We are sad to hear of the passing of Marina Horak, an international artist who played with major orchestras before developing a teaching practice in her native Ljubljana.

She studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and in London with Peter Feuchtwanger, playing both piano and harpsichord.

Newton Mansfield, a fixture in the NY Phil since 1961, died yesterday, his son reports.

Of Polish birth, he made his debut in Paris in 1938 and went on to play in Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and the Met before joining Leonard Bernstein’s orchestra in ’61 and staying there for the rest of his working life, retiring in 2016 as one of the world’s longest-serving players.

He loved to play.

 

We have reports of the death in Turin of Alfonso Mosesti, concertmaster of three Rai orchestras from 1954 to 1999 and a crucible of the inexpressible nature of Italian string tone.

A renowned soloist, passionate about little-known Italian composers, he never bothered much with an international career.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic will play music by 60 female composers in 2018/19, amounting to 35% of its repertoire output.

Among the highlights are 20 works by Thea Musgrave (pic) to be played in a single week, the resurrection of Dame Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D major and Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène.

Thea will be 90 in May.

The ever-eclectic Sakari Oramo presides as music director.

You see, it can be done.

The general manager and music director of the Met stage a phoney Youtube conversation, full of superlatives and mutual admiration.

There is, however, one interesting moment when Yannick discusses technique.

Here’s a more unbuttoned Yannick:

Hats off to the mathematician satirist.

With a tribute below from Stephen Sondheim.

The Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has moved swiftly after the death of Jose Antonio Abreu to take state control of the music education foundation, El Sistema.

The new head of El Sistema is Delcy Rodriguez,  a former propaganda minister who is now president of Maduro’s laughably-named Constitutional Assembly. There are three other members of the board of directors. One of them is Maduro’s son.

This regime is starving its citizens into submission for the benefit of a clique of kleptocrats.

Now is the time for the rest of the world to cut its ties with El Sistema.

(That means you, Julian, and you, Nicky).

From our diarist, Anthea Kreston:

Two concerts down, nine to go in 11 days on this US tour. We started in Princeton, where I had the distinct pleasure of staying with someone I had met through the comments section of this blog – the noted author and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton, Andrew Moravcsik. I was also able to meet his wife, the celebrated author Anne-Marie Slaughter, a hero of women (and men) the world over. Over dinner and breakfasts, I got to know these remarkable people a bit better – their advice on work-family balance have been a life-changer for me over these last years, and have saved me from several serious relationship blunders.

As I walked into the historic Nassau Hotel for lunch with the presenter and Quartet, I froze at the sight of a fellow Chicagoan Bill Murray, chatting and posing for photos. As he walked by, and my Quartet showed up, I learned that his Quartet (with German cellist Jan Vogler) was playing Princeton the same night, at the other venue in town. Our cellist knows their cellist, and I begged him to go over and say hello, nearly jumping out of my shoes with excitement.

Long story short, I sat next to Bill Murray for lunch, and had such an uproariously silly time. He was up and down, chatting with the guys at the bar, talking to the waitresses, he was exactly like all of his characters he plays – he is himself. His battered, tan and green RV Van was parked outside the swank hotel – he himself drives the band from venue to venue. He grabbed the huge pepper shaker from the waitress and with a unique flourish, peppered everyone at the table, whether they had something pepper-worthy or not. I was on my “A” game, and we hit it off well enough that I got an invite to go suspender shopping with him after lunch. I begged off – my jetlag was starting to show – tonight’s concert was going to end at 4 am Berlin time. I have had few regrets in my life, but I do believe that passing up a suspender shopping trip with Bill Murray may have been the largest.

Last night was Library of Congress, and I again opted out of the hotel in favor of a deeper experience. Linda Stern, the widow of Isaac, had extended a welcome to me, and we had a tender, intimate afternoon together, where she reminisced and walked me around her lavish apartment, awash in memories of Isaac as well as countless Chagall and Picasso paintings, memorabilia and framed original scores and documents. I jumped in a cab directly after the concert, and the two of us stayed up to all hours together, drinking wine and eating cheese sticks.

So, now onto the Midwest. By next diary, I will have played Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Carnegie, Cincinnati and Houston.

with Bill Murray

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra has named the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan as one of two principal guest conductors from next season. The other is the expensive Christoph Eschenbach.

Even more noteworthy is that two past music directors – Neeme Jarvi and Gustavo Dudamel – will not be returning next season.

The roster of new guest conductors includes Simone Young, Han-Na Chang and Joana Carneiro. The music director is the boyish-looking Finn, Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

Gothenburg has a record of making maverick picks.

 

 

 

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:

On first hearing, this seemed nothing special – a Russian-Jewish pianist, Kirill Gerstein, tackling the two Gershwin concertos with the all-American St Louis orchestra. Worthy cultural diplomacy but nothing that immediately gripped the ear. It took a second spin to grasp the truly challenging aspects of this undertaking.

Gerstein takes the jazz band version of Rhapsody in Blue and bends the rhythms in such a way that they sound almost Jewish….

Read on here.

And here.

The head of the Czech Olympic Committee wants the national anthem to be changed before the next Games in 2020.

This infinitely wise and sensitive ex-rower says the anthem is (a) not patriotic or confident enough and (b) too short. It’s over in 80 seconds.

The chair, Jiri Kejval, has formed a committee to find a new anthem to replace the one by František Škroup with something with a bit more swagger (like the Slovaks, for instance).