Susan Madden, hired in January by Deborah Borda as v-p in charge of development, has gone before April comes in.
Couldn’t take the heat? More likely, as an outsider, didn’t like the music world.
She will be replaced on April 9 by Marita Altman, coming from Opera Philadelphia and before that from the Met. She’ll be raiding Peter Gelb’s donor book.
Other events this week in the life of the Boston Symphony maestro.
Anna Whitlock Henry is principal flute with the Big Spring Symphony Orchestra in Texas.
Undergoing brain surgery for a tremor, she was not going to give up playing.
Levon Chilingarian writes:
Cellist Philip De Groote (1949-2018), the rock on which the Chilingarian Quartet was founded, passed away peacefully last night. His supremely sensitive playing provided the ideal conversational foil for all who had the privilege of performing with him. The Chilingarian Quartet profoundly mourns his untimely death. I am personally deeply saddened by the loss of my long-time musical soulmate.
Born in Johannesburg, De Groote co-founded the quartet in 1971. He taught at the Royal College of Music and the University of Cape Town, retiring from the quartet in 2013.
Chilingirian String Quartet perform Mozart Quartet K589 First Movement, August 2012, Lake District Summer Music Festival from www.kevinlaitak.co.uk on Vimeo.
This is Ms Nadine Sierra on social media:
Putting on “the bikini” again tomorrow for Nannetta at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden ! I’ll admit that when the director first told me that my costume would be a bikini for Acts I & II, I panicked! The physical act of singing and using one’s diaphragm to support each note doesn’t necessarily look flattering according to today’s beauty standards…but as the director explained his concept of Nannetta to me and wanting to showcase this youthful quality she possesses along with Fenton, I quickly understood that I needed to play HER in this outfit rather than myself. I needed to stop worrying about my own insecurities as Nadine and show exactly how I envision Nannetta as being confident, young, vibrant, clever, and beautiful. This shift in mentality worked and gave me so many things to play with, that I actually LOVE my bikini scenes now! I feel like I can easily serve the character now, thus serving the music Verdi set to the libretto. With this, I feel like I’ve gained some confidence in myself that maybe I didn’t realize I could have; the confidence to be bold no matter what my characters wear and show off my own imperfections with grace. Afterall, I love being only human 
🤗
The opera, in case you’re bothered, is Falstaff.
The Swedish mezzo has withdrawn from Barrie Kosky’s upcoming Komische Oper cabaret I wish I was a chicken, following the tragic death of her husband Benny Fredriksson.
The production has been postponed to next season. Kosky said: ‘We deeply regret Anne Sofie von Otter’s loss and wish her and her family much strength during this difficult time. We fully understand that she is currently unable to work on this project, and are all the more pleased that, despite everything, she has already signalled her interest in a later staging of I wish I was a chicken!’
The Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta has been awarded the 50,000-Euro Karajan prize after an effulgent performance of the Schumann concerto at the Salzburg Easter Festival, which Karajan founded.
The presentation was made by Karajan’s widow, Eliette. Gabetta is the second artist to receive the award.
photo (c) OFS/Creutziger
The ambitious-yet-traditional Vienna Symphony Orchestra has just named Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its next chief conductor, succeeding Philippe Jordan in 2021.
Orozco, 40, holds dual Colombian and Austrian nationality and is agented by Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm Artist Agency.
He is presently chief conductor at hr-Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt up to 2019, music director in Houston and an energetic guest conductor.
Jordan is going to the Staatsoper.
From the press release:
Andrés Orozco-Estrada erklärt zu seiner Ernennung: „Die Wiener Symphoniker sind für mich ein traditionsreicher Repräsentant der Wiener Klangkultur. Ich freue mich sehr, als Chefdirigent die hervorragende Qualität des Orchesters auch in Zukunft zu garantieren und an neuen Aufgaben weiterzuentwickeln. Es ist mir ein Anliegen, eine noch engere Verbindung zum Wiener Publikum aufzubauen, unsere Musik möglichst vielen Menschen nahezubringen und gleichzeitig die internationale Ausstrahlung der Wiener Symphoniker zu fördern! Dieses hervorragende Orchester meiner musikalischen Heimatstadt zu leiten, ist für mich eine großartige Motivation für die zukünftige Zusammenarbeit, in welche ich meine ganze Energie investieren werde.“
