From Melissa Kleinbart, Chair of the Players Committee of the San Francisco Symphony:

‘On behalf of the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony, I am so happy that we are able to be here to support our colleagues in the Chicago Symphony during this really difficult time.

‘We are outraged that their Board of Trustees and their management has treated them so poorly as one of the greatest orchestras in this world. They have treated them with a total lack of respect, a lack of vision for investment in the future of this organization.

‘We are here to show our solidarity and to say, ‘Please reconsider your position before you do serious damage to the cultural fabric of this city.’

‘I’ve been so moved by the support of Chicagoans that I have seen on the street and at the concert last evening: the feeling in the hall was amazing. People had rapt attention. There were children there. There wasn’t a sound in the hall except for the music. Just the feeling of the craving for this music was palpable during this concert.

‘This is one of the greatest orchestras in the world. They should be celebrated. They should be treated with utmost respect instead of having one of their most important top benefits trying to be decimated. That is one of the biggest recruitment tools that an orchestra needs to be able to recruit young, excellent players from around the world. This is absolutely outrageous and we hope that this entire community will put as much pressure as possible on the Board of Trustees and the administration to try to talk some sense into them.

‘So, on behalf of my colleagues, I would like to present this check in the amount of fifteen thousand dollars. This is from the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and it is the least that we can do to try to help our colleagues get through this difficult time.

‘I would also just like to say that we are so grateful in San Francisco that our Board has finally come to realize how important collaboration with the musicians is. They finally respect that we need to keep a defined pension benefit plan and they worked closely with us in searching for our music director designate Esa-Pekka Salonen. If that can be of any example to the Chicago Symphony Board, please take a look at how well things are working for us. We hope that can spread instead of the negativity spreading.’

Media release:

HarrisonParrott, today announced the appointment of George Bruell as Director of Creative Partnerships, to be based in their London office.

George Bruell brings to HarrisonParrott over 20 years senior management and arts experience. Previous appointments include Director of Communications at Glyndebourne, where for the last eleven years he has been responsible for creating a successful filming, digital content and broadcast business and leading the work to make Glyndebourne’s opera more accessible through broadcasts and online streamings. Prior to that he was a Director in the food technology business at the global food company Cargill having gained an MBA at the Tuck Business School, Dartmouth College in the USA and an MA at Cambridge University, where he was an Organ Scholar.

Reporting to Jasper Parrott, Executive Chairman, Bruell will be responsible for continuing the growth of the company’s creative consultancy and development division in this new role as it continues to develop the wide-ranging number of special projects and consultancy roles that have redefined what an artist management company is in the 21^stcentury.  In line with the new role, current Sponsorship & Development Manager, Andrea Berbegal will change her title to Creative Partnership & Development Manager and will report into Bruell.

Central London county court is hearing a case brought by Ms Ruzica West against Professor Mateja Marinkovic over the sale of an 18th century violin.

Ms West claims that in 2016 she sold her teacher the Landolfi violin, a family heirloom, for what she believed to be £40,000 – the sum of £26,000 in cash, plus a violin worth, she was told, £14,000.

She claims the substitute violin was worth just £1,500.

Mateja Marinkovic, a former professor at the Royal Academy of Music, is said to be presently teaching in China. He is still listed as RAM staff.

He was not in court. The case has been adjourned for trial in the summer.

Andris Nelsons and his artistic planner Tobias Niederschlag have rolled out the next Leipzig Gewandhaus season with a focus on eight women composers. Niederschlag called it ‘overdue’.

The core beneficiary is Clara Schumann, in her bicentennial year.

There will be a spotlight on Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and Lili Boulanger and premieres by living composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Betsy Jolas, Ella-Milch Sheriff and Lera Auerbach.

l-r: Nelsons, Leipzig Kulturbürgermeisterin Dr. Skadi Jennicke, Gewandhausdirektor Andreas Schulz

The diva writes:

К сожалению я должна удалить пост, снятый за сценой во время спектакля, потому, что целых 23 секунды там слышен оркестр, а их права не разрешают нам этого делать. Мне оч жаль 😐

A post shared by @ anna_netrebko_yusi_tiago on Mar 27, 2019 at 3:16am PDT

After decades of censorship, whitewash and hagiolatry, documents continue to emerge of  Wilhelm Furtwängler’s deeply compromised position with the leadership of the Third Reich.

This latest discovery is from the Süddeutsche Zeitung archives.

It shows Furtwängler conducting a factory concert in 1939 in front of a huge portrait of his Führer.

The accompanying article by Helmut Mauro wonders how the Berlin Philharmonic’s wartime broadcasts were affected by these affiliations. Read here.

Among the tutti-frutti at this summer’s Edinburgh Festival, just rolled out:

– the Bach specialist Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct two concert performances of Bernstein’s West Side Story with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and an unnamed cast;

– the European premiere of a new opera from Missy Mazzoli and Royce VavrekBreaking the Waves, adapted from Lars von Trier’s film;

– Barrie Kosky will direct a Komische Oper Berlin production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin;

– Harry Christophers CBE, with Genesis Sixteen and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, will give the world premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Symphony No. 5 Le grand inconnu;

– and there will be a new production of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, choreographed by Yang Liping and designed by Tim Yip (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Full prog here: eif.com.

It has been released overnight that the European premiere of John Adams’ new piano concerto, Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?, will be given this summer by the LA Phil at the opening of the Edinburgh Festival,with Yuja Wang as soloist.

This is a significant F-U to the BBC Proms, which would normally have been given first refusal on a major premiere.

For Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil, it will be their third visit to the Edinburgh Festival. Additionally, Twenty musicians from Dudamel’s signature program YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) and YOLA National (students from diverse regions across the U.S.) will be joining the LA Phil in Edinburgh, participating in a cultural exchange with 60 young musicians from Big Noise Raploch, Sistema Scotland, which will culminate in an open rehearsal conducted by Gustavo Dudamel (August 4). This will be the first time that members of YOLA National will have joined the orchestra on tour.

The German conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing, 53, will step down next year after a decade at the San Antonio Symphony.

Moving on to become music director emeritus, ‘the message should be I’m staying,’ he says. ‘I’m signing on to a role that is long-term. It’s just that my responsibilities will shift.’

And he’s putting his own money into the orchestra. To help the symphony financially, he has issued a $100,00 challenge grant. He will match new and increased gifts made by Aug. 31 up to $100,000.

The disgraced conductor yesterday suffered a severe setback in court as New York Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley dismissed all but one of his defamation claims.

The Met’s lawyer Bettina B. Plevan expressed delight. Levine’s lawyer, Edward J.M. Little, said he was encouraged by the judge’s decision to uphold one defamation claim. ‘The Met didn’t just fire him,’ said Little. ‘It defamed him on the way out after his 50 years of brilliant artistic genius that contributed greatly to what the Met became.’

The parties continue to contest a $5.8 million breach of contract suit.

A message from the man who is trying to shrink his orchestra to a 40-week contract.

The pianist has cancelled a North America tour.

Here’s the statement from his management: ‘It is with great regret that Mr. Perahia has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming solo recitals in North America as a sudden medical setback has prevented him from performing publicly.’

Peter Serkin will step in for some dates. Kirill Gerstein will cover his date at the Gilmore in Kalamazoo. The sought-after Víkingur Ólafsson will replace him in LA.

Carnegie Hall has replaced him with, er, Nobuyuki Tsujii.

Money back?