First Charles Castronovo was called in at the last minute to replace Bryan Hymel in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette after Hymel failed to recover in time from a Munich bug.

Now Castronovo has called in sick. Next up for tonight’s performance is Andrea Shin, a Korean who will make his Met debut.

He is covering three different roles at the Met this season, but does not seem to have sung Roméo before.

Toi-toi to all.

To give perspective to Hamburg Staatsoper’s excuses for sacking a soprano at four months pregnant, consider the case of Layla Claire who (we hear) sang the title role of Alcina at seven months at the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe in February.

Layla and her baritone husband John Chest welcomed the birth of their second child on April 17.

John will sing Pelléas at Glyndebourne this summer.

Our congratulations to the happy family.

 

The Berlin Staatsoper chief is now the fourth conductor – after Luisi, Jansons and Thielemann – to return his ECHO award in protest at this year’s choice of an Auschwitz-joke rapper duo.

Barenboim said:

Als Jude, der seit vielen Jahren gerne in Deutschland lebt und Freiheit in der Kunst als ein hohes Gut ansieht, hat mich die Debatte besonders beschäftigt und ich habe auch abgewartet, ob seitens der Verantwortlichen eine adäquate Reaktion hierauf erfolgen wird. Meinungsfreiheit und Freiheit in der Kunst gehörten zu den wichtigsten Errungenschaften und Werten einer demokratischen Gesellschaft. Mit jeder Freiheit kommt aber auch eine Verantwortung: unsere Verantwortung, die errungenen Freiheiten so zu nutzen, dass auch die Freiheit eines jeden anderen Menschen und Andersdenkenden bestehen kann – ebenso wie die Verantwortung, andere Menschen in ihrer Würde zu achten und zu respektieren. Diese Überzeugung ist seit vielen Jahren Kern meines Denkens als Mensch und meiner Arbeit als Künstler. Antisemitismus, Frauenfeindlichkeit, Homophobie und die offene Verachtung von vermeintlich Schwächeren und Minderheiten sind ein Missbrauch von Freiheit, den wir als Gesellschaft niemals tolerieren dürfen. Wir müssen uns geschlossen gegen solche Stimmen erheben und dürfen sie nicht auch noch dadurch bestärken, dass wir sie mit Preisen auszeichnen und dadurch legitimieren.

‘As a Jew who has enjoyed living in Germany for many years and values freedom of the arts, the debate has particularly occupied my mind and I waited to see whether responsible persons would react adequately. Freedom of expression and art are among the most important achievements and values ​​of a democratic society, but with each freedom comes a responsibility: our responsibility to use the freedoms that have been gained so that the freedom of every other human being is respected. This conviction has long been at the heart of my thinking as a human being and of my work as an artist: anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, and the open contempt of allegedly weaker and more discriminating minorities are an abuse of freedom that we as a society can never tolerate, and we must stand united against such voices and not encourage them by giving them prizes and legitimising them.’

 

The Maltese tenor faced a demonstration in London this weekend when he turned out to sing at a company which is involved in the island’s political controversies. The unsolved murder of a campaigning journalist has greatly heated the atmosphere.

Report here.

 

Not an orchestra in sight.

Dough Sheldon (l.) becomes chairman of the tilting agency, it was announced this morning.

Press release:

April 23, 2018 – Columbia Artists, the legendary performing arts firm founded in 1930, today announced additional details of its new corporate strategy which began with a rebranding in September 2017. Reflecting today’s ever-changing performing arts landscape, the firm has formed a new internal structure that will lead to expanded strategies and broadened collaboration for global artist management, performing arts attractions, touring and event production, and staged and semi-staged theatrical productions.

Four key business groups will now form the core of Columbia Artists, a substantial departure from the firm’s historic structure of manager-led, multi-disciplinary “divisions,” which internally competed for artists, projects and bookings.

The business group designations are being announced along with new executive and staff appointments:

 Classical Music

Well-established as the world leader in the management of leading classical music talent, Columbia Artists continues its commitment to the classical music business. Newly-elected Columbia Artists Board Chairman and veteran artist manager with the firm for more than five decades, R. Douglas Sheldon, together with Senior Vice President, Stefana Atlas, lead the Classical Music group of artist managers and associates who focus on the career management of classical musicians, conductors and music directors, international touring orchestras and development projects throughout the global classical music market.

The Classical Music group is expanding with the recent addition of artist manager and booking representative, Martin Wittenberg, and promotion ofKatherine Smith, associate manager. This group has long been associated with the touring of leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra, and the careers of international classical music superstars such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Denis Matsuev and Valery Gergiev. The growing roster of established and emerging talent include recent additions of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the new Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Jaap van Zweden, Music Director Designate of the New York Philharmonic.

Performing Arts Touring and Events

Columbia Artists is well-known for the creation, production and representation of touring performing arts attractions and projects.  Under the direction of Columbia Artists President and CEO, Tim Fox, together with Senior Vice President and COO, Alison Williams and Vice President, Emily Yoon, thePerforming Arts Touring and Events group’s efforts have been broadened to include dozens of major American touring projects across all performing arts and entertainment disciplines and genres.  This group of artist managers and producers is also active in the development of new programs for symphony orchestras that feature popular music in symphonic performance, including collaboration with performers from rock and pop music, Broadway and Hollywood, along with the development and management of an elite roster of conductors and music directors who specialize in popular and non-traditional symphonic repertoire, including Rob Fisher, Sarah Hicks, Keith Lockhart, John Mauceri and Ted Sperling.

In further exploration and development of fresh concert hall programming, the Performing Arts Touring and Events group established an international license agreement with Disney Music Group that has helped Columbia Artists lead the world-wide expansion of symphonic live-to-screen symphonic concert events, which includes a growing roster of beloved Disney feature films and animated classics. The team continues to successfully produce unique large-scale live events with Hollywood titles featuring live music and star-studded live performances in iconic music venues around the world including the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall and Tokyo Forum.

Opera Vocal

Reinforcing its leadership as managers of the careers of the opera world’s most distinguished performers, the Columbia Artists Opera Vocal group is led by three veteran managers and Vice Presidents: Michael BenchetritDamon Bristo and William Guerri.  To further enable the dynamic collaboration of this group in the international opera market, Francesca Condeluci and Nathan Wentworth have been promtoed to associate managers, providing greater support to the entire vocal roster.  Highly regarded vocal manager and Columbia Artists veteran, Elizabeth Crittenden, continues to provide valuable artist management and support as artistic advisor and consultant to the Opera Vocal group.

Theatricals

As the North American market for touring theatrical productions continues to evolve into three separate and distinct tiers, Columbia Artists Theatricalsgroup continues to acquire, manage and distribute properties capable of moving among the week-long, split-week and one-nighter markets.  Under the long-time direction of its President, Gary McAvay, Columbia Artists Theatricals has diversified its roster to include the iconic Broadway and Off-Broadway productions of CHICAGO and STOMP, as well as Theatrical Concerts, Tribute Shows, Variety, Cabaret and International Attractions.  Columbia Artists Theatricals works closely with an impressive range of artists, producers, managers, agents, venues and presenters to deliver hundreds of performances each year on subscription and box office driven specials with track records for return engagements which are singular and unprecedented. 

Looking Forward

This new internal structure merges the iconic firm’s founding principles of creativity, innovation, integrity, and passion for excellence with its new team-oriented and collaboration-first business practices. This guiding philosophy empowers Columbia Artists’s managers, producers, and agents to continue to shape individual artist careers and develop national and international touring and live performance strategies, and further the organization as a global leader in arts management.

The opening night of a new production of Dvorak’s Rusalka was called off at the interval at Coburg when the Bulgarian tenor, Milen Bozhkov, said he could not continue.

An allergy, reportedly.

And no understudy on standby.

photo: Theater Coburg

 

Nine finalists have been named in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a showcase that has launched the likes of Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson and Frederca von Stade.

This year’s contestants are:

Danielle Beckvermit, Soprano, Eastern Region
Ashley Dixon, Mezzo-Soprano, Northwest Region
Jessica Faselt, Soprano, Upper Midwest Region
Megan Grey, Mezzo-Soprano, Upper Midwest Region
Gretchen Krupp, Mezzo-Soprano, Central Region

 

Madison Leonard, Soprano, Middle Atlantic Region
Emily Misch, Soprano, Eastern Region
Carlos Santelli, Tenor, Western Region
Hongni Wu, Mezzo-Soprano, Eastern Region