The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual deficit has risen to $1.4 million for the year to June 2017, from $1.1 million in 2016, it was announced last night.

Ticket sales were down $32,000, to $22.17 million. Major gifts also slowed down.

photo (c) Todd Rosenberg

The epic violinist stole the show again this week on a Dutch TV programme. He talks about John Lennon, Yoko One (whom he couldn’t abide) and others from his past and present.

Watch here. Ivry segment starts at around 5:00.

Rider University, home to Westminster Choir College, has delivered layoff notices to the entire teaching staff of the college, around 70 musicians. The lay-offs will take effect next August.

Rider’s president Gregory Dell’Omo has been trying to get rid of the college for a while. He claims to have found a buyer for Westminster College, which has been at the heart of American music for more than 90 years.

The university says the layoffs are designed to ‘secure the future’ of the College.

Believe that if you like.

Read more here.

UPDATE: China to buy America’s top choir college?

 

Since the issue has been trivialised to the point where a minister resigns for a hand on a journalist’s knee, let’s try to haul it back to serious criminal abuse. I’ve seen and heard plenty over 40 years, but these are probably the worst.

1 The conductor who raped a teenage soloist in his green room, destroying her confidence and career.

2 The conductor who had teenage boys delivered to his room.

3 The magazine editor who forced male PRs into sex.

4 The orchestra boss who preyed on female admin staff.

5 The opera star who demanded sex from female PRs.

I’m not naming names, nor will I permit any names to be posted in Comments. This is not a witch-hunt. It’s a summons to the classical music world to recognise that abuses have persisted in full public view for several decades and no-one said a word because the perpetrators were – still are – considered too important.

The Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki has been awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize 2017. It’s worth tremendous prestige and a decent amount of cash – DKK 350,000 ($55,000).

 

We have been notified of the death of Mitchell Peters, principal timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1969 to 2006 and a prolific composer and teacher.

Here’s an appreciation from the Arizona Chapter of Percussive Arts Society:

 

 

ENCINITAS (Oct. 28, 2017) – Mitchell Peters, a prodigious composer, recording artist, music professor, and former principal timpanist and percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, died today in Encinitas at the age of 82.

Mr. Peters joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as its co-principal percussionist in 1969 and retired as its principal timpanist in 2006. He performed under such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Carlo-Maria Giulini, André Previn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon Rattle, John Williams, Michael Tilson Thomas and countless others.
Mr. Peters recorded extensively with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony in addition to various appearances on motion picture and television soundtracks.

You may have heard his timpani playing on ABC’s World News Tonight’s opening theme, in the movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and the original “Battlestar Galactica.”
In an effort to aid his students, Mr. Peters began writing his own material and eventually started a publishing company specializing in percussion works. As a widely published author and composer, Mr. Peters’ works and instructional materials remain highly regarded throughout the United States and abroad. His method books transcend generations and musical genres. In an interview, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron stated that his teacher, “had me work with these books written by Mitchell Peters — and I’m still using those same snare drum books with my son and his friends.”

Mr. Peters published over three dozen compositions. Performances of some of his more popular pieces such as “Yellow After The Rain”, “Sea Refractions” and “Galactica” can be seen on Youtube. His final composition, “Firefly” was published in 2015 and dedicated to his three grandchildren.
Mr. Peters became the applied percussion teacher at California State University Los Angeles shortly after joining the LA Philharmonic and later accepted the position of Professor of Percussion at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, he was a faculty member at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In May 2012, Mr. Peters retired from teaching.

More here.