Five people were arrested in Cluj-Napoca National Opera for disrupting the opening season performance of “The Armed Man- A Mass For Peace” by Karl Jenkins (pictured).
The protest took place during “The Call to Prayers (Adhaan)”. Five members of Noua Dreapta (The New Right Wing) started singing the Romanian National Anthem and shouting “no mosque should be built on Romanian lands” or “Prayers in Arabic language used by Muslim terrorists shan’t be used in a cultural institution”.
Watch:
We are distressed by news of the death of Janos Solyom, a Hungarian soloist who made his home in Sweden. He was 78.
When I floated the idea of an all-day Mahler cycle in Stockholm, played in the piano reductions, Janos was among the first to volunteer, playing the fifth symphony with great brio.
My sympathies to his wife, Camilla, and nephew Stefan.
Jennifer Spencer, who quit HP last year to manage Ivan Fischer’s orchestra tours, has formed a loose arrangement to operate as a boutique agent within IMG.
Frying pan to fire alarm?
The official version: In May 2017, a lunch with fellow artist manager Kathryn Enticott inspired a plan for Jenny to return to Artist Management. Kathryn could fully understand Jenny’s desire for a professional change. In 2014, she resigned from her role as IMG Artists’ Managing Director of Artist Management to found Enticott Music Management. Through EMM, Kathryn continues to manage artists in association with IMGA, but this venture gives her the freedom to explore new projects and avenues within other areas of the performing arts. It is the best of both worlds: the flexibility and freedom of a boutique firm with the benefits that a global network, team and back-office functions provides.
Next month, Delos will release what may be his final recording of a full opera.
From the press release: On November 10, 2017, Delos releases Rigoletto [DE 3522], a new full-length studio recording of Verdi’s beloved opera featuring internationally acclaimed baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the title role. Renowned conductor Constantine Orbelian leads the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Men of the Kaunas State Choir, and a distinguished cast including rising star soprano, Nadine Sierra (Gilda); tenor Francesco Demuro (Duke of Mantua); bass Andrea Mastroni, (Sparafucile); and mezzo-soprano Oksana Volkova (Maddalena). The recording also credits the invaluable contribution of Artistic Consultant John Fisher.
The Telegraph has run a slightly queasy feature titled ‘What to wear for a stylish night at the opera’ (as distinct from the usual dowdy nights).
So far as I can see not much has changed in half a century, but a quick search leads me to this busily entertaining debate on the ROH website, where one patron advises ‘put your good jeans and that nice shirt of yours on’ and another sniffs: ‘If people can afford the eye-watering Opera prices – and, to a lesser extent, the cost of a ballet ticket – they can afford to dress sufficiently well not to cause offence. ‘
Enjoy.
The death is reported of Klaus Huber, an immensely influential composer and teacher whose Basle students included Brian Ferneyhough, Wolfgang Rihm and Kaija Saariaho. He was 92.
A frontrunner in the European avant-garde, Huber was published by Ricordi and collected by Paul Sacher. No single work stands out as a path-breaker but the totlity of hos outputn sits at the heart of the modernist project.
This week’s Nielsen sales show a new low for classical recordings in the US.
The best-selling record is a compilation of ‘most relaxing classical music’. Next is the Star Wars soundtrack, followed by two releases by the crossover violinist Lindsay Stirling and another by the Piano Guys. Not a single integral classical work in the top 20.
ForumOpera reports the passing of André Mallabrera, an ornament of the Paris Opera.
Dmitry Smolski, the foremost Belarussian symphonist, died on September 29, aged 80.
He leaves 15 symphonies, two operas and an oratorio, My Motherland.
His son, Victor Smolski, was guitarist of the German metal band, Rage, and now of Almanac.
