It was alleged today that a city lawyer assaulted a fellow-ROH operagoer in a dispute over a woman’s coat.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told that Matthew Feargrieve, 43, attacked Ulrich Engler, 56, during Siegfried at the Royal Opera House last October. The fight started after Engler grabbed a coat that belonged to Feargrieve’s wife from an empty seat and slung it on to her lap.
The case has been sent to trial.
Court report here.
There was a symposium today at the Vienna Opera for its 1,000th performance of Der Rosenkavalier.
Among those taking past were Christa Ludwig, Gundula Janowitz, Gwyneth Jones…. happily reminiscing about the conductors they liked and those they detested.
Best loved?
No surprise.
And the one they liked least? Answer to be revealed tomorrow.
*
Btw, the 1,000th Baron Ochs in Vienna will be sung by the British bass, Peter Rose.
Teddy Abrams has signed a five-year extension with the Louisville Orchestra.
He has been there since 2014.
The Israeli veteran, 83, has been named principal conductor in Taiwan.
He starts with the Taipei Symphony in August on a three-year deal.
Past positions include: hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt (1974-90), La Fenice in Venice (1984-89), Czech Philharmonic (2009-12) and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (2008-14).
The Bavarian State Opera has made it known that next week’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux will be the last chance to hear Edita Gruberova on any opera stage.
The formidable Slovak coloratura soprano has been a mainstay of Munich and Vienna for just under half a century. Her portrayal of Elisabetta in Christof Loy’s production of Roberto Devereus is one of her career highlights.
Although she sang Queen of the Night at Glyndebourne and the Met, Gruberova never connected with Anglo audiences as she did with German ones.
The celebrated cellist appeared with NY Philharmonic prez Deborah Borda at a Harvard talk-in.
“We have a bigger purpose,” he said. “It’s never art for art’s sake, because even if I do it for myself in my head, I have an ideal. I’m actually trying to take something — a construct, a concept, a theory — and then I want to make it visible, I want to make it audible, I want to make it tactile. I want to make it felt.”
“I’ve been in conflict all my life thinking that I did one thing that I love to do, I care deeply about other things, but the two didn’t really connect too much. For the first time in my life, I’m not conflicted.”
More here,
A message read out on the Symphony Hall picket line:
‘The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is a cultural jewel of the world. I would like to encourage the Board, the Musicians, the public and the City of Chicago to resist any attempt that will reduce that status. I offer my full support to the Musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.’
~Daniel Barenboim, Former Music Director, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Barenboim returned to conduct the orchestra this season for the first time since his departure in 2006.
Once the jewel of central Europe, the Prague Spring Festival has dwindled in the post-Communist era into something resembling irrelevance. Incompetence, cronyism, politics all played apart.
This week, the festival made an attempt to turn things around by appointing a rare member of Franz Kafka’s family to be its first full-time dramaturge.
Josef Třeštík, great-great-grandson of Kafka’s beloved sister Ottilie, is in his mid-30s and a bright spark in Prague’s intellectual cafes, He won his spurs by revamping the slumped Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, revitalising the programming style, engaging younger audiences and introducing Alexander Liebreich as music director.
Our man with the macchiato says if Josef can’t revive the Prague Spring, no-one can. Watch this space.
Kafka’s sisters were murdered during the German occupation.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is ending its first season with Music Director Thomas Søndergård and Principal Guest Conductor Elim Chan showing a 12% audience spike in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
This makes Søndergård the most popular RSNO Music Director for over twenty years, says the orchestra.
The Radio 3 boss has been cutting into bedrock broadcasting.
Open letter to Alan Davey, Controller, Radio 3
Don’t Cut BBC Late Junction and Jazz Now
19th March 2019
Dear Mr Davey,
When questions arise as to whether Radio 3 is ‘dumbing down’, our first line of defence as composers is to site those programmes which uphold the BBC’s mission statement ‘to enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.’
This would include Composer Of The Week, Hear And Now, the live evening concerts, Music Matters, Record Review, Private Passions etc. but particularly Late Junction and Jazz Now.
Late Junction and Jazz Now are important. They are varied and unpredictable and explore areas that no other programmes do. They provide exposure to some of the most under represented artists and cultures. Late Junction cuts across genres and is gender blind. These last two elements alone are culturally vital at this time and make it a beacon of public service broadcasting.
Late Junction and Jazz Now self-evidently ‘inform, educate and entertain’. We are therefore particularly concerned to learn of the BBC’s decision to cut the weekly broadcasts of Late Junction from three to one and that Jazz Now is to be axed.
BASCA represents music creators in their totality and no other BBC programmes support such a wide variety of living writers and performers with such consistency and erudition.
We respectfully request that you reconsider your decisions.
BASCA is supporting the ‘Don’t Cut BBC Late Junction’ online petition and we call on all creators and believers in musical diversity across the UK to campaign to save both programmes.
Yours sincerely,
Gary Carpenter, Chair of the BASCA Classical Committee and BASCA Director
Issie Barratt, Chair of the BASCA Jazz Committee and BASCA Director
UPDATE: Here is Davey’s rationale.
