Deutsche Grammophon today launched what it called a ‘game-changing classical service’ on French TV channel Canal+.
To set the thing off they called in Julie Fuchs who has just been sacked by Hamburg State Opera for being four months’ pregnant and is very newsworthy indeed at the moment.
Julie posted her aria.
Here’s the press release:
Paris, Thursday, April 26 — Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group launch Deutsche Grammophon+, an innovative channel featuring exclusive and specially curated content showcasing Deutsche Grammophon’s prestigious catalogue.
An audio and audio-visual feast, the channel provides an extensive range of curated music hosting over 400 programmes and classical works at launch; including short documentaries, interviews, portraits, key artist and composer anniversaries, catalogue repertoire, albums, new releases and the openings of all operas in France. Content will be expanded upon regularly and Deutsche Grammophon’s iconic artists will recommend their favourite works in personally curated playlists.
Content featured on Deutsche Grammophon+ includes previously-unreleased filmed concerts, most notably a concert shot in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, the audio will be released for the first time by a classical record company in Dolby ATMOS surround sound audio technology. Deutsche Gramophon has embarked on a program of 10 re-masterings of audio recordings into ATMOS to be released by the end of 2018 with a similar rollout planned for 2019. These feature highlight recordings from the analogue era, including artists such as Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan and Carlos Kleiber.
Deutsche Grammophon+ is a beautifully curated channel for Canal subscribers, classical music enthusiasts and new fans alike. A stylish, intuitive and entertaining gateway into the rich universe of classical music, its history and its leading lights, Deutsche Grammophon+ is available for streaming via myCANAL. Featuring cutting edge high-resolution recording technology, and for the first time ever, Dolby ATMOS. Deutsche Grammophon+ is currently available for all subscribers with the latest-generation Canal set-top boxes and will be offered via third-party set-top boxes at a later stage. The channel is available within the CANAL Family package, as well as the Panorama and Intégrale offers.
Gerald-Brice Viret, EVP Canal+ TV Channels: “We are very proud to offer the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon catalogue to our classical music loving subscribers. This new video on demand and streaming channel came to life thanks to the Universal Music, Deutsche Grammophon and CANAL+ teams’ expertise. All part of the Vivendi group, these teams have united their efforts in order to offer a particularly rich and innovative service. An unprecedented service in the media landscape.”
In partnership with Canal+, the channel will grow to encompass repertoire from other classical labels within Universal Music Group.
The channel’s overarching goal is to encourage a passion for classical music and to showcase the full wealth of Deutsche Grammophon’s classical repertoire and its extraordinary artists, from the most revered legends to the avantgarde, including new composers and young developing artists.
Clemens Trautmann, President, Deutsche Grammophon comments: “We are delighted to launch our game-changing classical service in partnership with the inspired team at Canal+. Our outstanding artists, composers and the incredible catalogues we are custodians of deserve a platform of equally high quality and ambition. Investing in artists and culture is part of our strategic vision, we will continue to innovate with our partners as we foster a deeper understanding of, and love for, classical music and develop new audiences and ways of enjoyment.”
Et voici le promo:
The Italian conductor has resigned after 11 years as music director following the Mayor’s decision to appoint William Graziosi as sovrintendente of the Teatro Regio Torino.
Graziosi has a chequered past history at Baltimore Opera.
Noseda has issued an unhappy personal statement:
From the desk of Gianandrea Noseda
The recent actions taken by the board of the Teatro Regio Torino are disappointing and disheartening. The fact that the quality which has propelled the theatre on the international scene has not been taken in due consideration provides a clear indication to me that there is no interest to share a common vision for the future of the Teatro Regio Torino.
Furthermore, I understand that the board of the Teatro Regio Torino has decided to cancel a long-planned return to America in May 2019, which would have included performances at the Harris Theater in Chicago, Carnegie Hall in New York and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., announced earlier this year by each institution in their 2018/19 season announcements.
Under these circumstances, I will not be available to continue my relationship with the Teatro Regio Torino. It is with deep regret that I will have to withdraw from all plans for the season 2018/19 and beyond. I will respect and intend to conduct engagements planned for this summer with the Montreux Festival, the Stresa Festival and the MITO Festival.
Once again, I thank the incredible artists of the orchestra and the chorus, the stage technicians, all the workshops workers and the staff members who shared a common vision for the Teatro Regio Torino. We have produced so much great art together and this will remain forever in the history of the house, as well as in our personal histories.
The Berlin conductor will make his debut in Britten country this August.
Roger Wright, former head of BBC Proms and now chief exec at Aldeburgh, will be presenting Barenboim with his WEDO orchestra at the Snape Proms – ahead of their appearance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Snape programme, just released:
Snape Maltings is one of the world’s leading centres of music, hosting outstanding concerts and festivals throughout the year. This year’s Snape Proms returns 1-31 August for a month of music, featuring some of the best artists from the worlds of classical music, jazz, blues, folk and pop.
Leading Orchestras and Ensembles
Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprised of young musicians from both Arab and Israeli backgrounds, make their Snape Maltings debut on 13 August with the UK premiere of Looking for Palestine by David Robert Coleman, Scriabin’s exhilarating tone poem The Poem of Ecstasy, and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with soloist Lisa Batiashvili. Fresh from their performances at the Aldeburgh Festival, on 14 August the John Wilson Orchestra pays tribute to the songs of the female stars of Hollywood’s golden age, performing original film orchestrations painstakingly restored by conductor John Wilson, with Kim Criswell giving voice to songs sung by Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Alice Faye, and Jeanette MacDonald to Julia Andrews, Shirley Jones and Barbra Streisand. On 18 August, the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon perform Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 from memory and are joined by pianist Imogen Cooper in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.25. Meanwhile on 8 August, straight from recording the pieces, violinist Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque perform Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Chamber Music and Leading Artists
On 10 August the outstanding young Trio Isimsiz, whose talents have been nurtured by Snape Maltings, play piano trios by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Brahms. On 16 August pianist Christian Blackshaw, renowned for his performances of Schubert and Mozart, brings a new collaboration with principal players of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Together they play Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet and piano quartets by Mozart. The Takács String Quartet performs music by Mozart, Dvořák and Mendelssohn on 17 August, while on 21 August Angela Hewitt gives a recital of the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Guitarist Miloš Karadaglić’s programme on 24 August with The Balanas Strings is a typically wide ranging one, performing everything from Bach to Spanish and Latin American music, plus his own arrangement of music by The Beatles.
Developing Young Ar
tists
The development of young artists has always been central to Snape Maltings’ vision. Marin Alsop conducts three concerts with the Britten-Pears Orchestra, part of the Britten–Pears Young Artists Programme, which provides opportunities for
exceptional young professionals to work closely with leading conductors, soloists and tutors. The first concert on 3 August is full of memorable melodies and celebrates childhood, with Ravel’sMother Goose, Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ Symphony and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, a piece they play again in a family concert on 5 Augustalongside Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf narrated by Tom Redmond. Their third concert together on 11 August picks up where they first left off – with ballet, in the exuberant form of Pr
okofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain conducted by George Benjamin perform a concert on 2 August that revels in the glorious variety of sounds and moods conjured by a huge symphony orchestra. From Debussy’s gorgeous sonic seascape to the fire and fury of Mussorgsky’s Witches Sabbath, George Benjamin’s Dance Figures, surges and sings, juxtaposed with Ligeti’s eerie study in extreme quiet. In the midst of the kaleidoscope of orchestral sounds is Ravel’s thrilling Piano Concerto for the Left Hand played byTamara Stefanovich. The annual Snape Prom is the highlight of Suffolk Youth Orchestra’s year and they return on 5 August with conductor Philip Shawto perform Rimsky Korsakov, Butterworth, Ravel/Mussorgsky and Joaquin Turina. On 25 August, Ben Parry and Aldeburgh Voices lead a family-friendly singalong of Disney songs and Ben Parry returns with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain on 27 August, celebrating through song the abundant creativity of those living with mental health conditions.
Jazz & Blues
Experience a lifetime of music in one evening on 31 August as South Africa’s legendary jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim performs an intimate solo show. He brings together his upbringing of gospel, jive, American jazz & classical music with the music of his jazz heroes such as Ellington and Coltrane. Michael Law’s classic dance band the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra celebrates its 30th birthday by teaming up with Strictly Come Dancing singer Lance Ellington in a special new show on 4 August featuring music from the golden era of British dance bands, plus music made famous byBing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. The Blues Band on 6 August celebrate rhythm and blues in all their forms. With songs introduced with dry asides and plentiful anecdotes, this ensemble gives full voice to the simplicity and heartfelt expression of the blues. On 7 August, pianist Roberto Fonseca and his trio bring Cuba’s trademark rhythms and melodies to Snape, mixed with his own music. Later that week, on 9 August, saxophonist Courtney Pinejo
ins forces with soul star Omar for a collaboration of verve and imagination, backed by a peerless band. On 15 August, jazz musician Georgie Famebrings his unmistakeable velvety smooth voice and blend of jazz and rhythm & blues back to Snape with one of the most versatile jazz orchestras: the BBC Big Band. The jazz celebration continues when rising star Hailey Tuck makes her Snape debut. With a voice that sits somewhere between Billie Holiday, Regina Spektor and Ella Fitzgerald, as a teenager from Texas, Tuck took off to Paris with her college fund and a dream of becoming a jazz singer: she proves why she’s made it on 23 August. On 26 August, The Dime Notes transports us back in time to the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans in the tricentenary year of the great city. Andrew Oliver and his quartet remind us of the unforgettable sound of one of the great eras in jazz history.
Folk
Jeanette Sorrell and her American baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire arrive in Snape on 12 August for an Appalachian folk gathering. It is a raucous celebration of the soulful music born in the in the mountain range after which it was named. Ambassadors for traditional Irish music Altan perform on 22 August, faithfully keeping to the old Gaelic singing styles and fiddle jigs whilst embracing a truly international outlook. Their live sets, now tinged with bluegrass and American roots music, bristle with instrumental virtuosity and seduce with touching old Irish songs. Jon Boden’s new musical boundaries post-Bellowhead continue to inspire and intrigue: his Remnant Kings is another all-star folk collective who perform on 30 August. It’s a miraculous alchemy of Boden’s irrepressible charisma, prog-rock, pop and folk and a testament to the prodigious imagination of a prolific song-writer clearly at the very top of his game.
The former head of the New York Philharmonic will be president of the jury of the Concours musical international de Montréal.
photo: NY Phil/Chris Lee
press release:
Mr. Zarin Mehta, among the world’s leading performing arts administrators, succeeds the late André Bourbeau as president of the jury for the upcoming CMIM Voice edition taking place from May 29 to June 7, 2018. “The Concours musical international de Montréal is a world-class event that has launched the careers of some extremely talented instrumentalists and singers. When I was approached, I saw this as an opportunity to pursue my lifelong interest in nurturing young talent. I am deeply honored to preside over such an eminent jury for a competition of this caliber,” declares Zarin Mehta.
After Simon Rattle’s departure, the orchestra is still more Anglophile than Angela Merkel and her Juncker puppet.
From today’s press conference:
The Berliner Philharmoniker, in cooperation with the Musikfest Berlin, have invited the English composer George Benjamin to serve as Composer in Residence during the 2018/2019 season. His works will be heard during eight concerts in the Great Hall, the Chamber Music Hall and at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden. He will conduct one of these concerts himself.
Berlin has 1.2 million left-clicks on Facebook, bragged its bosses at today’s season launch.
Anyone beat that?
In other news, Yuja Wang will kick off the next season.
Press release below.
The Berliner Philharmoniker will present 121 symphony concerts and 6 opera performances during the 2018/2019 season, including:
90 concerts in the Philharmonie with 31 different programmes
2 concert opera performances in the Philharmonie
1 concert in the Schlüterhof (central courtyard of the Zeughaus)
1 concert in the Waldbühne
29 concerts on tour
4 concerts at the 2019 Easter Festival in Baden-Baden
4 opera performances at the 2019 Easter Festival in Baden-Baden
Chief conductor designate Kirill Petrenko will conduct 13 concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The 2018/2019 season is a time of transition for the Berliner Philharmoniker. After Sir Simon Rattle’s departure as chief conductor and artistic director and before his successor Kirill Petrenko begins his tenure, the coming season offers an opportunity to experience many different guest conductors on the orchestra’s podium. The theme “transition” can also apply in the figurative sense to the many conductors of the younger generation who have been engaged for two programmes each – some with tours. During the past few years, conductors such as Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Tugan Sokhiev, Paavo Järvi and Yannick Nézet-Séguin have also made the transition
from young talent to established artist on our stage. In addition to the concerts at the Philharmonie we will go on tour with Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Tugan Sokhiev. The latter will also conduct the final concert of the season in the Waldbühne, and Paavo Järvi will support our Education Programme by conducting the Meet the School Orchestra rehearsal and concert. In the tradition of his predecessor Claudio Abbado, in future Sir Simon Rattle will conduct at least one programme every season. Conductors Sakari Oramo and Valery Gergiev will return to the Berliner Philharmoniker again after a long absence.
Debuts by Conductors and Soloists
Jakub Hrůša (11/12/13 October 2018), chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Michael Sanderling (30/31 May and 1 June 2019), chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, and Constantinos Carydis (13/14/15 June 2019), who is a regular guest at the Bavarian State Opera, will make their debuts conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker during the 2018/2019 season. Violinist Carolin Widmann (13/14/15 September 2018), mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa (26 June 2019 at the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, 27 June 2019 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and 29 June 2019 in Berlin’s Waldbühne), pianists Cédric Tiberghien (8/9 September 2018) and Paul Lewis (9/10/11 May 2019) and percussionist Martin Grubinger (28 February and 1/2 March 2019) will appear for the first time as
soloists with the orchestra. In addition, the Arod Quartet and the Jack Quartet will perform for the first time in the Chamber Music Hall.
Artist in Residence and Composer in Residence
The Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov is Artist in Residence for the 2018/2019 season. He will be heard in 5 concert programmes: a solo recital on 21 February 2019, as soloist in a symphony concert conducted by Andris Nelsons (20/21/22 June 2019) and in 3 chamber concerts (30 September 2018, 6 January 2019 and 23 June 2019). Daniil Trifonov will also appear in a concert with the Karajan
Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker on 30 September 2018.
The Berliner Philharmoniker, in cooperation with the Musikfest Berlin, have invited the English composer George Benjamin to serve as Composer in Residence during the 2018/2019 season. His works will be heard during eight concerts in the Great Hall, the Chamber Music Hall and at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden. He will conduct one of these concerts himself.
World, European and Berliner Philharmoniker Premieres
Two world premieres, a work by Mark Andre with the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin and a work by Gregor Mayrhofer with the Karajan Academy as well as 2 European premieres, Brett Dean’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos, will be presented during the coming season.
Several works will be heard on Berliner Philharmoniker programmes for the first time during the coming season: the Concerto for Two Pianos by Max Bruch, Detlev Glanert’s Weites Land, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” and Divertimento for Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel, Speaking Drums by Peter Eötvös with Martin Grubinger and Zubin Mehta,
My Melodies for eight horns and orchestra by Helmut Lachenmann, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Second Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt.
In Retrospect: The Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation during Fiscal Year 2017
138 symphony concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker, including:
103 concerts in the Great Hall and 35 concerts during tours
38 concerts in the Chamber Music Hall
93% capacity in the Great Hall for internal events, which is equivalent to more than 227,00 paying
patrons / tickets sold
77% capacity in the Chamber Music Hall for internal events, which is equivalent to 36,000 paying
patrons / tickets sold
371 rentals of the Great Hall and Chamber Music Hall
65.5% self-financing level (coverage of expenditures through internal earnings)
Cottbus, a small town in Germany, is in uproar.
Musicians and singers have been protesting what they say is rough conduct by the American music director Evan Alexis Christ. The artistic director Martin Schüler has been trying to bring the two sides together.
Today he failed, and quit the job.
Christ is reported to have refused an offer of mediation. He denies this. He says: ‘ In fact I am very in favour of communication and finding a way to bring both sides together.’
Last night’s Romeo et Juliette ballet and the general rehearsal for Richard Jones’s new production of Parsifal have been called off by the Opéra de Paris after two cables snapped backstage at the Bastille.
It appears that the incident occurred around a fire door when two 18-tonne counterweight cables broke without warning.
‘The Opéra national de Paris is doing everything possible so that the normal course of performances can resume in the next few days,’ says the company.
That sounds bad.
We are shocked to hear that students at the Boston Conservatory have been informed that, if they wish to practice over the summer, they must pay a $325 fee in order to do so.
The students have been given three weeks’ notice of this new charge and few of them can afford it.
Boston Conservatory s presently focusing its energies on a merger with Berklee and losing sight of its students’ needs.
UPDATE: Last night, the Conservatory’s executive director Cathy Young put the new charge on hold – but just for a while. She wrote to students saying:
Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the implementation of a summer practice room facility fee. In response to your feedback, Conservatory and College administration has determined to delay implementation of this policy, which means that it will not go into effect this summer 2018 for the Conservatory as originally planned. Conservatory students who wish to use practice rooms this summer may do as they have in the past. Further information about how to utilize practice rooms is forthcoming.
We love the sound of New York’s Catacomb concerts.
We love it even more that patrons are invited to sample single malts before the show, all the more helpful since much of the content is contemporary music.
We love it that Glyndebourne’s winner Samantha Hankey has been signed up for a debut.
The drawback?
PLEASE NOTE: Ticketholders must be 21 years or older. Tickets are $80, $75.
Must be some local bye-law
Full details here.
The Vancouver Symphony has hired Misha Aster as Vice President, Artistic Planning and Production.
Aster, 40, is author of a soft-touch history of the Berlin Philharmonic in the Nazi era. He works for Deutsche Grammophon in Berlin as a producer and is on the board of the Gustavo Dudamel Foundation.
Vancouver, which reaches its centenary next year, has also taken on Neil Middleton from Winnipeg as V-P, Marketing & Sales.
A Music Modernization Act passed the House of Representatives last night by 415 votes.
The bill, HR 5477, is being pushed by the music industry and has bipartisan sponsors in Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). It is supposed to improve copyright protection.
Its title led me to think there might be a Schoenberg and Boulez clause, but no….
