Bryan Hymel is out of Munich’s Vespers after losing his voice on opening night.

He says: ‘It is with heavy heart that I have had to withdraw from the Bayerische Staatsoper’s production of Les Vêpres Siciliennes. This is a role which I love and have lived with for the past 4 years. Our team has worked so hard to tell this story and it pained me to not be able to show the audience what we had created. This is why I insisted on singing the premier even though I was not fully recovered. The first half of my season has seen 37 performances and in order to continue on that same trajectory, I need to give my self sufficient time to heal.

‘I send my sincerest thanks to all my wonderful colleagues and everyone at the theater for their support and understanding! Apologies to all who hoped to see me sing this role in the following weeks and I cannot wait for the reprise of this production during the summer festival.’

In a revealing interview with Living the Classical Life, broadcast first on Slipped Disc, Joyce kicks off with how a leading personage in London’s musical establishment told her she had nothing to offer as an artist.

That was 20 years ago.

Joyce, with blazing Kansas git-go, turned London adversity into a learning experience.

‘We spend too much time trying to get it right,’ she now says.

Must watch.

Zdenek Mahler, who has died in Prague aged 89, was a multifarious contributor to Czech culture as an author, screenwriter and musicologist.

His book on Gustav Mahler and his homeland appeared in 2009.

He claimed to be a distant relative of the composer.

The British violinist Daniel Hope, music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, has been chosen in San Francisco to succeed Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg as head of New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Hope, 44, was asked to fill in some months ago as interim artistic leader and the orchestra has moved fast to make the move permanent.

An update from Myrna Herzog, whose period instrument was broken by the dodgy Italian airline:

Two months have passed and I am still waiting for Alitalia’s promise to “share soon the full picture” and reply to my request of compensation of the material damage to my gamba, bow and case.

On January 16th they wrote to me that “a deep investigation is still being conducted” but until now they haven’t explained how the instrument was smashed, and why are so many wooden bits and pieces missing.

I provided them all that they demanded on behalf of their insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali: photos of the instrument inside and out, before and after the accident, a certificate of value and of authenticity.  And… nothing, no answers, silence.

So I made this 4 minute film, which contains also new photos of the restoration.

Ernst Krenek was deleted from Europe’s opera schedules in the 1930s, under Nazi pressure.

His epic opera Karl V, commissioned by the Vienna Staatsoper, was cancelled in 1933. It was briefly staged in Prague in June 1938, before being erased altogether.

Bavarian State Opera has just announced Karl V as a highlight of its 2018/19 season.

Aside from festival performances (below), has there ever been a major house staging?

The Semper Oper in Dresden has removed István Simon from its schedules while an investigation is conducted into allegations of misconduct against a balletmaster.

Apparently, it is considered unsafe to have both accuser and accused working in the house at the same time.

Simon has been a company soloist since 2007.

More here.

Bavarian State Opera is in the throes of announcing its 2018/19 season.

Hometown boy Jonas Kaufmann will open the season as Otello, opposite Anja Harteros as Desdemona and Gerald Finley as Iago. New production by Amelie Niermeyer will be conducted by Kirill Petrenko.

Kaufmann sang his first Verdi Otello at Covent Garden last summer. In a recent interview he told me that Antonio Pappano and Kirill Petrenko were his preferred conductors for new work.

Saturday 17 March 2018

Message from a principal player in the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León:

Right after Maestro Jesus Lopez Cobos passed, I made 2 suggestions to our general manager.

One was that we should invite Maestro’s youngest son, Francois Lopez Ferrer, a talented young conductor who is Asst. in Santiago, Chile & giving excellent performances at big competitions, to conduct us as part of his father’s legacy. I’ve been told he’s coming next season!

The second was an idea I saw mentioned in a FB discussion which I knew had to be elevated to the powers that be. The proposal was that our concert hall be re-named for Jesus Lopez Cobos. Never in a million years did I think it would happen this fast! It was announced today!

Luanne Homzy, a gifted musician who was concertmaster at Colburn as a student, says she has been bullied by AFM Local 47 in a case of mistaken identity. The fight has cost Luanne $15,000.

Here’s her post:

In August of 2016, I found out through back channels that I was being accused by AFM Local 47 for taking part in a non union recording session at which I was not present, yet one month later, I was formally charged by the AFM. Erick Cruz (whose back you will see in this video – not able to look at me) made the fraudulent claim that it was me in the photos he took of a musician walking on a street with a violin case.

During the time between the leaking of the list of accused musicians and officially charging me, Mr. Cruz was given information that I was in a different county at the time, yet he and his “colleagues” still went ahead with charging me. As soon as I received the official charge in September 2016, my attorney, who I had made aware of the situation when the information had been leaked to me in August 2016, replied with my phone location records and signed receipts from the day and time of the alleged session. However, as you will see in this video from late October 2016, Gordon Grayson (who was recently fired from the Local) still hadn’t removed my charge, more than 2 months after I had found out I was being falsely accused.

I have since spent over $15,000 defending myself against the slanderous claims made about me and distributed with intent by the Local, not to mention the harassment, intimidation, false promises, and threats that would follow. I was presented with an unlawful NDA by the local in exchange for a public apology and reimbursement of approximately 40% of my legal fees (which at the time totalled to about 10K), yet if I were to breach the agreement, I would owe the Local $10,000, and another $20,000 if I breached it a second time. I refused to sign such an agreement, so, tonight, I break my silence and I ask for your solidarity as I take a stand for what is right.

Keeping silent will only allow them to keep getting away with their behavior and abuse of power, and I do not wish upon anyone the mental, financial, and emotional misery they have intentionally inflicted upon me. The Union cannot continue to abuse its members when they should be looking out for them. Shame on you Local 47.

I am not alone, and there are numerous accounts of this kind of union thuggery. I’m collecting stories like mine for an upcoming news feature, so please feel free to reach out to me if you are (or someone you know is) interested in sharing their story — my wish is that this will bring awareness and ultimately put a stop to this kind of harassment.

(This is footage from my car’s dash cam, from October 2016 when I was accosted by union officials in the parking lot of Local 47, after going in for help with filling out music prep forms.)

Watch.