The conductor has written an article for the weekly Die Zeit, urging the world to recognise the state of Palestine.

‘You can not expect a compromise between two peoples who do not recognise each other,’ says Barenboim. ‘For a two-state solution, we need two states, and they are not there right now.’

He calls on all countries that have recognised Israel to extend the same courtesy to Palestine. And he responds to President Trump’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital with a proposal that it should be the capital of both nations.

photo: Christodoulou/Lebrecht

Myron Michailidis, artistic director of the National Opera of Greece, has been named Generalmusikdirektor in Erfurt, central Germany.

He succeeds Joana Mallwitz, who has gone on to bigger things.

 

We have been informed of the death last week of Rohan H. Stewart-MacDonald, a Cambridge scholar who spent much of his professional life in Italy. He was in his 40s.

 

Rohan’s major publications include New Perspectives on the Keyboard Sonatas of Muzio Clementi (2006); Jan Ladislav Dussek: A Bohemian Composer «en voyage» through Europe, co-edited with Roberto Illiano (2012), and The Early Keyboard Sonata in Italy and Beyond (2016).

 

 

He was also active as a concert pianist and accompanist, and a regular choral singer.

Here is the notice we have received:
It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that the dear fellow musicologist and friend Rohan H. Stewart-MacDonald passed away last week.
Truly kind and generous, Rohan was a skilled scholar.
He has been always an important presence for the life and the scholarly development of Ad Parnassum Journal (Bologna). He was a member of the advisory board from the very beginning, since its launch in 2003.

As a member of the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini (Lucca) and the National Edition of the Complete Works of Muzio Clementi (Bologna), he always demonstrated his remarkable capacity to work endlessly. Our scholarly lives crossed several times since we met almost eighteen years ago and he was inspiring for all of us.

We are going to miss him and his delicate sense of humour. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with his family.

Luca Lévi Sala (Université de Montréal)
Roberto Illiano (CSOOLB)
Massimiliano Sala (CSOOLB)
Fulvia Morabito (CSOOLB)

Katharina Engelbrecht won today’s audition for a vacancy in the Vienna Phil’s first violins.

Katharine, 30 has been a member of the Vienna State Opera stage orchestra for the past four years. She will have to play another three years before her tenure in the Vienna Phil is confirmed.

The London Symphony Orchestra has finally filled the vacancy left by the death of Rod Franks in 2014.

The new co-principal trumpet is David Elton, who has held the seat at the Sydney Symphony for the past six years Before that he was in Perth and Adelaide. He has also appeared with several world orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic.

Photo: Tim Walsh/SSO

Liza Ravenscroft at British Airways has written to Slipped Disc, maintaining that two of her colleagues have put out ‘misleading information’ about the company’s instrument policy.

 

Ms Ravenscroft holds the title of Global News Manager at BA, though she has oddly not written to us in that capacity. Her duties include ‘deputising for Head of Crisis, regularly Comms department lead at Gold crisis sessions, advising operations teams on how to manage reputation during large scale incidents.’

She has asked us to publish the following statement:

We appreciate how precious instruments are to musicians and offer special arrangements for transporting them, which are detailed on ba.com.

We will always do our best to accommodate smaller musical instruments in the cabin.

In order to ensure there is enough space for all customers to store their belongings, larger musical instruments, such as guitars and cellos, can be carried in the hold in a hard case. Alternatively customers can choose to buy an extra seat to carry them in the cabin at a discounted rate.

The statement is vaguely reassuring, without in any way explaining how other BA staff gave out misleading information – or, heaven forfend, apologising for it.

Being BA means never having to say you are sorry.

 

 

AP have published an interesting survey of companies – mostly in Germany, some in Japan and South Korea – that give employees time to play in the firm’s orchestra.

Companies with employee orchestras include engineering firm Siemens, maker of trains and medical scanners; carmakers Daimler, BMW and Ford; auto components and electronics maker Robert Bosch GmbH; airline Lufthansa, and chemical firm BASF.

At a recent rehearsal, Weitkamp and the SAP musicians filled the cavernous, 2,300-seat Rosengarten auditorium in the southwestern German town of Mannheim with rich, warm string sound, practicing first a bouncy pop mix of Mozart’s Prague Symphony and Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus.” Then the brass blared out the stirring opening notes of John Williams’ theme music for the Olympics, as the orchestra prepared to play at a graduation ceremony for the local college.

Read on here.

Michael Volpe, head of Holland Park Opera, has written a useful reflection on how opera houses and festivals are influenced by social media in their decisions on future production. Some of them are running scared of a Twitter storm.

Here’s what Kasper Holten, former head of opera at Covent Garden tells him: ‘We have a culture that is about success – star ratings, bums on seats, Twitter opinion – and that threatens risk-taking for sure. But one customer said to me that it was only worth taking risks if they are successful. Of course, that doesn’t make sense, does it? The one thing I noticed about being in the UK is that there seems to be a resistance to the idea of ‘concept’.’

Michael Volpe continues: Engaging with furious, critical patrons is something Holten clearly enjoys, and I concur with him that it is always pleasing to discuss, to learn from audiences and sometimes find a way to at least shift their thinking. The trouble is, I worry most about those who don’t engage and just vote with their feet, creating volatility — and I say this despite the fact that the ROH currently operates on occupancies of over 95%…

Read on here.

pic: Holland Park Opera

The world’s least favourite airline* has changed course overnight. After months of assuring us that violins and other small instruments are welcome aboard, here’s the latest message from Customer Service (sic).

Hi Norman. It’s true that we’ve changed our policy and we’re unable to allow musical instruments to be carried in cabin as hand baggage without charge. We ask all passengers travelling with musical instruments to contact us for assistance prior to their journey. ^Oliver

Until they change course again our advice is: take another plane.

UPDATE: Alison Balsom has received a similar message.

* See https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5149642/british-airways-slumps-to-third-from-bottom-in-annual-passenger-survey-by-which/

See also: String quartet pays homage to British Airways

UPDATE: BA crisis official contradicts instruments ban