Alex Klein, who had to leave the Chicago Symphony twice with focal dystonia, has just announced this:
Glad to accept the Principal Oboe chair with the Calgary Philharmonic and look forward to many years of music making in Canada.
We wish Alex every happiness.
Professor Paul Elitzik has been analysing strike headlines in the NY Times, WashPo, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers. Almost all make it appear as if the musicians are directly responsible for placing the opera season at risk, rather than the intransigence or incompetence of their employers.
Here’s the opening set of heads:
Chicago Lyric Opera Musicians Walk Out as Season Opens (NY Times)
Lyric Opera musicians go on strike, threatening opera season (Washington Post and Washington Times, both using AP)
Musicians strike silences opening notes of Lyric Opera season (Chicago Sun-Times)
“Declining audiences, subscription revenues lead to Lyric Opera strike” (Chicago Tribune)
All but the last could have been dictated by the LYric board.
Read Elitzik’s analysis here.
Really thoughtful stuff.
From the Staatsoper under den Linden:
Anna Prohaska regrets to have to cancel tonight´s performance of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO due to an influenza infection. We wish her a good and speed recovery and thank Evelin Novak for stepping in as Susanna tonight.
Get those jabs.
The Italian music director fired by the Concertgebouw orchestra over #Metoo allegations is conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchetsra in Munich this weekend.
The invitation came from his Amsterdam predecessor Mariss Jansons.
Gatti’s next stop, it is reported, will be St Petersburg where Valery Gergiev has offered him dates.
Levine next?
The Hubei Symphony Orchestra is presenting a classic Chinese opera, Lake Honghu, conducted by Vanessa Scammell inside the Hallowed Sydney Opera House.
Some of the locals are up in arms about Chinese ‘soft power’.
Last week the opera house was plastered with ads for a betting company.
Here’s an appeal for ‘Australian values’.
Hon Don Harwin
Minister for the Arts
Dear Minister,
We are writing to protest against the presentation of a Chinese opera, “Red Guards on Honghu Lake” in our Opera House on 4 November, 2018.
The opera represents a silent invasion by China to Australia under its Uniting Front policy with the intention to gain influences in Australia into believing that contemporary China is revolutionary and is liberating its people.
The promotions of the “Honghu” opera highlight the themes of “Fighting for freedom and for hope” and “liberation of all suffering people”.
We found these disgusting as the opera is portrayed as an art form to cover up the theme of promoting violence and glorifying the Red Army and it conveys a fake image about China nowadays.
We, in the Chinese community, think it is imperative to alert our fellow Australian of this “Uniting Front” tactic as it is being used as a soft power to confuse or dilute the alertness of the Australian community about the Chinese silent invasion, especially the art community.
We urge you to intervene by asking or directing
1) the Opera House management to halt the ticket sale of this opera
2) through the Opera House management, the presenter to cancel this performance
While our group is very concerned about the landing of soft power from China on our home, we commit to using our means to publicise and educate the community about the China’s Uniting Front strategy and its impact on Australia, especially in the areas of democracy, liberty, freedom and rule of law.
Please find attached a brief of the “Red Guards on Honghu Lake” that shows our comments about this opera.
Yours truly,
Australian Values Alliance
Sofia Chekalina, a cello and conducting student at the Hanns Eisler HFM, is appealing for help in recovering her cherished instrument, which was stolen while she travelled on a crowded metro train from Potsdam to Berlin.
Sofia, who plays in the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, tells Slipped Disc that the cello is slightly chipped at the top and ‘was in light green cellobag my father made for me.’
The theft was in August and there have been no sightings.
Message received:
Franklin, Tennessee, October 11, 2018: Naxos of America today joined a growing list of music distributors who have pulled their owned content, as well as that of all third party label partners that it distributes digitally, from the digital music streaming service eMusic. Effective immediately, Naxos of America distributed music will no longer be available on eMusic. This action was taken due to eMusic’s continued non-payment, as well as non-reporting, for use of Naxos’s content.
The winner of the Tokyo International Conducting Competition, Nodoka Okisawa, lists two jury members – Tadaaki Otaka and KenTakaseki – as her teachers.
Second and third prizes also went to Japanese contestants. The jury was predominantly Japanese.
So why bother to call it International?
Among the non-placed contestants were the highly-rated Earl Lee, associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Conner Covington, associate of the Utah Symphony.
We have been notified of the death yesterday of Eric Dahlin, assistant principal cello of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and teacher at the Hartt School.
Eric studied in London and spent his whole career in the same orchestra.
A fundraiser has been put up to support his partner and two sons. You can help here.
This came through overnight:
CHICAGO (10/13/2018) – Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local #10-208 (CFM) announced today that they have reached a multi-year labor agreement extending through the 2020/21 season. The Agreement is subject to the ratification of CFM members. Details are not being released to the public at this time.
The musicians are saying nothing. We’ll have more for you later.
The strike lasted all of four days before someone blinked.
UPDATE: We understand the musicians will hold a vote today on ratifying the deal (or perhaps not).
