From his statement on the anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights:

In our orchestra, diversity is lived on a daily basis and no single musician can exist without a fundamental understanding and appreciation of the other, however different he or she may be.

The sovereign independent republic of the West-Eastern Divan, as I like to call it, began as an unpredictable experiment in 1999. Over the years, it has grown into an example of how society could function under the best of circumstances. Our musicians have gone through the painful process of learning to express themselves while simultaneously listening to the narrative of their counterparts. I cannot imagine a better way of implementing the first and most fundamental article of the UN Declaration of Human Rights: that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, that they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

From the outset, our approach in the orchestra’s workshops and seminars has been to focus on understanding what it means to listen to each other – both as musicians and as human beings. Learning to listen in that way sensitises us both for ourselves and the world around us.

Full article here.

Word of change at the music finder tool:

An Announcement from David Daniels:

 

It was almost 50 years ago that I started work on this reference book, which ultimately went into 5 editions. I’ve enjoyed the work and I’m proud of what has been accomplished, and of its place as a standard reference book in the orchestral world. Much of its success has been thanks to suggestions, comments, and corrections from its users.

But now I’m 83, and it’s time to pass custody of this rather large database on to a younger generation. Not that I had to look far for a capable and willing team to carry it forward. David Alexander Rahbee has been sending me corrections and additions for a couple of decades, and I admire his intense devotion to getting all the details exactly right. He is one of the very few people I have trusted enough to adopt his submissions without a lot of checking on my part.

I have known another David, David Oertel, since the 1980s and have reconnected with him perhaps half a dozen times over the years. Nine months ago I got a note from him praising the 5th edition of my book, and I remembered how smart he was about technical things of all sorts. I asked him if he was good at computers and databases, and whether he would be interested in this ongoing project.

Voilà! The new team was born! Both men are conductors, and their skills and talents will perfectly complement each other. You conductors, librarians and administrators out there can rest assured that the Orchestral Music project is in good hands, and that Rowman & Littlefield is already planning a 6th edition for 2022 (the 50th anniversary of the 1st edition!). This will be part of the Music Finders series, edited by Jo Nardolillo, which includes many other important books for our great profession.

In fact, the two Davids have already started working together on the new and improved website www.daniels-orchestral.com, which is now under the auspices of the Danish software firm ASIMUT.  This website is a searchable database that is updated every single month! That means it will often have the most current information.

Incidentally, we now, as always, are eager to receive your suggestions, complaints, corrections—whatever. Please use this email address: David@daniels-orchestral.com, which will connect you directly to all three Davids simultaneously.

I will keep my hand in the database during the transition, but in diminishing proportions over the next few years.

Thanks for your support all these years!

David Daniels

We hear that Philippe Jordan, music director of the Wiener Symphoniker has chosen a former principal clarinet Pierre Pichler as his assistant conductor.

An announcement is expected in the coming week.

Piere Pichler was Philippe Jordan’s principal clarinet at the Opera House in Graz. It was Philippe Jordan’s first chief position and his first position as a principal clarinet player.

A German conciliation panel has proposed a payment of around $100,000 to heirs of a Jewish instrument dealer from Speyer who was forced to sell his 1706 Guarnerius to the Nazis at a knockdown price.

Felix Hildesheimer committed suicide in 1939.

His wife Helene reached the USA.

The violin was bought in 1974 by the German soloist Sophie Hagemann and left on her death in 2010 to a foundation in Nuremberg for use in local concerts.

The conciliation panel has valued the violin at $158,000 and proposed that two-third of this sum be paid to Mrs Hildesheimer’s grandsons.

Read the Deutsche Welle report.

It remains to be seen whether the Hildesheimer heirs accept the conciliation panel’s offer.

The coloratura soprano Eva Lehoczky, a member of the Budapest State Opera for many years, died this week when the two-storey house where she lived went up in flames. Eva was 91.

Starting out as a percussionist, she had her first singing engagement at Chemnitz in East Germany, moving home to Szeged and later Budapest.

Linda Grant writes beautifully about her local record store:

When I turned up last Saturday, composer Thomas Hewitt Jones and pianist Charles Owen had dropped in to give short recitals from their new CDs among the free mince pies and Quality Street chocolates. Serving behind the counter was surely one of Britain’s most knowledgeable classical music shop assistants, Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny, whose last stint in sales was as a teenager in Cornwall, knocking out coffees and croissants. The customers ranged from…

Read on here.