Like most other newspapers, the New York Times is pulling back from reviewing classical concerts.

A concerned reader informs us that no reviews have appeared for:
Benjamin Grosvenor

Paul Lewis

Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Tetzlaff Quartet

A quick online check reveals that some were mentioned in the art section’s weekly preview, but that’s it. No reviews. The paper’s old claim to cover the musical waterfront is, it appears, being allowed to fade out.

It’s no fun at all for an international orchestra to fly to New York and fly back home unnoticed.

From Baruch Meir, associate professor of piano at Arizona State University:

R.I.P Xiaoying Wen (1989-2017)

It is with deep pain and sadness that I separate from Xiaoying Wen, my student, friend, colleague and a gifted artist. Xiaoying was taken away from us on November 16, 2017. He was hit by a pick-up truck while riding his bicycle at a crosswalk. He was pronounced dead at the hospital’s ICU a few hours later. Xiaoying was only twenty-eight years old and had a bright future ahead. A life cut short. A senseless death.

While being one of the most talented people I have ever encountered, Xiaoying was also very humble. He was a bright light among us and embraced life to the fullest. Anyone who knew Xiaoying could see his gentle soul, and his playfulness. He was really wonderful with children including my Zohar. He had a special generosity about him, a true kindness and a positive spirit.

Xiaoying was so devoted and passionate about his music and art. In recent years, Xiaoying developed a special affinity to Scriabin’s music. I gave him his first Scriabin’s piece, the Vers La Flamme and he soon developed a passion for the music in all of its eccentricities and the uniqueness of its colors. Perhaps it was the real fire in the music, that sensuous spark that is so rooted in it, that he so easily related to. I have never heard better climactic moments than in Xiaoying’s performances. Soon after, he tackled the 5th sonata and played it with such exquisite sensitivity and strong personal verve. He gave fantastic performance of it at Schlern festival 2016 and at his second DMA recital last March. The 10th sonata was his next project and he already memorized it quickly for his next recital together with Medtner’s fairy tales, and the Barber sonata. I was so looking forward to his next recital. His ecstatic and triumphant Vers La Flamme will stay with me forever.

The slide show I created following Xiaoying’s passing is celebrating his life. I gathered it with the help of many of our students at ASU who sent me photos and quotes about him. He was so loved and admired by everyone and he loved back.

I miss you dear friend. Farewell Xiaoying. You are in my heart forever!

We have been notified of the death of Raymond Carpenter, principal clarinet of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from 1953 to his retirement in 1987.

He can be heard on recordings with its chief conductors Rudolf Schwarz, Sir Charles Groves, Constantin Silvestri, Paavo Berglund, Uri Segal and Rudolf Barshai.

On joining the orchestra, Raymond married one of the violinists, Cynthia Mitchell; they had five children.

Metamorphosis: The Transformation of the Bournemouth Symphony from Bunny Laden on Vimeo.

 

He’s coming home.

Bramwell Tovey, stepping down as music director in Vancouver after 18 years, is to be principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, starting January.

Nobody quite remembers what the BBC CO is there for, but maybe Bram will give it some branding.

He will do an opening radio slot on Wednesday from, er, Watford. To be followed by the long-running Friday Night is Music Night.

The BBC, by the way, has omitted to make an announcement.

UPDATE: They just caught up.

 

The tenor David Edward Lewis will appear in court in Sydney charged with offences against a girl of 14.

Lewis, now 58, was a member of the OA chorus at the time of the alleged offences, in the 1990s. The girl was in the children’s chorus. The incidents are said to have occurred inside the Sydney Opera House.

Lewis resigned from the company last month.

Full report here.

Musicians of the Mexico Symphony Orchestra have long been fed up with their veteran music director, Enrique Batiz, denouncing him to the Government as abusive and profligate.

But Batiz, 75, clings on, despite the onset of Parkinson’s Disease.

Now the musicians have published a new denunciation of the maestro, together with a tape recording of his foul, aggressive and mostly unprintable language in rehearsal.

You can listen to the tape here.

Toscanini might have got away with it. But Batiz is no Toscanini.

 

The diva is known to be fond of her husband’s facial growth.

The director of La Scala’s Andrea Chenier, Mario Martone, does not share her fondness for fuzz.

He has ordered Yusif Eyvazov to get rid of the beard, leaving the tenor in tears.

Here’s what Yusif writes on Instagram: So.. Director asked me to shave my beard 🙈😂 .. crying and getting used to it.. 😂🙏 Режиссёр попросил убрать бороду … 😂😂😂😂😱😱🙈🙈🙈привыкаю со слезами 🙈

For years, the first port of call for New York classical PRs, after the Times, has been the NPR and CBS talkshow host Charlie Rose, a man who genuinely enjoyed classical music and never subjected any artist to probing questions.

Charlie Rose was suspended last night by CBS News and PBS after the Washington Post published accusations of sexual molestation against him by eight women, mostly on his staff.

Rose, 75, issued this statement: ‘In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked. Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues. It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.

‘I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.’

Classical PRs will need to find a new outlet.

Meanwhile, the bragging pussy-grabber sleeps soundly in the White House.

Hannah Rankin plays bassoon in the the London orchestras.

In her spare time, she fights other women.

Last week she won her first title. She calls herself The Classical Warrior.

Read here.