The early rock-and-roll star and his 1956 hit were a vital influence on the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
The singer – an LA Philharmonic board member – and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, have issued a gentle request on the CNN website.
Extract:
The arts are fundamental to our common humanity. Every time we attend the theater, a museum or a concert, we are literally feeding our souls, and investing in and preserving our collective future. To paraphrase the great Katherine Anne Porter, when all about us is lying in the ashes, it is the arts that remind us who we are, where we came from and what matters most.
We feel it has never been more critical to advocate for and support the arts — not just in our schools, but in our communities and our lives. We therefore respectfully request that every member of our society — individuals, educators, administrators, business leaders — do everything possible to preserve and advance this most precious and essential resource, and demand that our elected representatives do the same.
Read the full article here and send it to your elected representative.
Graham Spicer reports from Milan that the Teatro Communale di Bologna has ended its involvement with the Rossini Festival at Pesaro after 30 years.
Bologna felt it was not getting enough credit (read: subsidy) for its work.
The Rossini Festival now has four months to find an orchestra and chorus. Read here.
Geneviève Tschumi, 28, has beaten a strong field to win the Telemann competition in the composer’s birthplace, Magdeburg.
Franz Welser-Möst has announced plans for a Tristan and Isolde with Nina Stemme and Gerhard Siegel, along with a revival of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen, as part of the orchestra’s centennial season in 2017-18.
There will also be a complete Beethoven symphonic cycle and two European tours.
Trombonist Max Isley steps down tonight after 43 and a half years with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Max met his wife Val in the orchestra, where she played harp; When she joined the BBC NOW, they relocated to Cardiff.
Max, with section partners.
We have also been informed that Brighouse & Rastrick, one of the leading brass bands, is losing cornet player and conductor Alan Morrison to retirement.
The Cincinnati Symphony has got its concertmaster back, reports Jane Gelfand.
Timothy Lees had suffered the kind of injury normally suffered on the sports field.
Read Janelle’s report and watch video here.
