The first leaks have seeped from the 2017 New Year’s Day concert programme, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

The opening items will be the Nechledil march from Lehar’s operetta Wiener Frauen, followed by Emile Waldteufel’s waltz, Les Patineurs.

Not a Strauss in sight.

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Expect more women players than ever before.

Tributes to BSO principal cellist Jules Eskin, who died yesterday at 85, are being paid in public media from Detroit to New Delhi. Here are some more from his friends:

Arnold Steinhardt, founder and first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, writes: ‘Jules was a close friend of mine for over 50 years, and he was a wonderful cellist and musician, but above all, Jules had an uncanny ability to pull at your heart strings when he played. I think some of the most beautiful sounds that I’ve ever heard came out of his cello. I will miss him as a friend greatly and I will certainly miss his one-of-a-kind cello playing.’

Malcolm Lowe, Boston Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster, says: ‘I want to celebrate Jules’s life and acknowledge the huge loss that I feel. No words can express the great joy Jules gave to me through his playing or impart the sadness of his passing. If only I could write a ‘Song Without Words.’ Jules embodied the heart and soul of our string section. He had an inspired musicality and infallible instinct coupled with a masterful understanding of the cello, its sound, and its role in all of the music that we played. His sound was always present, always poignant, and always incredibly moving. Jules was a great personal friend and colleague. I will miss him dearly and I treasure every moment that we had together.’

The pianist Lydia Artymiw: ‘We are mourning the passing of beloved Jules Eskin, principal cellist of the Boston Symphony, inspirational musician, and a cherished friend. What a joy and honor it was to play trios with Jules and Arnold Steinhardt over the years! We will always remember you, Jules, and we send deepest sympathies to Aza and family. RIP.’

Here’s Jules in a recent interview: ‘At age 16, I was ready to flee the family home! In that era, the different orchestra conductors would come in town to conduct auditions. You didn’t have to fly out to play. I told my dad: “Hey, Pop, I think I am going to audition for the Dallas Symphony and the National Symphony. They are having auditions in town.” Of course, he said: “Oh, you will never get it, come on!” So I made a deal with him that if I won a job, I could leave the family nest and go out on my own. He was convinced there was no chance I would get either one of those jobs, since I was only 16 at the time. I played for Antal Dorati, who was the conductor of the Dallas Symphony at the time, and they offered me a contract. I took it and about a month later, I was offered a position in Washington too but I had already signed up for Dallas. But that was fine, I was very excited to leave home! Finally, I was starting my life at 16! I felt the whole world was out there waiting for me and I was tired of living in what seemed to be a little town. I can still see my mother at the train station in North Philadelphia. She was so sad to see me go so early. I had my cello, a bag of clothes and my father’s immigrant suitcase from the old country, as well as a huge bag full of sandwiches my mother made for the 3-days train trip from Philadelphia to Dallas.I played in Dallas for one season and that is where I met Janos Starker and Lev Aronson. Lev Aronson was a wonderful cellist who was a survivor from the Nazi concentration camps. His life was quite a story.’

More here.

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The Minnesota Orchestra reports that its former music director Stanislaw Skrowaczewski suffered a stroke on Sunday night. It adds: ‘His family reports that he successfully underwent surgery and is now in stable condition.’

The Polish maestro conducted a triumphant Bruckner Eighth in Minneapolis just a month ago. We wish him a full recovery.

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More from the Minnesota Orchestra: ‘We ask that you keep the Skrowaczewski family your thoughts and prayers, and perhaps listen to a Bruckner Symphony to channel positive energy for Maestro Skrowaczewski.’

Jules Eskin, principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 53 years, died yesterday at his home in Brookline, MA, of cancer. He was 85.

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photo: Tom Kates

Jules was married to BSO violinist Aza Raykhtsaum. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in January. Jules withdrew from the orchestra in 1981 for cancer treatment, returning the following year. He announced his retirement only last month.

Yo Yo Ma said: ‘Jules Eskin is a legend in the cello world. A role model for me, he has always embodied the best of what a cellist could be – a consummate musician, as a solo artist, an ensemble musician, and as principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 53 years.  His life in music was filled and sustained by the love of his wife Aza, the roar of the engines of his sports cars, an almost Herculean ability to do chin ups, and of course the comradeship of his fellow musicians in the Boston Symphony Orchestra family.’

Andris Nelsons, BSO Music Director, cancelled a speaking engagement at Harvard yesterday in respect for Jules’s memory. He said: ‘It is so terribly sad for all of us in the Boston Symphony family to hear of the passing of our very dear Jules Eskin, a treasured member of our Family and a legendary cellist of the orchestra for 53 years. I feel so honored to have had the privilege of working with Jules during my first two years with the orchestra.  With his incredible leadership of the cello section and the profound link he provided to the past—back to his days as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, under the tutelage of the great BSO genius Serge Koussevitzky in the 1940s—Jules brought the orchestra such a wealth of experience and influenced the glorious sound of the orchestra for more than half a century, a staggering commitment for which we owe him so much.

‘I will never forget my amazement when during an early rehearsal for our first tour together in September 2015, Jules spontaneously started playing the solo cello part for Strauss’s Don Quixote—one that would eventually be played by the wonderful Yo-Yo Ma.  All of us who were there—myself, BSO members, and staff—were overwhelmed by the beauty, power, and richness he so effectively conveyed in what is considered to be one of the most difficult works for cello and orchestra.

‘Words are not enough to express the powerful feelings of such a moment, just as they are not enough now when we try so hard to express our sorrow over the loss of our friend and colleague.  Our heartfelt condolences to his family, who we are thinking of very often at this time of great sadness.’

More tributes here.

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Born in Philadelphia in 1931, Jules Eskin had his first cello lessons with his father, Samuel Eskin, an amateur cellist. At 16 he joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Antal Dorati, studying with Janos Starker in Dallas and later with Gregor Piatigorsky and Leonard Rose at the Curtis Institute. In 1948 he was a fellowship student at the Tanglewood Music Center, performing in the TMC Orchestra under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky. Before joining the BSO, Jules Eskin spent three years as principal cello with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell and seven years with New York City Opera; the Cleveland Orchestra’s recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Leon Fleisher as soloist and Mr. Eskin performing the prominent third-movement cello solo, ‘is considered the gold standard of interpretations of the work.’

UPDATE: How to pass an Eskin audition.

We regret to share news of the death of Elender Wall, a Berlin-based mezzo-soprano from San Francisco.

Elender had been open about her cancer and very positive, but a few weeks ago she learned that it had spread to her back, liver and lungs.  Two days ago she was hospitalised with an infection and today she died.

Aside from opera roles, she attracted media attention for a song cycle titled  The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.

Our condolences to her fiance, Chris, and many friends.

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The New Jersey-based Montclair Orchestra has just announced David Chan as its first music director.

David has been concertmaster at the Met for 17 seasons.

Press release below.

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Montclair, NJ – The Montclair Orchestra has selected David Chan as its first Music Director, to lead the orchestra in its 2017-2018 inaugural season. The search process began in August, with nearly one hundred candidates from all across the globe applying to lead the development of the new ensemble.

Mr. Chan is the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra in New York, where he is in his seventeenth season as leader of that renowned ensemble. Widely recognized as a brilliant violinist and one of the leading musicians of his generation, Chan enjoys a diverse career as soloist, conductor, chamber musician, and teacher. His concerts have taken him to leading stages in North America, Europe, and Asia, appearing as soloist with such conductors as James Levine and Fabio Luisi. He is highly sought after as a chamber musician, performing regularly at the most prestigious summer festivals as well as throughout the New York City area.

Chan has a history of helping new musical institutions achieve instant success. In 2008, combining his interest in wine with his passion for music, he co-founded the Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot festival in the Burgundy region of France. As artistic director of the festival, which pairs wine tastings with first-rate musical offerings, Chan has overseen the growth of the event from a small, intimate gathering to a two-week extravaganza attracting many of the biggest international names in music, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Charles Dutoit, Joyce Di Donato, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Matthew Polenzani, Menahem Pressler, Cho-Liang Lin, Gary Hoffman, Marlis Petersen, and Ildar Abdrazakov.

As a conductor, Chan brings his long experience working in opera along with a broad knowledge of the symphonic repertoire and a fluency with the music of our own time. He has conducted at Musique et Vin, where the festival orchestra includes musicians from the Metropolitan Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic, and all the top orchestras in Paris; he also works frequently with the student orchestras at New York’s Juilliard and Mannes conservatories, as well as at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Next season his conducting engagements include l’Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne in France as well as concerts in South America and Eastern Europe, in addition to his commitments with The Montclair Orchestra.

“David has an incredible command of the intricate details of various genres of music, yet has the ability to make the music accessible and relevant to the diverse audiences The Montclair Orchestra seeks to engage,” says Andre Weker, President of the orchestra. “We are incredibly excited and proud that he has elected to help pioneer our vision as an organization, and engage new sets of audiences through his programming and collaborations with different organizations both directly in Montclair, as well as throughout northern New Jersey.”

Equally noted for his work as a teacher, Chan has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School since 2005 and the Mannes School of Music since 2015. His wealth of experience in teaching and mentoring younger players will be an enormous asset in developing an orchestra that blends professional players with students still in the process of honing their craft.

“I am deeply honored to have been chosen as the first music director of The Montclair Orchestra,” says Chan. “It is always exciting to participate in the birth of a new musical organization, and our goal is to bring not only the very highest level of music-making to the suburbs, but to offer concert experiences that are meaningfully different than what you find elsewhere, and in so doing appeal to new audiences. But above all, as a resident of northern New Jersey myself, I am thrilled to have this opportunity to give back to the community.”

 

It is reported that the Dutch pharmaceutical company Dagra Pharma has been giving doctors free samples of Bruckner Third in an effort to persuade the to prescribe MS-Contin, a morphine derivative.

The performance is by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Rafael Kubelik.

Apparently, big Dutch pharma has a whole series of Gekwelde componisten, or tormented composers.

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That’s what the Bush Grant for Community Innovation is worth.

This year’s winner is the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

What for?

We were awarded the Bush Prize because we are shifting the paradigm of what an orchestra can and should be. We think differently about how orchestras can engage in problem-solving by asking ourselves: “How do we use the orchestra to make our community better?”

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John Allison in the Telegraph:

Once a superbly incisive music critic but now long established as a best-selling composer, Michael Nyman is surely right to be satisfied with his career switch. While he continues to churn the stuff out to feed lucrative film and record contracts, no reviewer anywhere has ever earned enough to be fairly compensated for having to sit through a Nyman concert. It’s a cautionary tale, if nothing else.

It is, but not for the reasons Allison cites.

Everything about this opening paragraph declares prejudice and a closed mind.

So why review something you’re going to hate?

It’s discreditable.

Full review here.

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Fran Pérez, better known as Narf, was a world music icon.

Cause of death is unknown.

Virginia Hepner, the Woodruff Arts Center chief who toughed out a pay war with the musicians, has told the board that five years is enough.

With the finances in better shape, she will be leaving in four months’ time.

Hepner, 59, says: ‘I’m a business person who believes in arts and culture.’

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In an article on the Met musicians’ website, the incoming music director reflects on his predecessor:

I have a personal story to share: Back in 2009, many months before my Met debut with Carmen, I expressed a wish to perform the opéra comique version of Carmen (with spoken dialogue). Jimmy asked for a phone conversation with me. Of course, I was very impressed by this gesture, and I was looking forward to finally speaking with my hero! When we spoke, he told me that he understood my wish, but at the same time he explained why he thought that at the Met it was actually preferable to remain with the grand opéra version (with sung recitatives).

He did this in such a collegial way, infectiously convincing, that I was convinced by his arguments! Of course, at the end of the day, he was the Music Director, but most of his colleagues in such a position would have done this in a very different, much less collaborative way. He talked to me with a blend of experience and a genuine feeling of dialoguing between musicians, which I think tells a lot about Jimmy’s human qualities.

Full article here.

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