Alexandra Day is going to Princeton University as deputy vice president for alumni engagement in the Office of Advancement. That means hitting former graduates for donations.
Still, a quieter life.
Read here.
We have been notified of the death of Carlos Feller on Deecmber 21.
After making his debut at the Colon in Buenos Aires in 1946, he made his first London appearance a dozen years later at Sadlers Wells in Cimarosa’s Il maestro di cappella. He went on to appear on all major stages and in numerous recordings.
We’re sorry to learn of the death on Christmas Day of Dennis Kam, professor emeritus at Frost School of Music and composer in residence at the South Florida Youth Symphony, where he lit up hundreds of young musical lives.
Dennis Kam, Professor Emeritus – University of Miami, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1942. Retired from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida since 2013, Kam was Chair of the Music Theory and Composition Department from 1976 until 2012 and also directed/conducted the Other Music Ensemble (group for the performance of new music) at the University of Miami. Currently he is Music/Worship Director Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables, Florida and also Composer-in- Residence/ Associate Conductor for the South Florida Youth Symphony.
Kam was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, Toho Gakuen in Japan, and the University of Illinois. He received many commissions, grants, and awards, including important ones from BMI and the Ford Foundation as Professional (Composer) -in-Residence for Honolulu and the State of Hawaii under the auspices of the Ford Foundation/ MENC Contemporary Music Project during 1970–1972. In addition, he was President of Southern Chapter and National Board Member for Composition in the College Music Society, and has also served as a member of both Executive and National Councils for the Society of Composers, Inc. His solo and chamber music are released on Paladino (Austria), Albany, Capstone, and Living Artist labels.
The Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson has been picked to compose The Mandalorian, the next in the Star Wars series.
He says: ‘Words fail to express how surreal and humbling it feels to be invited into the Star Wars universe. I am deeply grateful to Jon Favreau and Disney for this opportunity and to John Williams for raising the bar so high with his iconic, intrepid scores — they will never be matched. In these next months, I hope to honour the tradition of Star Wars’ musical landscape while propelling The Mandalorian into new and uncharted territory. And I will try to remember that there is no try.’
Not since ABBA has a Swedish musician grabbed so big a chunk of mass culture.
Who’s this hard hat?
ANSWER: Erich Kleiber
They can’t resist the world’s most popular opera.
From the Tehran Times:
TEHRAN – The all-female troupe Shiftegan Del plans to go on stage at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on January 4 to perform the opera “Carmen”, French composer Georges Bizet’s tale of love, jealousy and murder.
This is the first time the opera is performed in Iran after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, soprano singer Shahla Milani told the Persian service of ILNA on Monday.
She is also the director of the Melal Vocal Ensemble, which will accompany the troupe in the performance.
“It’s difficult to perform the opera. Women are scheduled to play the roles of the male characters because this opera has been arranged exclusively for an audience of women. Women with alto voices have been selected to star as men,” Milani said.
Read on here.
The BBC is putting out advance copies of the Prince’s interview with Michael Berkeley in Radio 3’s series Private Passions.
From the Telegraph transcript:
The Prince confirmed that he had tried his hand at conducting a professional orchestra in order to replicate the music for the Duchess of Cornwall for her 60th birthday. “[It was] entirely at the suggestion of the Philharmonia, of which I’ve been a very proud patron for nearly 40 years,” he said, adding that it happened thanks to the persuasion of Warren Green, the lead violinist and conductor.
“They are a remarkable orchestra,” said the Prince. “He was terribly keen I should conduct it. I said, ‘You must be out of your mind’. Finally, he persuaded me against my better judgement and we did it as a special surprise.”
Would that be Christopher Warren-Green?
From the Telegraph:
Siân Chambers and Alex Ross, both 19 and from Lincolnshire, were pronounced dead at the scene after their blue Ford Mondeo estate collided with a white Citroen C3 on the Lincoln bypass in the early hours of 22 Saturday December.
A 26-year-old local man who was believed to be driving the car fled the scene, before being traced down by police and arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving….
Alex, double bass player, was a second year student at the Royal Academy of Music. Sian played in the Lincolnshire Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Rest their gentle souls.
In reverse order. The John Williams story scored four times as many readers as the next-read story.
Go figure.
Here goes:
10 Gatti is fired by Concertgebouw
9 International soprano is killed in glider crash
8 Anne-Sofie von Otter is tragically widowed
7 Principal oboe: Why I had to leave Chicago
6 Steinway to be sold to Chinese
5 Berlin Phil loses US principal horn
4 Why Peter Gelb fired Uncle John Copley
3 Top conductor breaks skull in bike crash
1 John Williams leaves his scores to Juilliard
Two of the greatest symphonic performances you will ever hear: Beethoven 7, Brahms 4.
Footage of Boulez and the piano is rare.
This clip with Yvonne Loriod is utterly historic.
