A survey by the Incorporated Society of Musicians finds that 60 percent of classical musicians have experienced sexual harassment, rising to 70 percent among the self-employed.

There were, however, just 250 responses to the survey.

In Sweden, a much smaller country, almost 700 opera singers declared they had been harassed, practically the entire profession.

The tonal composer William Mayer, best known for a prize-winning opera A Death in the Family, died at home in Manhattan on November 17.

The newspaper has just gone live with this report:

Legendary Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine molested an Illinois teenager from the time he was 15 years old, sexual abuse that lasted for years and led the alleged victim to the brink of suicide, according to a police report obtained by The Post…

Read on here.

Neither Levine nor his New York agent returned multiple requests for comment. A spokesman for the Met did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Its general manager, Peter Gelb, did not return a message.

The report is based on a deposition made to Illinois police in 2016 by an unnamed person. There has been no independent corroboration.

UPDATE: The Met issues statement on James Levine.

UPDATE2: James Levine: A note of caution.

UPDATE3: Boston Symphony statement.

UPDATE4: The Met suspends Levine.

UPDATE5: Who has questions to answer?

UPDATE6: Levine denies

UPDATE7: Orchestra parents warned their sons about Levine

UPDATE 8: Will this kill the Met?

UPDATE 9: Did Leonard Bernstein have a James Levine problem? 

UPDATE 10: The Met’s musicians respond

UPDATE 11: Opera is a breeding ground for sexual misconduct

UPDATE 12: The human cost of the James Levine climate

UPDATE 13: Levine is fired.

UPDATE 14: Levine sues the Met for unfair dismissal.

UPDATE 15: Levine’s accuser says his story was suppressed.

Rush-hour commuters at London’s Marylebone Station were faced last night by a pop-up Messiah, organised by the conductor Nicolas Cleobury.

Some of the singers are well-known pros.

The fund-raiser is in aid of Singing for Syrians, helping to get medical aid to victims of a brutal war.

All money raised goes directly to projects helping Syrians inside Syria (where possible), including paying doctors’ wages in rural southern Aleppo, running a kindergarten in Idleb and funding a number of prosthetic limb clinics. It is estimated that over 30,000 Syrians, children and adults, are amputees in need of urgent treatment. A prosthetic limb below the knee costs just £270 to fit, restoring dignity, independence and the ability to work.
Our aim is sustainability, which is why we focus on funding salaries and long-term work in health and education. We specifically choose projects that have the maximum impact for those in need, and monitor them regularly.

Last night, Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project gave the world stage premiere of Norman Dello Joio’s The Trial at Rouen, based on the last hours of Joan of Arc.

Dello Joio (1913-2008) was a leading American composer in his time. Joan of Arc was his lifelong obsession.

The opera was surely worth a fragment of media attention. But there was no preview and, so far, no review.

The only notice appears in Boston Classical Review.

That’s the sorry state of opera in US media these day, folks.

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:

For a brief window in the 1690s – until the night Mrs Purcell shut her husband out in the cold – London was the go-to place for young composers in search of top tuition and an appreciative audience. Italians like Arcangelo Corelli were keen to study with Henry Purcell and English composers grew in confidence. Then, one November night in 1695, Mrs P decided not to stay up til her old man got back from the theatre and poor Henry caught cold and died, or so the story goes. Two centuries would elapse before England bred another composer of his quality…

More here.

And here.

The American tenor is singing his first Turiddu tonight in Cavalleria rusticana, the first of three performances at  Covent Garden three times this week.

He also sings Canio in I Pagliacci, replacing the Italian tenor Fabio Sartori who has withdrawn due to a family emergency.

Thierry Vagne has revived his microsite of maestros meeting maestros.

A kind of Tinder for top dogs.

More here. Much fun.

The pianist Israela Margalit has published an account of her experiences as a juror at piano competitions.

Sample:

The first jury I served on, I was determined that only the best would win. I suggested to my fellow jurors that we select somebody who could shine at Carnegie Hall rather than play like a well-schooled student. Everybody agreed. We all ranked each pianist and tabulated the results not once, but twice. The pianist who got the most points won. Nevertheless the outcome was disheartening. …

There are also unimpeachable motives that propel judges to vote for average performers. What’s pedestrian to my ear may be enthralling to another’s. One judge may disapprove of an interpretation he deems unfaithful to the composer’s intentions, while I may view it as original and fresh. I once served as an observer at a famous competition. Six of the jury members rejected flair, preferring a strict adherence to tradition, while the other six celebrated virtuosity, imagination, and personality. In the end the scores of each group offset those of the other, and the most lackluster pianist, who hadn’t offended either camp, was declared the winner…

Read the full essay here.