We reported last week that 27 of 41 finalists admitted to the Geneva international Piano competition came from China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Japan.
Only one of them, San Jittakarn from Thailand, has made it into the last three.
Which leads to a suspicion that some governments may be subsiding too many candidates with a strategy that sheer numbers might prevail.
The trial began today in Moscow of Kirill Serebrennikov, a renowned film and theatre director who is accused of embezzlement on charges that he calls ‘absurd.’
‘I am not guilty,’ Serebrennikov told the court. ‘I have never stolen anything from anyone, have not embezzled, and never formed any…group except a theatrical one.’
Serebrennikov is an outspoken opponent of abuses by the Putin regime.
The show trial continues.
We don’t have to believe it if we don’t want to.
The Finnish musician Pekka Kuusisto is backing a new film by Juho Kuosmanen to support Greenpeace’s campaign to save The Great Northern Forest.
After a year of sickness and an uncustomary walkout, Christoph von Donhanyi, 89, conducted a revival of Patrice Chereau’s Elektra production at La Scala this week.
Review here.
The global brand, back from a year’s injury, now sports a hairstyle out of The Simpsons, thin sideburns and a V-neck white silk shirt with Liberace buttons.
Musically, he sounded subdued in the opening movement of Mozart K491 at DG-120 last night, warming up only in the finale. But the Chopin encore was Lang Lang at his most commanding, the full range of physical gestures allied to an extraordinary palette of light and shade. He toys with an audience like Horowitz did – easing, tempting, sometimes delivering beyond expectation.
There’s still only one Lang Lang.
Even when he’s playing Mutter’s bridegroom.
It was DG 120 last night at a packed Philharmonie in Berlin, a major-label anniversary with two massive stars on stage and a third watching on Youtube.
Into this arena strode Anne-Sophie Mutter who, having played here for half a century, has the ability to shrink the golden octagon into the size of a star-fruit, held in the palm of her hand. Every phrase of hers sounded like chamber music and the orchestra (conductor Manfred Honeck) responded in kind.
Mutter was wearing what looked like a wedding dress, with platform heels beneath.
Never the bridesmaid.
(c) Slippedisc.com
After a first half driven by a rebranded Lang Lang, Mutter made light work of a Beethoven Romance after presenting the German premiere of John Williams’s Markings, a kind of Alban Berg-goes-to-Hollywood confection. This was followed by the world premiere of a Star Wars theme for violin and orchestra. I am sure we have not heard the last of that.
The composer, fresh out of hospital, was watching on Youtube, we hear.
The picture says it all.
The Italian director has been wheeled out to stage a Verdi opera at the Royal Opera House Muscat for the 50th anniversary of the kingdom of Oman in 2020.
It’s a co-production with Rome Opera and it has been announced by the Italian Minister for Higher Education as a token of Gulf investment in Italian culture.
The vastly respected Murray Perahia, whose career has been plagued by misfortune, has cancelled the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on December 5th.
His replacement is Jan Lisiecki.
The independent investigator has reported and here’s the key finding:
For all intents and purposes and within the purview of my investigation, I dealt with two grievances of sexual harassment involving M. Charles Dutoit. I met with and/or contacted the plaintiffs on several occasions. Though the procedure employed was rigorous and conformed to best practices in cases of internal inquiries into sexual harassment, the process did not yield sufficient information in relation to allegations of sexual harassment.
Below you will find the full statement from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, where Dutoit was music director from 1977 to 2002. Elsewhere, the Boston Symphony has found harassment allegations against him to be credible. Dutoit, 82, denied all allegations, which range from groping to actual rape.
UPDATE: But Philadelphia upholds claims against Dutoit
MONTREAL, Nov. 6, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ – The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) announces the completion of an internal investigation into sexual harassment within the institution. The investigation was carried out by an independent expert who received the mandate in early 2018 after a rash of public accusations involving Charles Dutoit.
The OSM accepts the independent expert’s recommendation to both tighten the terms and broaden scope of the institution’s policy on workplace harassment. Consequently, the OSM will adopt a new policy to this effect. The new proposed version as recommended by the independent expert will be discussed with the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec, the professional association of which OSM musicians are members, before it is submitted for final approval by the Orchestra’s Executive Committee.
The portion of the investigation resulting from allegations of sexual harassment encompasses both current OSM staff and all persons employed there in the past. Regarding M. Charles Dutoit, it bears mentioning that he served as Principal Conductor of the OSM from 1977 to 2002.
Following the completion of her work, the independent expert formulated the following conclusion: “For all intents and purposes and within the purview of my investigation, I dealt with two grievances of sexual harassment involving M. Charles Dutoit. I met with and/or contacted the plaintiffs on several occasions. Though the procedure employed was rigorous and conformed to best practices in cases of internal inquiries into sexual harassment, the process did not yield sufficient information in relation to allegations of sexual harassment.” In light of the independent expert’s work, the two plaintiffs did not wish to follow up on their grievances and did not consider it opportune to provide formal declarations with respect to these allegations. As a result, the process of inquiry concluded in mid-October.
The independent expert based the procedure for her investigation on a model recommended by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (Quebec Order of Authorized Human Resources Counsellors)’s Code de conduite – Enquête interne à la suite d’une plainte pour harcèlement au travail (Code of practice – Internal investigation following a complaint of workplace harassment), published at:(http://www.portailrh.org/protection/codes/codeconduite_harcelement.pdf).
She was also guided in the investigation by the Guide des meilleures pratiques à l’intention des avocats effectuant des enquêtes sur des plaintes de harcèlement psychologique en milieu de travail (Lawyers’ guide to best practices when conducting inquiries into complaints of psychological harassment in the workplace), published by the Quebec Bar at : (https://www.barreau.qc.ca/media/1333/guide-enquetes-plaintes.pdf).
“We sincerely empathize with the two plaintiffs who decided, for reasons entirely their own, not to follow up on their complaints in the context of this investigation,” Madeleine Careau, the OSM’s Chief Executive Officer declared. “We respect their personal choice, and with all advisement welcome the independent expert’s work. We must now acknowledge the results of this investigation and learn from its conclusions. To that end, we will adopt a new, stronger and more comprehensive workplace harassment policy. This new policy will be aligned with known best practices and be based on the principle of zero tolerance in matters of harassment, whatever form it takes.”
