Thomas Hengelbrock, music director of Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, says he’s leaving the job a year early in protest at the tremendous fuss made by the organisation over Alan Gilbert’s arrival.
‘It was extremely unpleasant of the NDR to announce my successor in a week when I had ten concerts to conduct,’ Hengelbrock complained to local media.
He will leave in summer 2018, instead of 2019.
Tonight’s prize-winning press release:
STATEMENT ZUR NEUEN TANNHÄUSER-INSZENIERUNG DER OPER LEIPZIG (PREMIERE: 17. MÄRZ 2018)
Aufgrund organisatorischer Schwierigkeiten war es leider nicht möglich, die Produktion Tannhäuser unter der Regie von Frau Professor Wagner zum angekündigten Zeitpunkt zu realisieren. Die Oper Leipzig und Frau Professor Wagner bedauern dies sehr, freuen sich jedoch auf eine künftige gemeinsame Zusammenarbeit bei der Oper Lohengrin von Richard Wagner, welche voraussichtlich im November 2020 Premiere haben wird.
// Oper Leipzig Media Information, 8 December 2017
STATEMENT REGARDING THE OPER LEIPZIG’S NEW TANNHÄUSER PRODUCTION (PREMIERE: 17 MARCH 2018)
Due to logistical challenges, it is unfortunately not possible to realize the production of Tannhäuser under the direction of Professor Katharina Wagner as initially scheduled. The Oper Leipzig and Professor Wagner deeply regret this, but all involved look forward to a future collaboration: Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin, which is expected to premiere in November 2020.
Lovely gesture from a departing music director. Press release:
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) today announced that its Music Director Leonard Slatkin and his wife, composer Cindy McTee, have committed $100,000 to the DSO’s endowment to showcase an emerging artist each season. Mr. Slatkin is currently in the middle of his 10th and final season as DSO Music Director before transitioning to the role of Music Director Laureate.
The new initiative, titled the Cindy and Leonard Slatkin Emerging Artists Fund, will provide support for one up-and-coming artist to perform with the DSO each season. The featured artist may be a solo musician (including singers), a conductor, or a composer. The Slatkins’ contribution is a challenge gift: the DSO will seek additional support, and the annual draw from the total of $200,000 will support one guest artist’s performance each season.
“I was thinking about what I could do that was special in my final season as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” said Mr. Slatkin. “I’d like to believe I’ve had some impact on the musicians, listeners, and community here in Detroit. But what else would there be after my time has concluded? Cindy and I are proud to be inaugurating this new initiative, and we hope as the years progress that the musicians are major discoveries by the DSO who make a big impression on the music world.”
DSO President and CEO Anne Parsons said, “We are so very grateful to Leonard and Cindy for this incredible gift. We are excited to be honoring Leonard’s personal and artistic impact on our orchestra and in our community throughout this season, and this new leadership gift to our endowment is the perfect way to celebrate Leonard’s legacy. We invite all those who are interested in joining this important vision to support future talent to contact us to learn more about participating in the Cindy and Leonard Slatkin Emerging Artists Fund. Thank you, Leonard and Cindy, for once again taking critical steps to secure a vibrant future for this community we all love to serve.”
Peter Martins, artistic director of New York City Ballet has gone on leave of his own accord while the company looks into two anonymous allegations of sexual harassment that have been published by the NY Times and Washington Post. Here’s the restrained statement he sent internally to the company’s musicians:
For the Orchestra:
I know you are all aware that an anonymous letter sent to the School of American Ballet resulted in an independent investigation, and an article in the New York Times. An article in the Washington Post has just appeared on line, and will be in the paper tomorrow, with a further allegation against me. I have vehemently denied this allegation, but I am painfully aware that all of this negative publicity is taking a toll on each of you. And because of my great respect for you, and for the two exceptional institutions it has been my pleasure to serve for more than 47 years, I have asked for, and been granted, permission by the Boards of the Company and the School to take a temporary leave of absence until the investigation is completed, and a stable environment can be restored. My priority is to do what is best for the Company and the School, and I very much hope you will understand. Please know that my pride and appreciation for all you do remains undiminished, and you will be constantly in my thoughts and in my heart. Darci and I send our love to you all.
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
There are five trouts on the cover of DG’s new release and it’s clear from the photo that some are more pouty than others. Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) takes up the most space, reclining on a divan. Sitting on the bare floor is Daniel Trifonov (piano). In the dark background are Hwayoon Lee (viola), Maximilian Hornung (cello) and Roman Patkolo (bass).
If this were just a ranking of record industry hierarchies it would hardly be worth a mention, but …
Read on here.
And here.
From our American diarist in Berlin, Anthea Kreston:
I am home again after concerts in Munich, Weiden, Berlin, Geneva, Stuttgart, and two in Vienna. Stressful, exhausting, lonely and fulfilling. The concerts are great – Quartet is tight, strong, flexible, in command, and tender. Night after night, the halls are packed, many with extra seats onstage. The balance between life and Quartet remains difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible, but it happens, it manages.
I was only in Berlin one day these past weeks – and our family residency visa expires soon. No one does Christmas like the Germans, from top to bottom – which includes a generous shuttering of government offices, making obtaining such a visa that much more difficult. Now that we are outside of Berlin proper, our government services are more provincial, farther away and somehow less efficient. It isn’t even possible to make an appointment to get our visa extended – we have to just go and wait in a (surreally) long line. And get there early!
On the morning of our Berlin concert, the whole family bundled up, and at 7 AM picked up my German tutor Ramón at the UBahn (recommended by friends at the Berlin Philharmonic, Ramón is the unofficial tutor of the members, who have come from far and wide to join the Phil – he speaks so many languages, he is like the Tower of Babel of tutors, but in a short, rotund package, shirts somehow always slightly too small, and always just a bit smelly). Ramón is like an extended member of our family – he comes often and stays long, animatedly balancing one-legged on the couch, saying “tell me what I am doing auf Deutsch” and is a fan of Jason’s cold beat salad with feta and pecans.
So we went, a 45 minute ride away – and as Ramón reached to take a number (the waiting room was already crowded with multi-colored extended families), two hefty, thick-set security guards blocked his way. Asking what our purpose was, Ramón said we needed an extension on our visitors visa. They began a heated conversation, which continued to a senior staff person. It was clear that this type of paperwork was processed only on Thursdays, and today was a Tuesday. Voices we raised, fingers pointing quickly in a variety of directions as Ramón explained (louder and louder) that I was a famous violinist, and I wasn’t going to be in Berlin again on a Thursday until late January because I am so famous, did they really want to shoulder the responsibility of kicking out of the country one of the most famous artists, and here is an article about her in Der Zeit and look at this too!! I touched Ramón’s arm – weren’t we pushing a little too hard? And he said under his breath – no – we are almost there – one more minute. Some final pointing and harsh words, with some paper flapping, and we were escorted to the number machine by Thing #1 and Thing #2. We were 83, and they were now on 56. Ok not bad.
So we sat. And sat. The numbers changed excruciatingly slowly, despite there being 5 rotating slots. Around 11, I said to Ramón – I am feeling an impending lunch-break. And there it was – stuck at 68 until 1 PM. Jason took the girls for a walk, found a bite to eat, as Ramón stayed, eyeing the numbers.
Finally, and with a large box of binders in tow (letters of recommendation, work contracts, police documents confirming our address, passports, photos, marriage certificate, birth certificate, papers confirming that the girls attend school, health insurance documents, a certificate of our last toenail clipping, measurements of my diseased cat, and a scan of the contents of our stomachs), we were lead to a room, which was unlocked by Thing #2. A brief but scary altercation between a refugee and Thing #1 was causing a kerfuffle in the waiting room, and we were glad to escape the stuffy crowded space for a sterile office.
Here we were, 3:00, and my dress rehearsal at the Philharmonie was to begin at 5:30 in Berlin.
We were surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling walls of hanging file-folders. Remember the dentist’s front office from 1997? You get the visual. Paper after paper was scrutinized – even documentation of our original flights from America were requested – huffing and puffing was had, many brisk walks to other rooms, phone calls. The result? Because we were outside of Berlin proper, the visa would have to await the physical delivery of the original paper paperwork from the Berlin office. And it takes 90 days to deliver. Nothing is on the computer, and no way of getting it faster (picking it up, emailing it) even though we had been at our new home for 7 months.
An emergency visitors permit was issued, ensuring I could continue living here until late February. A list of other letters and documents that I was to obtain was given to me, and as we left, we felt no assurance that all would be well.
We raced home, I grabbed my clothes, mother, and violin, and I peeled into rehearsal, fresh skid marks behind me. The concert was a success, but I had to fight for dear life to stay focused – I was wavering with exhaustion.
The rest of the tour went without hitch, except that I passed a kidney stone in Vienna. Jason and the girls came to visit me for a couple of days there -what fun was had by all between Sacher Tort, horses and palaces.
There is no doubt that this is a punishing schedule, but it is nothing compared to the rest of those people waiting in that office, some of whom will face uncertain futures. I count my lucky stars.
Several Italian newspapers have acclaimed Yusif Eyvazov as a frontline performer after his La Scala debut on Thursday night in Andrea Chenier opposite his radiant wife, Anna Netrebko.
Certainly, Eyvazov acquitted himself well, as you will shortly read in my review of an extraordinary occasion.
And definitely the production was loudly applauded, despite a (very) few scattered boos at the dozenth curtain call.
So was La Scala’s opening night the making of Eyvazov?
Watch this space.
photo © Brescia e Amisano,Teatro alla Scala 2017
The former music director of the Metropolitan Opera issued a denial through the New York Times on Thursday of allegations that he abused his power to seduce young men.
Levine said:
‘As understandably troubling as the accusations noted in recent press accounts are, they are unfounded. As anyone who truly knows me will attest, I have not lived my life as an oppressor or an aggressor.
‘I have devoted my energies to the development, growth, and nurturing of music and musicians all over the world — particularly with the Metropolitan Opera where my work has been the lifeblood and passion of my artistic imagination. My fervent hope is that in time people will come to understand the truth, and I will be able to continue my work with full concentration and inspiration.’
One of his accusers told the Times: ‘He is lying’.
The Met says its investigation is ongoing.
In Illinois, police have said they will not prosecute allegations made by Ashok Pai, another accuser. This is no more than they told Pai are the time he made the deposition.
This is smart.
The violinist Augustin Hadelich.
His debut disc of the Paganini Caprices will be out in January.
Here’s one.
