The tenor has been invited to give the 2016 Lincoln Kirstein lecture at NYU.
Bostridge’s lecture will discuss the relationship between song and dance, the role of song in Schubert’s music, and Benjamin Britten’s complex work with dance and stylization from The Prince of the Pagodas to Death in Venice. Opening remarks on the life of Lincoln Kirstein will be delivered by Leon Wieseltier.
Details here.
Sergei Novikov is a Kremlin aide with close access to the president. He is the sole assistant to former prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko who has been charged with securing Putin’s next election victory in 2018.
But Sergei Novikov has a life. He’s an opera buff, especially Russian opera.
According to this report from a not-infallible source, he is putting on four concert performances in Moscow of Dargomyzhky’s Rusalka.
Rusalka is the story of a mermaid who cannot conceive, but ultimately does.
Novikov sees it as a political message in support of his anti-abortion foundation.
As the child in the opera he has cast a girl with Down’s Syndrome.
Home Concert, a new platform that will launch online and via mobile on Thursday at homeconcert.co.kr. to deliver live chamber music ensembles to your home.
Mine’s a Schubert quintet with anchovies.
Read here.
Just as Van Cliburn did when he returned from winning the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow and started his own in Texas, so one of his laureates has followed his lead.
Olga Kern, joint winner of the gold medal at the Cliburn in 2001, has just presided over the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico, together with the New Mexico Philharmonic.
The winner of the inaugural contest was Chen Guang, 22, from China, now living in Italy. He takes home $11,000 and a chance to make a recording on the Steinway label.
Second was Anna Dmytrenko, 24, from Ukraine and now living in Germany.
Third was Anastasiya Naplekova, 32, from Ukraine, now living in Florida.
Fourth was Joshua Rupley, 23, from Albuquerque, N.M. and now living in Germany.
The town of Halle has awarded its 2017 prize to Vivica Genaux, describing her as ‘one of the foremost Baroque and bel canto singers.’
The Alaskan-born singer will be presented with the prize in Halle next week.
Naomi Grabel has abruptly left her post as director of marketing and creative services at Carnegie Hall to become CEO of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
She starts work in three weeks’ time.
All well at Carnegie Hall?
press release:
David Hirsch, President of the Board of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, announced today that the Board, following a unanimous recommendation of a search committee, has appointed Naomi Grabel as the AFIPO’s first Chief Executive Officer effective December 12, 2016.
Mr. Hirsch states: “Ms. Grabel’s extensive background made her a great candidate, but it was her vision that ultimately led to her selection as our very first CEO. The board of the AFIPO has found in Naomi a leader who will focus not only on development but on increasing our footprint through social media to a much larger, more diverse, and younger audience. We recognize that young people are looking to connect with Israel in many ways, and as Israel’s greatest non-political ambassador, we fill a very clear and important space.”
The century-old Broekmans & Van Poppel store, where maestros bought their batons and scores, is closing down.
Rents are up and business is down. The family can’t afford to keep the store open next door to the Concertgebouw for musicians to drop in all day long. They are moving out to Badhoeverdorp, near Schipol airport.
Now there’s nowhere left to buy music in central Amsterdam.
Willem Mengelberg used to shop at B&VP. And Jacques Brel.
The former Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group International (UMGI) has taken his first position in the industry since being forced to retire as the result of the effects of encephalitis.
Max has been named non-exec chairman of Metropolis, a UK-based recording and music facility that syles itself a ‘modern day Motown’.
All who know Max will be thrilled at his return to action.
More here.
We hear that the current issue of Klassisk, the Norwegian music magazine, will be the last in print.
From January, the magazine will be available to subscribers online, with more frequent updates.
Mona Levin continues as editor.
The print edition of Klassisk was, in our view, the best-looking classical magazine in any language.
We’ve just heard from Boosey & Hawkes, the music publishers, that Igor Stravinsky’s Funeral Song for orchestra, composed as a memorial tribute to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, receives its first performance in 107 years, conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 2 December.
As we were saying a few minutes ago…
That’s how Marc Adam is staging Strauss’s post-biblical opera at Linz.
Right-click to enlarge image. More pics here.
A message from the star guitarist Milos Karadaglić, mostly known as Milos:
Dear all
It saddens me deeply to need to write these lines. Performing is all I live for. There is nothing I love more than being on stage and sharing the gift of music. In two weeks’ time I was about to embark on the most exciting tour of my career. I’ve spent all these months preparing for it – just giving it my absolute best. And yet, despite all that, no matter how hard I tried, the physical condition I was suffering from in 2015 has most unfortunately returned.
My doctors have been very clear with me now – the kind of movement disorder I have is complex and uncompromising and it cannot resolve itself within a few weeks or months. Hence, I’ve been unanimously advised to withdraw from all concert engagements for at least this whole season and break the vicious cycle I have found myself in.
It is so incredibly hard for me to accept this, but sadly, I have no other choice but to comply. In the next year, while firmly on the quest to fully recover and play again, I am planning to focus my energy on other things that truly matter to me. I will continue to work with my chosen charities and education organisations and I will work with promising guitar students and guide them towards a fulfilling musical future.
I am adamant in my promise that I will be back on a stage near you, sooner than you think, stronger and better than ever before. However, for now, I can only say, once again, how desperately sorry I am for the disappointment that this news will bring in amongst so many of you.
Miloš
Milos, 33, is a Montenegran who trained in London and still lives there. He is a Deutsche Grammophon recording artist.
