José Vicente Jesús Asuar, the Chilean electroacoustic composer, died on January 11, aged 83.

It has taken five years, but a mezzo who suffered permanent injuries from a fall on the Metropolitan Opera stage has received court clearance to sue for damages. The Met contested her claim, arguing she was an employee in the pursuit of normal duties.

Here’s a summary of a precedential ruling:

A New York appellate court has agreed with Wendy White, prominent opera singer at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center (“the Met”), that White is not an employee and, therefore, may maintain a civil action in negligence against the Met for injuries she sustained in a fall from an elevated platform while she performed in the role of Marthe in the Met’s production of the opera Faust [see White v. Metropolitan Opera Assn., Inc., 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 90 (Jan. 5, 2017)]. The Met contended that White, who had been featured in more than 500 performances at the Met over the course of 23 years, was its employee and that her exclusive remedy was to seek workers’ compensation benefits pursuant to the N.Y. Work. Comp. Law.

More here.

The violinist  Itzhak Perlman has donated $50,000 of his $1 million Genesis Prize to the Yiddish Book Center, in Amherst, Mass.

He will share much of the rest of the award among disability causes in the arts.

James Conlon has signed on again til 2021, which will be his 16th season with the company.

Over the past 10 years he has conducted 50 different operas.

Placido Domingo, LA Opera general director, said: ‘It is impossible to overstate what a profound impact James Conlon has made during his ten years in Los Angeles. The astounding energy and infectious enthusiasm that he brings to his work has made him a beloved figure for our audiences. Thanks to his prodigious musical talents, our magnificent orchestra sounds better and better every season. I myself have taken great pride in the numerous musical partnerships that James and I have shared-most recently in Verdi’s Macbethearlier this season-and I look forward to many more such collaborations.’

The death has been announced of the distinguished Slovenian conductor Anton Nanut, widely known for his 160 recordings from Ljubljana on a range of western budget labels, many of them highly prized by connoisseurs.

Nanut, who was 84, was chief conductor of the Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1998.

He toured the orchestra across Europe, to Russia and to the United States, where they had a successful debut in Carnegie Hall.

The much-loved former music director is too fluish to fly:

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced a conductor update for February 9, 10 and 11. Christoph von Dohnányi, upon the advice of his physician, cannot travel at this time due to the flu and has regretfully cancelled his engagement to lead the Orchestra in Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”) and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde . Conductor Donald Runnicles will perform in Mr. Dohnányi’s place.

In Boston, he will be replaced by Juanjo Mena.

Peter Gelb has told the controversial Spanish director that the Met cannot afford the Forza del Destino he was due to have staged next year.

Gelb said cancelling Bieito would save one million dollars. ‘It’s obviously something that I’m not happy to be doing,’ he added.

No comment from Bieito, who staged a thought-provoking Otello in Hamburg the week before last.

But you kind if cost was the only reason for cancelling Bieito in an America that is turning sharply conservative.

From new story by Israela Margalit:

One time my daughter couldn’t bear my absence. She called to say that I had to come back at once regardless of my commitments. There was a crisis and only I could make it right.

“What’s the matter, honey?”

She said she was preparing for a history exam and couldn’t remember anything.

I was in Europe at the time, rehearsing for a live television show, with three more days to go on the road. I couldn’t possibly cancel.

An hour after talking to my daughter I called back and told her I had a serious problem. I couldn’t remember a note of my concert program.

“But Mom, you know your music.”

“I can’t remember anything.”

“That’s silly, Mom. You knew it yesterday and you’ll know it tonight.”

“So how come you forgot your history?”

Read the full story here.

Fed up with airb&b? Bored with chain hotels?

The Sydney Opera House has applied for permission to covert six areas into ‘experience accommodation.’

Tacky? Read on here.