The Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain buried its principal horn, Roberto Alvarez, today.

Roberto was 46. He had been ill for three months.

His was the third death this year in the orchestra, following the cellist Juan Carlos Cadenas and pianist Olga Semushina.

May Asturias be spared further sorrow.

The East German town of Görlitz-Zittau has named the Manchester-based Polish conductor Ewa Strusinska as its next general music director.

Ewa, formerly of the Szeczin Philarmonic in Poland, works at th Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.

The Korean tenor Alfred Kim was arrested in Toulouse nine months ago, charged with banging his girlfriend’s head against a toilet bowl until it broke.

He was given an eight-month suspended sentence and an 8,000 Euros fine and promptly fled the country. Toulouse Opera made him pay the costs of cancelling the last performance of Verdi’s Ernani.

That was in March. In December, Kim is back singing Manrico in Frankfurt Oper’s Trovatore. He’s quite a public favourite in Frankfurt, where he spent five years as an ensemble member.

In the coming months, Kim will sing Radames in Madrid’s Aida, Turiddu in Rome’s Cavalleria, Cavaradosi in Toca in Valencia and Enzo Grimaldi in Berlin’s La Gioconda.

What does this say about the opera industry’s attitude to sexual violence?

More on the subject here.

Manuel Hernández-Silva has been named musical and artistic director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra from next summer.

A former principal guest of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, he is presently chief conductor in Malaga.

What’s in it for us? Jam some time next decade?

Universal Music chief Lucian Grainge said: ‘This important step forward provides our recording artists and songwriters improved content flexibility and growing compensation from YouTube’s ad-supported and paid-subscription tiers, while also furthering YouTube’s commitment to manage music rights on its platform. I look forward to collaborating with Susan and her team at YouTube on the important work ahead to advance artists’ interests and sustain the music industry’s recent growth.’

YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki said: ‘We’re THRILLED to strengthen our partnership with Universal Music Group”, said she. “This agreement means we can drive more value to the industry, break and support more artists, and deliver an incredible music experience to fans around the world.’

The Finnish pianist Henri Sigfridsson has posted sad news of the death of his wife and duo partner, Akiko.

Akiko Sigfridsson (b. 29.8.1971 -d. 20.12.2017)

Dear friends and colleagues,

my beloved wife and our beloved mother has passed away. We are eternally grateful to her and will always love her.

Henri, Juhani (14) and Toni (10) Sigfridsson

Bio:

Akiko Sigfridsson was born in Kamakura, Japan. She started playing the piano at the age of four. In 1987 she entered the Tokyo-Geidai University high school and studied under professor Midori Tanabe. She graduated as Master of Arts in 1998. She held her debut concert in 1991 in the Bunka-Kaikan concert hall ”young talent” series. In 1995 she appeared as soloist with the Tokyo-Geidai Orchestra, and the same year she won the Grand Prix at the Kitakyushu Festival, as well as third prize in the international Schubert competition in Dortmund.

Between 1995 and 1998, Akiko studied with Willem Brons at the Amsterdam conservatory. From 2000 to 2002 she studied with Professor Herbert Seidel at the Frankfurt Music Academy and between 2003 and 2007 she studied lied performance with Professor Jürgen Glauss at the Cologne Music Academy, as well as participated in the voice and violin classes as pianist. In 2006, she and her husband Henri Sigfridsson won the piano duo competition in Wuppertal. Akiko Sigfridsson has given solo concerts and chamber concerts in Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Italy and Switzerland.

The former Met music director has only ever had one manager. He was Ronald Wilford, the Machiavelli at the heart of Columbia Artists Management Inc, the world’s largest classical agency. Wilford personally controlled the careers of more than 100 conductors, but one was his idol – Herbert von Karajan – and three were closer to him than the rest.

Those three were Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn and James Levine.

Wilford plotted their destinies, negotiated their contracts and knew whatever went on in their lives. If there were secrets, Wilford knew where they were buried. He may have buried them himself. Or got someone like Peter Gelb, his gofer, to do so.

Since the exposure of allegations that have expelled Levine from the Met, it has been widely imputed that Wilford may have been involved in concealing or suppressing aspects of Levine’s personal life. That may be the case. Or it may not. Levine, who is pathologically non-confrontational, would rely on Wilford to take up cudgels and do other unpleasant tasks on his behalf.

But in later years there was a growing distance between the sorcerer and his apprentice. Wilford was not keen on Levine’s desire to be music director in Boston, though he fixed the contract when his client requested it. ‘Jimmy does what Jimmy wants,’ Wilford would say.

When Wilford died, Levine failed to show up for his memorial event at the Richard Rodgers Theater. He was in rehearsal, it was said, but he could have made a brief appearance or sent a message that showed some emotion. The best he managed to say was: ‘He became the only manager I ever had, and even better, one of my most beloved friends.’

Any future Levine biographer must examine the erosion of the Wilford relationship.

Dozens of New York musicians have contacted Slipped Disc to argue that the allegations of sexual abuse against the Met staff conductor Joseph Colaneri are unfounded.

They say the lone complainant is a musician with a history of making unfounded accusations against her colleagues and pursuing them with hoaxes. She has also been involved in social media storms. Her claims to the New York Post were not independently verified. No other person has come forward with a claim against Colaneri.

The conductor has made the following statement: ‘Truth and integrity are core values by which I live. The allegations which were made against me in the New York Post article of December 17, 2017, are categorically false and completely unfounded. This has been a devastating experience for me and my family.’

Unlike James Levine, who has been accused of several offences, Colaneri has not been suspended by the Metropolitan Opera, or by Glimmerglass Opera where he is artistic director.

Mannes College of Music has issued an interim refutation of the claim that Colaneri used his influence recently to get the complainant fired. It said: ‘Based on our initial review of the facts, Mr. Colaneri had no involvement in the decision to terminate her employment. She was fired for multiple violations of university policy regarding her conduct involving students.’

On this basis, we believe the accusations against Colaneri must be regarded as dubious.