There’s a musical on Meat Loaf coming up at English National Opera.
And Metallica have just booked the Toronto Opera House for a show next week.
Why do they need us?
And, more desperately why do we need them?
There’s a loser in this transaction.
We warned a few days ago that next year’s Van Cliburn Competition would need to look at other options if the board of the Fort Worth Symphony persisted in locking out its musicians.
Our post received a sharp rebuttal from the Cliburn’s aggressive PR. But the head of the organisation has now shared his fears – and his options – with the local newspaper:
Jacques Marquis, president and CEO of The Cliburn, can’t afford the strike to go on indefinitely.
“It would be a disaster if we don’t have the symphony for the Cliburn,” Marquis says. The Fort Worth nonprofit foundation, named for the late Van Cliburn, runs the world-class international piano competition every four years, a junior contest for younger teens and a competition for adult amateurs. The symphony accompanies competitors in each of these events.
“The strike is bad for everyone,” Marquis says. “It’s bad for the musicians. It’s bad for the management. It’s bad for the city. It’s bad for the donors. It’s bad for other arts organizations. It’s a bad idea.”
The next big Cliburn International competition is this coming May. Having it without an orchestra is not an option, Marquis says.
Marquis has been here before, however. Eleven years ago in Canada, he managed a competition. Weeks away from the start, Montreal Symphony musicians walked out. With the clock ticking, Marquis assembled a 72-member, professional pick-up orchestra, just in time.
“I have faith in finding a solution with the Fort Worth Symphony because an orchestra is not a bunch of individual musicians. An orchestra is an ensemble who can play together. And we need that for the competition,” he says.
More here.
Dominique Répécaud, a self-taught guitarist who became director of the André Malraux cultural centre at Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, has died at 61.
His festivals brought together an eclectic assemblage of avant-garde artists and happenings.
Sir Antonio Pappano has signed a new deal at the Santa Cecilia orchestra, taking him to 2021.
He has been in charge in Rome since 2005.
He has also been music director at Covent Garden since 2002.
He doesn’t like change.
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.
