The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has named Jaime Martin, former principal flute of the London Philpharmonic, as its next music director, succeeding Jeffrey Kahane.
This means all three major music institutions in the city – LACO, LA Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic – will be led by native Spanish speakers.
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has James M. Johnson, currently head of the Omaha Symphony, as its next CEO.
Ed Birdwell, principal horn of the American Symphony Orchestra and managing partner of the American Brass Quintet, died on January 26 in Huntsville, Alabama. This is the first public notification of his passing.
Edward Ridley Birdwell was always interested in running things. He went on from playing horn to being manager of concert operations at Carnegie Hall, 1976-1978; executive director, Los Angeles
Chamber Orchestra; 1978-1981; orchestra manager, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1981-1983; director music program, National Endowment for the Arts, 1984-1987; executive vice president and managing
director, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, 1987-1992.
The Bayreuth music director has decided to conduct the final round of the international Franz Liszt piano competition Weimar-Bayreuth.
Those kids had better start practising fast.
The latest travel horror comes from the London violist Morgan Goff, who was subjected to extraordinary aggression at Dublin airport.
Here’s what he tells Slipped Disc.
1. I was told that my Viola would not go through the normal scanner as it was too big and would need to be manually searched and scanned.
2. For this I had to empty the entire contents of my viola case with the exception of the viola and two bows before proceeding to the manual check.
3. The security guard (whose name I wasn’t allowed to get) asked me to open my case, which I did for him.
4. He immediately went to grab the neck of the instrument to pull it out. I quickly stopped him and told him that it was a very valuable and old instrument. I would handle it and hold it for him so that he could inspect it. I asked him to be really careful due to it’s value.
5. After looking at it and getting me to rotate the instrument, he got his swab wand out and in what looked to me like aggression, hit the front of the instrument hard, making a sickening crunching sound and leaving a very visible dent. Obviously this is only speculation, but it seemed to me that he had been offended by my not letting him handle the instrument himself and maybe this was a lesson for me?
6. I yelled at him – what did he think he was doing? I said to him, this instrument is 300 years old, worth a quarter of a million pounds and you have just dented and possibly cracked the front of it. He looked me calmly in the eye and said “I don’t care”
7. My Colleague – Simon Chalk, found the head of security who took me aside and got my details. Below is his report form. He told me the airport would contact me within the next few days (not happened yet). I have copied in his report below. I had to ask him to change mark to dent.
8. During the interview, he went off to get some paperwork. At this point the security guard who had damaged my instrument came up to me and started taunting me (in front of another colleague) asking what my problem was.
Morgan’s luthier has told him the instrument can be repaired, at a cost. Will Dublin Airport apologise and pay up? He’s waiting to hear from them…
UPDATE: Dublin Airport’s response.
The epic opera singer Raimund Herincz commanded the best villain role in London in the 1960s and 1970s, moving on to the Met in 1976.
Born in London to Belgian parents, he commanded the major Wagner roles, was an unforgettable Nabucco and Falstaff and created roles in Tippett operas.
On retirement from the stage, he was a sought-after teacher.
If Bayreuth can do it…. Here’s a press release, just landed:
Acclaimed opera director Polly Graham is to become Artistic Director of Longborough Festival Opera.
The 33-year- old daughter of Martin and Lizzie Graham says: “As a family we are so proud of Longborough and have long talked about its future. But it is only recently that I have felt ready to take on the challenge of leading it forward.”
The Longborough theatre was built on a dream in the garden of maverick impresario Martin Graham’s family home, and opened in 1997. From the beginning Lizzie Graham has been running the shows, and in 2014 appointed Jennifer Smith as General Manager.
Looking to the future, Martin and Lizzie will continue to be deeply involved in the festival, and it is with their blessing that Polly will steer it in a new direction. Lizzie Graham says: “We are delighted that Polly will be continuing the Longborough legacy. It seems the perfect way to build on what has been achieved here.” Polly will take up her new role with immediate effect.
Unlike Bayreuth, Longborough receives no public subsidy.
Murray Gold, who has provided music for the BBC series since 2005, has confirmed he has given up.
Don’t all rush at once.
It’s the 50th anniversary next month of the death of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, an Italian-Jewish composer who fled Fascism in 1939 and wound up writing film scores for Hollywood and concert pieces for Heifetz.
He was the principal teacher of Andre Previn and John Williams and a major influence on Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and more.
Yet, since his death in March 1968, Castelnuovo-Tedesco has been largely forgotten, his works absent from the concert hall and rarely recorded.
Happily, a new website launched this week to remedy the oblivion. Check it out here.
Enrique Batiz, who has been accused of verbal sexual abuse of his musicians and is under investigation for sexual violence against a Swiss violinist, is no longer music director of the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra.
He has been replaced by Rodrigo Macias.
But there is an outcry that Batiz, 75, will be known as Emeritus while the rape allegation is being investigated.
Latest here.
