It’s called the mannequin challenge and it’s all the rage with teens.
You strike an action pose and get yourself filmed in it while the music plays on.
Like this.
Whatever.
The first orchestra to enter the mannequin challenge is… the Oregon Symphony.
You saw it here first.
Branka Stilinović was lead soprano of Croatian National Opera in Zagreb for three decades.
She also sang in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Poland.
Branka died on November 4 in Rijeka and was buried today in Zagreb.
The great Wagnerian soprano has written frankly about how she spiralled into addictive behaviours and bad relationships, rebuilding her life and work after bariatic surgery.
But in this exclusive new interview with Zsolt Bognar she addresses the connection between operatic life and obsessive conduct, and the denial that prevails about body shape and well being. ‘I don’t believe anyone who weighs 300 pounds is happy with it,’ she says.
But she adds that weight criticism is always directed at women singers, seldom at men.
In this gentle, compelling conversation, Deborah Voigt displays a self-awareness rare among artists and a sense of true proportion between life and work.
For her last ambition she says, ‘I would like to have a really fulfilling personal life.’
The US violinist Thomas Suarez is back on the rant with a talk at the School of Oriental and African Studies in which he called Israel a ‘racist, fascist cult’ and likened Zionism to Nazism.
Suarez, a sometime player in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, has previously organised protests in the UK against the Israel Philharmonic.
Questions are being asked as to why he was invited to expressed such biased views at a recognised university.
Report here.
UPDATE: The IPSO has ruled that the Daily Mail’s report of Suarez’s speech quoted here was inaccurate and distorted. You may read the IPSO ruling here. The JC has published a correcton here. We accepte that the statements contested by Mr Suarez are unfounded.
From a book cover: Thomas Suárez studied violin with Louise Behrend, Ivan Galamian, Felix Galimir, and Josef Gingold. A former member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he has worked with several of New York City’s major orchestras, including the American Composers’ Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, and has held principal positions at the Spoleto Festival in Italy and with the orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera House playing for international ballet companies. As chamber musician he has toured through Japan, Southeast Asia, Morocco, and Micronesia, and held a quartet residency at Sarah Lawrence College.
The Thai-US conductor Somtow Sucharitkul has flown into some media turbulence after refusing to sit down and buckle up when ordered to do so by air crew.
Sucharitkul had got up to conduct his choir in the royal anthem as a mark of respect for the late king when the plane hit a bumpy patch.
His people are accusing the air crew of lack of respect.
Of the many things that were wrong with the Hillary campaign one was its stuck-in-the-90s methods.
Barbra Streisand might have brought out a few votes in that comparatively innocent era.
Nobody lets pop music change their mind nowadays.
Not even Madonna.
And Bruce Springsteen signally failed to chime in blue-collar states.
The diva has designed her own tea-set. In porcelain, for six people.
Made by the Imperial Porcelain Factory of St Petersburg.
It’s called Aida.
Netrebko will sing her first Aida at Salzburg next summer.
Coincidence.
In the set change between the first two acts of Offenbach’s “La Perichole”, the Greek conductor Konstantinos Diminakis turned to the audience and brought out a small box from his inner pocket containing a diamond ring.
He then walked through the orchestra and knelt in front of clarinettist Christiana Thalassinou, asking her to marry him. The audience cheered. Christiana said, yes.
Diminakis then returned to the podium and launched into the prelude of the second act. The opening phrase is written for solo clarinet.
(That’s one way to get them to come in on the beat. )
The proposal took place at Opera de Baugé, in France, on August 3 this year.
The engaged couple live in Vienna, where Diminakis is artistic director of Orpheus Kammerorchester Wien.
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, music director Hannu Lintu, achieved 100 percent attendance last season.
There are literally no seats to be had.
So for the upcoming Mahler Third they are selling standing-room tickets for the first time at the Helsinki Music Centre.
An enviable problem.
It’s at Boulder, and it has been won by the Schwarz-Bournaki Duo – US cellist Julian Schwarz with Canadian pianist Marika Bournaki. They came top of 156 contenders.
Leading figures in German opera have sent an open letter to Anne Carine Tanum, Chairman of Norwegian Opera and Ballet. It is published today in Aftenposten, Norway´s principal newspaper.
Dear Madam,
It is with great astonishment and concern that members of the Deutsche Opernkonferenz have heard of the announced resignation of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet CEO Nils Are Karstad Lysø by the end of this season.
The fact that a CEO of the most important artistic institution of Norway abandons his company shortly after having taken decisions with dramatic consequences for its future, not only shows a tremendous lack of responsibility but also leaves the performing and musical arts of Norway – ironically symbolized by Norways maybe most impressive new architectural landmarks – in a desperate situation.
We do hope that the Board of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet will be able to find a successor who can repair the actual damages in a sustainable way. However, having followed discussions over the last year, we believe that the reasons for the actual crisis of the NOB lie in an organization structure that has turned out to be unable to guarantee the necessary freedom any artistic production requires.
As we all are seriously concerned about the current situation, we would like to offer the NOB any advice and support that may help to improve its organization structure in order to allow sustainable artistic production for the future.
Thank you very much for considering our suggestion and all our sincerest regards,
Yours,
Bernd Loebe, Vorsitzender der Deutschen Opernkonferenz und Intendant/Geschäftsführer der Oper Frankfurt
Andreas Homoki, Stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Deutschen Opernkonferenz und Intendant des Opernhaus Zürich
Dietmar Schwarz, Stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Deutschen Opernkonferenz und Intendant der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Jürgen Flimm, Intendant der Staatsoper Berlin
Barrie Kosky, Intendant der Komischen Oper Berlin
Georges Delnon, Intendant der Staatsoper Hamburg
Jossi Wieler, Intendant der Staatsoper Stuttgart
Klaus Bachler, Intendant der Bayerischen Staatsoper München
Birgit Meyer, Intendantin der Oper Köln
Christoph Meyer, Intendant der Oper am Rhein
Wolfgang Rothe, Intendant der Semperoper Dresden
Ulf Schirmer, Intendant der Oper Leipzig
Dominique Meyer, Intendant der Wiener Staatsoper
Unfortunately, many of the same signatories signed a petition to retain John Berry at English National Opera. They were ignored by the Board.
In the Brexit referendum, almost all UK artists and the entire cultural establishment voted fervently to Remain. They got trumped at the ballot-box.
In the US presidential election, the vast majority of cultural votes went to Hillary. She got Trumped on the stump.
In both cases, a clearly defined, positive message outvoted a cause that represented more-of-the-same.
So what now?
We don’t change our ethical view of Brexit or Trump. If we found them abhorrent before, abhorrent they stay.
The situation is as it is.
The psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, a survivor of four Nazi concentrations camps, wrote that when you cannot alter your situation the way to survive is to change your attitude towards it. Preserve an open mind. Find a different angle. Seek holes in the wall and opportunities in the system. Hang on in there.
Hope did not die.
