The 2019 Mirjam Helin Singing Competition, with prizes worth €173,000, has named its jury.

Ready?

Chaired by Jorma Silvasti, the judges are: Olaf Bär, Ben Heppner, Vesselina Kasarova, François Le Roux, Waltraud Meier (pic), Deborah Polaski and Kiri Te Kanawa.

They know a bit about singing.

Ben Glassberg, 24,was today appointed Principal Conductor of the Glyndebourne Tour.

He will conduct one production on each Glyndebourne Tour with a freelance orchestra for the next three years, starting with Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in 2019.

Ben, last year’s Besancon winner, is founder of the London Young Sinfonia.

 

 

This is a long overdue sentiment, and it is expressed by Jenna Simeonov of Schmopera.

Here’s what she says:

 I have a hard time believing that an opera newbie would be thoroughly impressed by a Met cinema broadcast. There’s enough clumsiness in the product – particularly in dated offerings like Fanciulla – that it just doesn’t stand up to the quality of other media one could see on the big screen (including musicals). Without knowing how powerful opera can be – something that’s only obvious when you experience it live, and microphone-free – a cinema broadcast isn’t quite enough to convince you. (Although for some, Jonas Kaufmann just might do the trick.)…

Read on here.


photo: Ken Howard/Met Opera

Not many people remember that Richard Wagner learned all he knew about music in his first kapellmeister job at the opera house in Riga, 1837-39, right?

So the Latvian government is about to spend 20 big ones on renovating its Wagner concerthall, it announced today.

(Must be an EU grant, right?)

From Seattle Opera:

Come celebrate the grand opening of Seattle Opera’s new civic home! This state-of-the-art building will allow the company to expand its work with communities across Washington State, and, from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, December 15, members of the public are invited to a free open house.

“When our new civic home opens this winter, Seattle Opera will continue to break down barriers that have previously kept people from being able to participate in opera,” said General Director Aidan Lang. “In addition to creating an environment for world-class artistry, we are establishing a welcoming and accessible community resource on the Seattle Center campus, inviting visitors to explore our city’s arts and cultural home.”

Attendees of the Grand Opening will be able to experience musical performances by Seattle Opera’s Chorus and Teen Vocal Studio as well as members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, observe a rehearsal of Il trovatore, learn more about the history of Seattle Opera, as well as Opera Production 101 in a fun, informative talk from Dramaturg Jonathan Dean. Participate in a Seattle Opera Sing-Along with some of Verdi’s most popular choruses, and enjoy a Costume Presentation with Costume Director Susan Davis. Additionally, people can check out the space via self-guided tour.

Way to go.

 

Tugan Sokhiev was just 26 when he first conducted the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in October 2003. He became its music director five years later and has kept the orchestra at the forefront of French music.

But Sokhiev has his hands full in Moscow as head of the Bolshoi and Toulouse, in the thick of an economic recession, says it cannot afford his wages. His contract runs out in mid-2020.

What happens next? Read here.

 

A 20 year-old stripper and alleged rent boy has been charged with the murder of Finlay Ferguson, a Scottish youth orchestra conductor living in Cordoba.

Ferguson, who was separated from his flautist wife, was found tied naked to a bed and beaten to death with a dumbell.

More here.

 

The Finnish choir Exaudio has swept the women’s awards at the Prague International Choir Competition.

Exaudio, formed in 2008, has singers from Turku, Tampere, Vaasa, Åland and Helsinki. Its conductor is Hanna Kronqvist. 

The old-fashioned Lincoln is getting an upgrade.

Instead of making mechanical noises to warn you that your seatbelt is unfastened, it has recorded three musicians from the Detroit Symphony, on stage at Orchestra Hall, to deliver a full-stereo admonition.

Irresistible.

Read more here.

You know that period before an opera begins when you settle in happy anticipation, riffling through the programme book, or catching up with your companion, or exercising your knees to let latecomers squeeze by.

Well, that period of contemplation is to be banished at the Coliseum.

English National Opera is seeking permission from Westminster City Council to create a ‘plain white painted area’ on its safety curtain, 12 x 6 metres high, to be ‘used as a projection surface pre-show and at the interval to project films showing the ENO forthcoming opera seasons’.

It is a short step from here to commercial advertising.

Rotten idea. Send your objections to Westminster now, or post them below.

The death has been announced of Walter Hagen-Groll, chorus director of Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1961 to 1984.

In 1962 he was plucked by Karajan to fill the same role at the Salzburg festivals, retiring in 1988 when Karajan was himself fading out. His Berlin chorus was the largest in Europe and he stayed on in Salzburg as professor of chorus directing at the Mozarteum.

Hagen-Groll died in Salzburg on November 3, aged 91.

The Dartington Hall Trust has announced that Sara Mohr-Pietsch will be the next Artistic Director of the Dartington International Summer School and Festival.

Mohr-Pietsch will deliver her first Summer School and Festival at Dartington in 2020, following on from renowned concert pianist, Joanna MacGregor OBE, who will her curate her fifth and final festival in 2019.

Mohr-Pietsch is best known for her work on BBC Radio 3, where she hosted Breakfast for many years, and is the voice of live concerts from Wigmore Hall. She also presents the BBC Proms, Music Matters and Choir & Organ, and she created Open Ear, a new music showcase which has played at Tate Modern and LSO St Luke’s.

photo: Kate Mount