The pianist, on the eve of retirement, talks about how hard it is ‘to get rid of all the worries and the ego’ before the creative process can kick in.

‘Being on stage is the hardest thing that can happen to you (in order) to be in the creative process. And you have to love people without condition.’

Fascinating.

press release:

 

Oakland Symphony Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mieko Hatano as its new Executive Director, effective June 4, 2018.  As Executive Director, Dr. Hatano will oversee the Oakland Symphony, the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Oakland Symphony Chorus, and the Oakland Symphony’s MUSE and related youth-music-education programs. She will work closely with Music Director and Conductor Michael Morgan.
Prior to joining Oakland Symphony, Dr. Hatano served as Executive Director of Music in the Mountains in Nevada City, CA where she directed the $1M classical music organization featuring a 7-concert choral and orchestral series, a 2-week summer festival, youth orchestra and other education and outreach programming. Prior to Music in the Mountains, she was the Executive Director of Symphony Orchestra Augusta in Augusta, GA where she was featured as one of Musical America’s “Rising Stars in Orchestra Leadership.” Dr. Hatano is a 2012 alumna of the DeVos Institue of Arts Management Fellowship at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.  In 2011, she was appointed Orchestra Manager of the Aspen Music Festival and School.  Dr. Hatano holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Dr. Hatano replaces Interim Executive Director Cristine Kelly.  Kelly oversaw one of the most successful seasons in recent Oakland Symphony history including a 35% growth in single ticket revenue and the launch of the new series, 
Mixtape. 

The court has given its verdict on the pianist Siegfried Mauser, former president of the Munich academy of music and the Salzburg Mozarteum. The official report reads:

A former president of the Munich Music Academy has been sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in three cases of sexual coercion. The 63-year-old was acquitted of the allegation of rape on Wednesday evening at the Munich district court. The criminal court found it proven that the man sexually forced a woman in three interviews between 2007 and 2013. The prosecution had also accused him of raping another woman in 2004.

UPDATE: Sex abuse is rife in German music schools

Herbert Blomstedt, 90, was today given his own Blomstedt-Lounge in Stockholm’s Konserthuset.

He made his debut as conductor in the hall with the Stockholm Philharmonic in February 1954.

This week, he is conducting the Sinfonie singulière by Franz Berwald and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

 

The US tenor, out for two months after a voice fail in Munich, will make an unscheduled return at Cincinnati May Fest this Friday.

He replaces Matthew Polenzani in the Verdi Requiem.

Conductor Eun Sun Kim stands in for the sacked James Levine.

 

Franz Welser-Möst has chosen Lisa Wong as Director of Choruses for the Cleveland Orchestra, starting immediately.

press release:

Wong has an extensive history with The Cleveland Orchestra’s choruses, starting as a member of the ensemble during the 2009-2010 season. She joined the choral staff of The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant director of choruses at the start of the 2010-11 season, assisting in preparing the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus for performances each year. In 2012, she took on added responsibilities as director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus. “Lisa Wong is an accomplished musician and collaborator who over the past seven seasons, and recently during our Centennial Season as Acting Director of Choruses, has shown great skill developing the artistry of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus,” said Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. “I look forward to working with Lisa as Director of Choruses while she continues to demonstrate her extraordinary dedication and passion for the choral art form. I’m excited that she will continue to be part of The Cleveland Orchestra family.”

Elena Gremina, founder of Teatr.doc and author of a play about the state murder of Sergei Magnitsky, has been found dead in Moscow at the age of 61.

Her co-founder and husband, Mikhail Ugarov, was found dead six weeks ago.

The take theatre seriously in Russia.

The trial has begun in Manchester of Jacek Serafin, a pianist and teacher who is charged with raping a female student at the Royal Northern College of Music in September 2014.

Serafin, 30, failed to show up at Manchester Crown Court for trial. The jury was told he had apparently fled to France on the Eurostar.

This is the second time Serafin has faced trial. On the first occasion, he was found guilty of one charge of assault by penetration and cleared of five charges of rape and three charges of assault by penetration. The jury failed to return a verdict on two counts of rape. The trial continues.

Report here. 

 

Dominic Davis played horn in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and went on to study at the Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University.

Diagnosed with cancer, he lost part of his jaw but got back to playing as soon as he possibly could.

Yesterday, the university announced his death.

Read Dominic’s full story here.

Rest his soul.

The provocative Spanish director shows his softer side to a Guardian interviewer:

Bieito threw up at school, suffered disrupted sleep and developed phobias. Years later, he found it harder and harder to fly. From his home in Barcelona, he would take the train: to Edinburgh for the international festival, to Dublin via the ferry, to Copenhagen, Salzburg, Paris … “It was crazy,” he says…

“Anxiety and depression have things in common, but in simple terms, with anxiety, you are worried about everything and with depression, you don’t care about anything,” Bieito says. “Anxiety, anguish or angst is something that is inside all of us. I am not special in this – it is common.”

Read on here.

 

Decca Classics paraded three new signings at the Royal Suite, St Pancras last night –

the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen;

the British composer Rebecca Dale

and the previously announced saxophonist Jess Gillam.

I had to make an early theatre curtain – Uncle Vanya, in Russian – so I got shot with the signers, rather than the signed.


l-r: Rebecca Allen, NL Caroline Crick, Alex Buhr

**

Here’s what happened after:

UPDATE: And this morning’s press release:

Decca Classics is proud to announce the signing of three extraordinary artists to the label: saxophonist Jess Gillam, lyric dramatic soprano Lise Davidsen and composer Rebecca Dale. All three were unveiled at a special event in London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel last night, where invited guests were treated to superb performances from Lise and Jess, as well as a taster of Rebecca’s newly-recorded Requiem.

Each of the three young artists are making great strides in their growing careers. 19-year old Jess, who rose to fame on BBC Young Musician 2016, becomes the first saxophonist to sign exclusively to Decca Classics, while Rebecca Dale becomes the label’s first female composer, and Norwegian Lise Davidsen – winner of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition – takes her place among the great voices to record for the historic label.

Dr. Alexander Buhr, Managing Director of Decca Classics, said: “We are excited and honoured to have Lise, Jess and Rebecca join the label – three inspiring young women whose talent, creativity and sheer passion for music is remarkable. They will all forge their own individual paths in their respective fields and Decca is proud to be partnering with them.”

Rebecca Allen, President of Decca Records Label Group, added: “We’re so proud to welcome these three unique artists to Decca. They are blazing a trail for women in music and it’s a privilege to support them.”