Scenes from Hilde Zadek’s 100th birthday, opening a photographic celebration of her career in the foyer of the Vienna State Opera.
A bouquet from the boss, Dominique Meyer
with best pal Christa Ludwig
photos: Michael Pöhn, Staatsoper
Hear Hilde sing here.
The US mezzo-soprano Cindy Sadler has published an important, extensive and far from comprehensive catalogue of commonplace abuses in classical music and opera.
Two years ago, Cindy collected testimonies of sexual harassment and assault for a report to AGMA, the American Guild of Musical Artists. It is not clear whether the report was ever published, but certainly nothing changed – as evidenced by the spate of allegations about James Levine and sundry others..
Some of the stories she recounts are chilling in their sheer familiarity.
Here’s one:
‘My anger, even to this day when I think about it, never really centered on him. It was my colleagues and the staff that made me both livid and hurt. I couldn’t believe no one in the room said anything or helped me. I was surrounded by people but completely alone. Everyone knew it was wrong. There were at least six other people in the rehearsal besides the two of us, and no one said a thing.
‘I never reported him. It seemed obvious that this was just how he behaved, and everyone knew it. He was a big star, and I was just another young soprano.’
Read on here.
Rape scene from William Tell, Covent Garden. photo: ROH
The Spanish newspaper El Pais reports that 40 members of El Sistema’s flgaship orchestra have fled the country. Its conductor Gustavo Dudamel no longer dares to return to Venezuela.
Report here.
It’s the finals of the Cadaques competition in Barcelona.
The quarter-finalists are:
Dominic Grier (UK)
Kaapo Ijas (Finland)
Felix Mildenberger (Germany)
Wilson Ng (China)
Jaume-Blai Santonja Espinós (Spain)
Sergey Simakov (Russia)
Nuno Coelho (Portugal)
The jury: Gianandrea Noseda (chair; 1994 winner); Annette Mangold (artistic planner, Berlin Philharmonic), Nicholas Kenyon (MD, Barbican Centre), Lutz Köhler, Jaime Martín (conductors), Jun-ichi Nihei (Japan Arts Corporation), and the Cadaqués Orchestra.
UPDATE: The semi-finalists are Felix Midenberger, Sergey Simakov and Nuno Coelho.
The New York Post has come up with a claim of sexual molestation by a visiting assistant conductor against Joseph Colaneri, a veteran member of the Metropolitan Opera conducting staff (see Update below).
The anonymous complainant alleges that in 2001, when she was 25, Colaneri exposed himself and made her touch his penis as they sat in the opera house in San Francisco watching a performance of La Traviata.
Colaneri, now 62, has been on staff at the Met since 1988. He is also music director at the Glimmerglass Festival.
There is no corroboration available for the Post report here.
