A compelling distraction for a difficult day.

The settings are by the British composer, David Matthews.

No talk of peace in this Al-jazeera report, only a threat to western educational charities to stop distracting young people from the armed struggle.

Palestine Street has continued to push messages of solidarity with Palestinians through its own verses. In one song, titled An Institutional Wedding, Azmi tackles the nonviolent politics of some NGOs in Palestine: “Recommendations for new projects that soften the minds through peace and nonviolent culture, yet you are not allowed to talk about a child who died in Gaza … To my people, if you ever want freedom, these NGOs must go away.”

Read on here.

Our diarist, the violinist Anthea Kreston, is returning to teach at Curtis, where she passed a turbulent youth.

I have recently become re-engaged with the Curtis Institute of Music – both as an alumni and as a teacher (I return to Philadelphia this summer to teach at Curtis as a guest).  I have reconnected with the alumni association, the Curtis Magazine “Overtones”, and look forward to future collaborations with Roberto Diaz (President of Curtis and incredible violist) with my piano trio (Amelia Piano Trio), the pianist of which teaches at Curtis (the incredible Amy Yang).  Our Trios’ – both Humboldt and Amelia – manager is the former manager of the Curtis orchestra and personal assistant to Roberto Diaz. 

This unexpected reconnection has brought back a thick rush of memories of my years there – my pride, my feelings of inadequacy, the love of orchestra, the sustained and vigorous learning. My teacher, Felix Galimir, was in his 80’s when I studied with him. He spoke always with a twinkle in his eyes – he was exacting, tough, specific, and explicit in his teaching style. I am a tall woman (6 feet), and at the time was extremely adventurous in my clothing style (vintage, self-designed, platform shoes etc), with unruly auburn hair which reached half-way down my back. I had previously had a moderately successful stint as a model in Chicago, as one of 4 high-school girls selected by a top Chicago agency. Suffice it to say that I used to enjoy entering a room with a big splash.

Mr. Galimir was 5 feet tall, on a really good day, and he often would ask for my hand during lessons, and get on a chair to get a better view of what I was doing up there. Or, if he was in a hurry, he would reach up, grab my scroll, and pull it down, and I would play with the scroll pointed towards the floor so he could see my fingerings. He was always dressed the same – dress pants, suspenders, comfortable sneakers, and a jacket and hat. After lessons, he would ask me to accompany him, arm-in-arm, down the grand staircase (Curtis is also a designated museum, because of the large original art collection gracing its wooden hallways – every room with antique furnishings and oriental rugs).  We would turn to each other, and giggle a little, and say what a handsome couple we made. 

I was not the best student. I probably wasn’t even in the middle, to be honest – but I learned a lot, and continue to draw on those experiences in my daily life. Our teachers were made up mainly of people who had come over during the wars – the great influx of incredible musicians, them in their 80’s, who had (and some continued to have) illustrious careers. They taught us in the old style – rigorous, romantic, thick and passionate sounds – cultivation of individuality.  Felix was born in 1910 – an Austrian Jew, and studied in Berlin with Carl Flesch.  His quartet – the Galimir Quartet (with his three sisters) recorded both the Berg Lyric Suite and the Ravel Quartet, under the supervision of the composers.  He was kicked out of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1937 for being Jewish, and found his way to the States (via Israel).  In some ways, I feel as if we, as Americans, were taught in as much (or more than) of a true German/Russian/Israeli style than many of my friends who grew up in Europe. 

As I teach in the Carl Flesch hall at the University of the Arts in Berlin, I feel as if, in some way, I am coming full circle. I draw out the big sounds from my students, slow down and widen their vibratos (I call it the “man hand” vibrato), add slides, demand individuality and truth. In some ways, I feel like I am coming back home. 

Galimir with the young Eugene Drucker of the Emerson Quartet

The much-loved Stanislaw Skrowaczewski has cancelled a concert in June, giving illness as the reason.

We send all good wishes for his recovery.

Music director of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1960 to 1979, staunchly supporting the musicians during their 2012-14 lockout, he has returned regularly to the US with renewed inspiration. From 1984 to 1991 Skrowaczewski was Principal Conductor of the Hallé orchestra in Manchester, England.

The busy viola player Rachel Bolt is the latest to suffer the appalling customer relations of the Dutch airline. Here’s what Rachel tells us:
I hope you may take interest in an appalling situation I found myself in travelling to take part in the St Barts Music Festival. I had to fight for two hours with check-in staff who insisted that my viola go in the hold. Quite out of the question of course, the only alternative was to cancel the work and return home. ( No extra seats were available to purchase and my ticket was already $1300.)

Eventually, after a two hour exhausting battle I won. I spent the whole week in fear of a repeat showdown on my return flights.

My KLM flights were London to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to St Martins and then on to the Island of St Barts , I’ve been doing the Music Festival for the last ten years. KLM rules on their website say: 2. As hand baggage
A smaller musical instrument, such as a violin or smaller instrument, you can bring instead of a piece of hand baggage. It needs to fit in the overhead baggage compartment.

The reality is quite different. I have taken this complaint further and had the response:

Dear Mrs Rachel,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 16 January 2017, regarding your flight KL1000, from London to Amsterdam on 8 January 2017.

I regret to learn that you were unable to take your violin as hand baggage. Please allow me to inform you that whenever a flight is fully booked, musical instrument is taken as check-in baggage instead of a hand baggage. Therefore, passengers are advised to book a separate seat for their musical instrument in case these circumstances arise.

From the composer Tom Schnauber  of Emmanuel College, Boston:
——————-

Dear Friends, and especially Emmanuel College Alums:

Earlier this month, my colleague Scott and I were informed by our VPAA that Emmanuel College’s Academic Administration has decided to eliminate all the music offerings in the course catalog. In order to accomplish this, they will dismantle the Performing Arts Department, terminate the contract of their tenured music instructor (me), then reconstitute some of what they believe to be more desirable theater-related courses under some other department (e.g., English).

The soprano who sang 35 seasons at the Met died today, aged 86.

Jan Peerce heard her sing in the Catskills when she was 12, and the rest is opera history.

Obit here.

The programme has been released for the 4th International Orchestra Conference, which will take place in Montreal, May 11-14, 2017, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as official ambassador.

Click here for details.

Opera singers will come together tomorrow to honour Hillary Clinton, while Donald Trump is being sworn in.

Glen Roven has set two Clinton speeches to music to be sung by Patricia Racette, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Matthew Polenzani and others.

‘Setting Hillary’s words was a very emotional experience,’ said Glen Roven. ‘Phrases that fly by in a speech are naturally elongated in a musical setting, and as I set each word, slowly and methodically I was in tears. When I mentioned this project to these singers, their immediate response was, ‘I’m in.”

Here’s a preview, just released to Slipped Disc.

KDSchmid have signed the young British conductor Kerem Hasan.

He’s 25, presently studying in Zurich. Way to go.

The German Karl-Heinz Steffens has quit the mega-agency and joined the British boutique, HazardChase.

Steffens, 55, principal clarinet of the Berlin Philharmonic until ten years ago, is music director of Norwegian Opera and Ballet. He quit last month as chief conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in order to make way for a growing list of engagements.

Cami is not doing well.

The Hill, a reliable Washington monitor, has been leaked President Trump’s plans for administrative economies.

Among other cuts, he proposes to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, and to privatise the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Read and watch video here.