Met Heldentenor Clay Hilley was winding up a recital on Saturday at the Wagner Society of New York when his final encore took an unexpected twist:


It was the 31st birthday of his beloved Sara Duchovnay, an unmissable opportunity to propose.

Sara is a soprano, co-founder of Shoperatic LLC. She says: ‘I think it’s safe to say that this was the best birthday I’ve ever had.’

 

Claire Mera-Nelson, a former violinist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium, the London Handel Orchestra and The Sixteen, has been named director of music (and London) at Arts Council England.

Her last job was head of music at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and executive director of Blackheath Halls.

Gilbert Cruz became the Times culture chief today, after a stint as TV editor.

Here’s how his short-term predecessor, Danielle Mattoon, introduced him three years ago:

 

‘I’m delighted to announce that Gilbert Cruz will be our new Television Editor. Gilbert comes from New York Magazine, where he has been running Vulture, the culture machine that has kept me and every other arts editor in America in a constant state of ‘Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that?’ dismay. He is fluent in all aspects of pop culture, but especially film and — most relevant here — the sprawling universe of television, which he oversaw and brought to order at Vulture.

‘Before New York he was at Time, where he launched and edited Time.com’s entertainment vertical and developed Populist, an ASME-winning iPad app. He also did a stint as education reporter and ran the magazine’s Briefing section.’

 

 

This was yesterday at the Rotterdam Philharmonic, which is kicking off its centenary year.

Lahav Shani came back on stage to give a Strauss sweetmeat as an encore. But the orchestra knew it was his birthday, his 29th.

And now so does everyone else.

Watch.

The Vienna State Opera brings back Tosca tonight in Margarethe Wallman’s production for its 600th performance.

The cast has been seriously souped up:

Floria Tosca     Angela Gheorghiu
Mario Cavaradossi     Massimo Giordano
Baron Scarpia     Erwin Schrott

Jesús López Cobos conducts.

There is a real whiff of competitiveness about Tosca at the moment, the more so since it was Vienna that was forced to release Sonya Yoncheva to save the Met’s bacon.

 

The musicologist Peter Evans died on New Year’s Day. He was 88.

Professor of music at the University of Southampton from 1961 to 1990, Evans wrote an important 1979 study on the music of Benjamin Britten. His death removes one of the last of the first-generation Britten scholars.

 

We have received the following message from the airline:

We regret what happened with Mrs. Myrna Herzog and we are carrying out all necessary investigations. However, generally speaking we would like to remind that for all bags exceeding the size limits allowed for cabin bags (8kg and 55 cm high, 35 cm wide and 25 cm deep), such as the musical instrument mentioned, it is necessary to purchase an “extra seat” during the booking procedure in case the passenger intends to avoid checking-in such delicate and/or valuable items. The extra seat, which is normally dedicated to passengers, allows to secure the item with the appropriate procedure.

According to a preliminary investigation, no such request has been presented by the passenger neither during booking nor at the time of departure from Rio de Janeiro. During check-in operations, according to the information available at the moment, the passenger was presented with the possibility to buy an “extra seat” but she refused and signed the limited release form (a disclaimer of liability) after being informed that the best solution for such a delicate item was to bring it with her in the cabin. That said, Alitalia deeply regrets what happened to Mrs. Herzog and will proceed, having established the facts, with the reimbursement in compliance with the international regulations in force.

Slipped Disc addendum: Ms Herzog insists that she tried to purchase a second seat for the instrument but was told that none was available.

Danika Lorèn, a member of Canadian Opera Company, has gone naked for a Toronto magazine to confront the misperceptions she encounters as an opera singer.

Danika writes:

I remember the day I saw the call on Instagram about taking part in this feature. I was feeling very frustrated by the body image attitudes being projected onto many of my peers in opera. So doing this was in some respect an act of rebellion. 

In opera, our body is our instrument. It’s hard not to be hyper-critical of every element you’re putting out there.

I think opera is trying to keep up with other entertainment industries in being hyper-focused on the body and putting forth a certain kind of look. Hopefully the music and the voice still come first. But it’s competitive, so it’s easy to start obsessing about the way you look….

Read on here.

photo (c) Samuel Engelking

UPDATE: In a second interview, with COC News, Danika says, ‘I wanted to put all of my power into a picture.’

The greatest male dancer of the second half of the 20th century died of Aids on January, 6, 1993.

Nureyev possessed, in addition to phenomenal technique and an infallible memory for Russian traditions, a unique force of personality that placed him perpetually at the centre of events.

He never needed publicity. Fame followed him like dust behind a prairie herd.

We have never seen his like again. Perhaps we never will.