The Preis der Europäischen Kirchenmusik 2019 is to be awarded to John Rutter for lifetime service to the genre.
Founder of Collegium Records and the Cambridge Singers, Rutter, 73, remains the go-to composer for royal weddings and suchlike occasions.
The prize is a humble one – 5,000 Euros.
The composer Mario Bertoncini died on Saturday in Siena.
A sought-after pianist, he began to mess with the insides of instruments and became the driving force of the Nuova Consonanza Improvisation Group in Rome.
He taught in Rome, Montreal, Pesaro and Berlin.
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will launch its own European youth orchestra this summer.
Given the ghastly title ‘RCO Young’ and made up of pan-European players aged 14 to 17, it will perform the Mendelssohn concerto and Tchaikovsky 4 in Amsterdam and Brussels under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado, it was announced today.
The Spanish conductor is presently under-employed as principal guest conductor at Teatro Real in Madrid and director of the Granada Festival. He has to be added to the shortlist for the C’bouw’s next music director.
The Berliner Philharmoniker will be putting out a 22-CD box set next month of the complete wartime recordings of Wilhem Furtwängler, its deeply compromised chief conductor.
The recordings, which were whisked off by the Russians and hidden until the collapse of the Soviet Union, have been completely remastered. It is the first time the orchestra has released Furtwängler on its own media.
It’s one baton after another this morning in the UK.
Following the hot news from Ulster, the BBC Symphony Orchestra has named Dalia Porra as its principal guest conductor.
Dalia, who is Finnish, is a former assistant to Esa-Pekka Salonen at the LA Phil. She changed her name from Stasevska when she married Lauri Porra, a great-grandson of Sibelius.
The BBC’s chief conductor is Sakari Oramo.
‘I’m looking so much forward to this new exciting journey!!’ says Dalia.
Sakari said: ‘I am particularly happy that Finnish conductors keep inspiring London musicians into permanent artistic partnerships.’
It appears the Ulster Orchestra has taken on board some of the troubling issues recently raised by Slipped Disc and widely discussed among musicians. The orchestra has fewer women outside its strings that any other in the UK and we have received reports of cronyism and bulling.
In a speech to the ABO this afternoon, managing director Richard Wrigley is about to say that measures are in hand to ensure a level playing field. From his statement:
‘The outstanding partnership we have formed with Rafael Payare, as you experienced last night, has lifted the Orchestra to new heights of performance and creativity.
‘This journey was not only a musical one – we have re-invented ourselves to become relevant to twenty first century Northern Ireland; to be an orchestra truly of society. This hasn’t always been an easy journey and we are making steady progress towards being a more diverse and inclusive company.
‘We will soon be announcing a 2019/20 season that continues our policy of more diverse programming and artists working with our orchestra; featuring female conductors as we have been in recent seasons. We look forward to announcing additional initiatives in the near future.’
We’ll report back on any real progress. Members of the orchestra have been asked meantime not to respond to any media queries about bullying and inequality.
The Ulster Orchestra has named Daniele Rustioni to succeed Rafael Payare as chief conductor in September.
This is a bold move. Rustioni, 35, is music director of the opera in Lyon and something o a rising star.
He says: ‘I perceived a special connection with the Ulster Orchestra ever since I first set foot on the podium at Ulster Hall as a guest conductor a couple of years ago. Emotion and brilliance from the musicians combined with the Hall’s magical atmosphere allows the sound to soar from every instrument and envelope you completely. And what can I say about the touching and exhilarating reception from the
wonderful Belfast audience? My heartfelt thanks go to Rafael for his great work and for his warm
support in “passing the baton”. I am delighted and profoundly grateful to take the position of Chief
Conductor with this fabulous orchestra and I can hardly wait to get started, sharing inspiring music, and collaborating with all the exciting projects that are already taking shape. It will be a thrilling adventure for all of us.’
The announcement has been timed for the annual meeting of the Association of British Orchestras, which is taking place in Belfast.
How Ulster can afford talent of this order, and how and when it will address issues of bullying and inequality in the orchestra, are questions that will not quite make the ABO’s agenda.
The pianist who can play anything perfectly on sight has one work in mind that gives him nightmares.
Busoni? Schoenberg? Beelzebub?
It’s….
… oh, read for yourselves here in a fascinating VAN interview with Jeffrey Arlo Brown.
The long-running French musical Notre Dame de Paris has reopened in London despite proving one of the all-time flops in 2000.
The difference? It is being sung in French, with English surtitles.
Read here.
From our diarist Anthea Kreston:
Concerts are underway – our final set (I count 23 more) with this configuration, before a double handful of joint concerts as a Sextet – new and old together. I am on the way back home from Geneva, where I stayed (probably for the last time) at the Hotel Cornavin, the hotel where Hergé used to stay (and where one of his most beloved characters, the absentminded but brillant Professor Calculus would sleep – room 122). I have stayed here 3 times before, but this time I requested his room, much to the delight of my daughters, who have every line of every TinTin book memorized.
The effervescent presenter, arms floppily waving around the space to the sides of his head as he spoke, was so charming, knowledgeable (he had to inspect every instrument, asking after string choice and inserting tidbits of interesting historical facts). Dressed in a wool patterned jacket, red silk hankie, blue and white checkered shirt and dark green (with dots) tie, it was motley done right – subtle enough across a room, but increasingly entertaining as the distance closed. He came into the hotel to pick us up, exclaiming “and who is it who used to play in a trio in America? We just had Andy Armstrong here with James Ehnes! Marvelous!” We quickly became entangled in a simultaneous double-talk about all things Andy Armstrong, his hilarity, big heart, depth of emotional message. How he ate, how he practiced (like a mad-man – hunched over the keyboard, crazily attacking, often over-tempo – never slow, never repeating – for hours on end, with devastating aroma consequences). His clarity of vision – references to everything from the highest art, most obscure (in Latin) quotes, to potty-talk and disgusting bodily functions. His kids, how he loved the home-made pesto at lunch, the way he started the Ravel Sonata – so soft, caressing, floating above the keyboard. Our cheeks were stiff from laughing and smiling.
I love Andy Armstrong. I miss him. When we were looking for a pianist, about 9 years ago, we had the good fortune to play with many incredible pianists – taking our time over the span of 6 months to rehearse and play small concerts with 5 or 6 top-flight players. Looking for a new member is always a mix of sadness and excitement. The sound which was developed with the existing configuration can never be re-created – you know that person inside and out – traveling, eating, personal struggles, quirks, hot-buttons. And yet, to have a fresh voice, new inspiration and a whole new life to integrate into your own – someone to challenge your assumptions, to push you to be better, to find new sounds and temperaments – it’s a wonderful time. In getting to know Andy, it was a whirlwind of energy, and his humor trumped anything I had ever (and have since) witnessed.
I have a personal fixation on adult onesies (you know the footie Pyjamas kids wear, but made for adults). I like to put on my huge, pink cat onesie and drag myself around the house on week-ends, and as a gift, I bought a blue confetti fleece onesie for Andy, just laying it on the bed in the guest bedroom (I didn’t know him too well, so I wanted to give him the option of ignoring the gift – it’s certainly not for everyone!). He didn’t mention anything about it that day, and as we were getting ready for our concert that evening (our first together – and a chance for us to feel if it was the right fit), he quietly said he needed to have the room to himself to perform some personal rituals. We cleared the room, and the stage manager came to give us the 5 minute call. Andy emerged from the room a moment later, the bright flannel onesie somehow stretched over his concert suit, saying, “ok, I’m ready!”. I didn’t even need to play the concert to know he was “the one”. That cinched it for me. Anyone who had the chutzpah to pull that off, straight-faced, for an “audition” would have nerves of steel and the ability to take things to the limit. He quickly peeled off the onesie (the horror-struck stage manager intently staring at his watch and slow-breathing), and played the concert with minuscule colorful fuzz stuck all over his suit.
What remained of our 5 years together was camaraderie, a shared vision, more good (and shitty) meals and flights than I could count, and a life-time of memories. When I told him we were leaving, he cried on the phone to me – he was happy for me, of course, but it felt like we were being torn apart. We had to part ways – I could not ask him to put his career on hold for me, when I knew I had to stop trio and cancel all concerts together.
So, as things settled, and we could once again start a little bit of trio, we were again looking at a new gift – a new pianist, Amy Yang – a formidable pianist with a generosity of spirit and a whole world of complexity and wonder. It is at these times that we grow, and learn. And appreciate again and again those tender, forever gifts that we created for one another.
