MANY outstanding artists who have been its FAVOURED recipients over the 28 years since the award was first established.
For me, it means being accepted into a “family of wonderful personalities”, people for whom I have always had profound respect and admiration or with whom I have even had the occasional good fortune to work.
As the first violinist in the family, I am keenly aware of the importance of today’s ceremony and am certainly not alone in wishing to express my deepest gratitude for the privilege that has been bestowed on us. Each of us enters this world and later departs from it. What we leave behind is what we manage to create in the time in between.
The arts are probably one of those facets of life that outlive us and last, if they are exceptional – “forever”. In a way, it might be said that art – unlike politics – has an “eternal” life. However, that is not a “licence” for indifference to injustice or lies.
These days, the whole arts industry is more market oriented than ever. “Value” is measured in terms of money, income and statistics. All too often we are tempted to believe that the primary goal of art is to entertain people.
How refreshing it is to see that past and present laureates of the Praemium Imperiale include those artists who have been able to resist that temptation! As I see it, a true artist is called to swim against the waves of popularity, to dive into the deep waters of human souls and to rise to the challenge of achieving the impossible.
The supporters of the great Ludwig van Beethoven wanted him to write compositions that were stylistically different from those of an artist who was very popular at that time – Gioachino Rossini. How many of today’s supporters or sponsors see artists in that way and give them that kind of encouragement?
I suspect that there are very few of them.
The potential revenue figures overshadow any real attempts at creativity.
To serve the arts and not to give in to the industry’s “sharks” by sacrificing one’s own ideals and vision is far more important than providing entertainment because the arts are able to expand our horizons, to make us visionaries.
In the past, the Praemium Imperiale has been awarded to many great personalities, whose “signatures” -their own individual identities – have thus been granted prime public recognition. They command our respect not merely because of their achievements; we realise that, like the great composer Luigi Nono, they knew that there was no path, but had to go on…. all the same.
Because they were willing to take risks, we can continue to explore the unknown.
That is why it fills me with joy and pride to be surrounded today by distinguished artists who have chosen not to follow the crowd. In one way or another, we have all fought to remain true to the values that we believe in. We are not finished yet!
Long live the arts! In many ways, they are the best support given to those of us who are seeking more and who desire to share what we find with others.
(c) Gidon Kremer
(c) Angie Kremer/Lebrecht Music&Arts
