You bet, says baritone Babatunde Akinboboye.
He’s had half a million hits this week.
The veteran St Petersburg conductor is honoured by his president.
Wigmore Hall has founded a choir for families living with dementia, in partnership with Resonate Arts.
It is an essential cultural service.
The Polish president Andrzej Duda has granted citizenship to the English opera director David Pountney.
The award recognises his work on behalf of several polish composers.
Pountney, who has been director of English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Bregenz Festival, said: ‘Due to my close relationship with Polish culture in my professional life, I am proud that my new passport connects me with the country of Weinberg, Szymanowski and Moniuszko. I am also proud that I remain a citizen of the European Union, whose ideals I strongly support.’
More here.
The unmanaged Yuja Wang, abandoned by her last agent, has settled after weeks of dizzy deliberations, for a partial solution.
She will be agented in Asia by Sylvie Bouchard of the Japanese firm Kajimoto, and Sylvie will also look after her events in France.
The rest of the world has yet to be determined.
This half-pie solution makes her inevitably less attractive to the leading global agencies – all the hassle for half the revenues, as one manager puts it.
Matthias Honeck has been promoted to leader of the 2nd violins of the Wiener Symphoniker.
His uncle, Rainer, is concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic.
His father, Manfred, is music director in Pittsburgh.
Matthias has played in the Wiener Symphoniker since 2011.
From our book club convenor, Anthea Kreston:
Welcome to our fifth cycle of the Fortnightly Music Book Club, a club which connects the broad and diverse Slipped Disc audience to great literature as well as gives us a chance to engage with leading musicians of our time. The Fortnightly Music Book Club has a rotating, international group of guest hosts and covers a wide range of topics.
So – get on your slippers, pour yourself a mug of hot mulled wine, and pull up to the fire. We are in for a treat – Vikram Seth’s “An Equal Music”. Filled with everything you could want or need for a great winter read – sex, quartet drama, dashed hopes, moments of triumph – Vienna, London, Venice. It’s got it all. If you are cracking the binding for the first time, or searching through your stacks and dusting off your copy for a third go-round, this book will transport you into the world of a touring string quartet – from the practice room to the concert hall, through the lense of the second violinist.
The Scotsman says: “All his books have the power to lift you out of your own life and carry you into a world of delight…It is a novel of wonderful high spirits and vitality, a true enchantment. All those who delighted in A Suitable Boy will find delight here too”
I will be your host for this cycle – but I want to hear from you – how does this book resonate with you – does it ring true, bring back memories of your school days, a concert you attended or performed? Let’s listen to the music in the book – from Beethoven Op 1 #3 Trio (and the rarely heard discovery of the Op 104 arrangement for string quintet) to the Trout – these works are bought to life vividly in Seth’s magical prose. Write to me below with questions, or if you prefer, to Fortnightlymusicbookclub@
See you in a Fortnight – I am eager to start our discussion!
