Press release:

Sioux Falls, S.D. – The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) reaches a historical milestone with two performances of Mahler’s 8th Symphony, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” April 27-28 at the Washington Pavilion.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, dubbed the “Symphony of a Thousand,” is a massive work lauded as one of the greatest achievements in standard classical concert repertoire. While its first performance in Munich in 1910 brought together over 1,000 performers, the April 27 & 28 performances will have over 350 performers from across South Dakota on the Mary W. Sommervold stage, including:

· South Dakota Symphony Orchestra

· South Dakota Symphony Chorus

· South Dakota State University Chorus

· Black Hills State University Chorus

· Sioux Falls Children’s Choir

· Eight vocal soloists from across the country

Music Director Delta David Gier and the SDSO have performed the Mahler cycle over the last fourteen years. “Every orchestra plays through cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky; these works are our bread and butter and we’ll continue to play them. Few orchestras are able to play Mahler because of the scale and difficulty of his works, and even fewer can play through the entire of Mahler symphonies,” said Gier. “It has required much of us as an organization because of the commitment it has taken from our musicians, staff, and board of directors to climb this Everest of our art form.

“The orchestra members have looked forward to the Mahler symphonies each season because these works are so emotionally and technically challenging, yet immensely gratifying to play and to share with our enthusiastic audience,” said Gier. “Mahler himself considered to be his greatest work. This is his Beethoven 9th Symphony, his monumental achievement.”

The Saturday performance, sponsored by Charles and Barbara Yelverton, is April 27 at 7:30 PM. The Sunday matinee, sponsored by Gerry Berger Law, is April 28 at 2:30 PM. Both performances are held at the Washington Pavilion.

Stokowski’s 1916 US premiere of Mahler 8

 

From the CSOA:

CHICAGO –The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) announces that CSOA-
presented concerts scheduled to take place from Wednesday, April 24, to Tuesday, April 30, are canceled due to the current strike by musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

CSOA-presented concerts to be canceled include:
Civic Chamber Music concert at People’s Music School on Wednesday, April 24, at 5:00 p.m.

CSO subscription concerts on Thursday, April 25, at 8:00 p.m., Friday, April 26, at 8:00 p.m. and
Saturday, April 27, at 8:00 p.m. The program, which was to have been led by guest conductor
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, included Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Elgar’s Cello Concerto featuring
Gautier Capuçon as soloist.

Symphony Center Presents Piano concert on Sunday, April 28, at 3:00 p.m. featuring Simon
Trpčeski. The program included works by Chopin, Grieg, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky.

The Civic Orchestra of Chicago concert on Tuesday, April 30, at 8:00 p.m. led by guest
conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. The program was to include selections from Prokofiev’s
Romeo and Juliet and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

All associated pre-concert special events through Tuesday, April 30, are also canceled.

 

From Chad Goodman:

I’m proud to share that I will be moving to Miami Beach at the end of this summer to serve as the Conducting Fellow for the New World Symphony in their 2019-2020 Concert Season. I cannot wait to work with this extraordinary organization and to assist Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, an artist whose recordings, performances and interviews have inspired me throughout my musical life.

A freshman student in the Jacobs School of Music who played cello in the University Orchestra has been found dead in his room in Forest Quad. A memo sent to fellow-residents describes his death as suicide.

 

The Maryland legislature has just voted a $3.2 million grant to the orchestra. The musicians say it could help reverse plans to put them on a 40-week contract.

Unlike Chicago, the players cannot afford to strike. They are waiting for public and private benefactors to secure their jobs.

Today’s move looks promising.

 

The diva has acute laryngitis and has pulled out of two weekend concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin.

She will be replaced by Aida Garifullina in  scenes and arias from Rigoletto and La Traviata.

Barenboim will conduct Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces in the second half.

Offiical statement: Anna Netrebko is suffering from acute laryngitis, which unfortunately makes it impossible for her to sing the two concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim during the FESTTAGE 2019. With great regret, Anna Netrebko therefore had to cancel the concerts and leave Berlin early.
We are very grateful that Aida Garifullina agreed to step in as a soloist at such short notice. The program will still feature music by Giuseppe Verdi, with Aida Garifullina singing scenes and arias from “Rigoletto” and “La traviata”. Further information about the concert: bit.ly/festtagestaka

The Berkeley Symphony has chosen Joseph Young as its music director – apparently on the strength of a jump-in performance he gave of Bernstein’s 2nd symphony while the orchestra was struggling to find replacements for its former chief, Joana Carneiro.

Young is presently Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra (USA) at Carnegie Hall.

He’ll start work in September.

 

It is reported that Riccardo Muti has struck the Elbphilharmonie off his touring schedule, saying ‘I won’t waste my time there again.’

After a first visit with the Chicago Symphony he called the hall ‘mediocre’.

The tenor Jonas Kaufmann has said he may not sing there again because of poor acoustic projection.

Confidence is sinking.

Our diarist Anthea Kreston on leaving the Artemis Quartet:

“You are brave”. That’s the only thing that Gregor, the violist of the Artemis Quartet, said to me after our final concert together last night. Our relationship consists mainly of zingers, one-liners that are flung back and forth so quickly that it’s hard sometimes to keep up. For an outsider, they may seem cruel – but that’s us. And I think they are hilarious. And so when he said, straight-faced, “You are brave” I waited for the next line – it could have been anything – “your shoes are so disgusting, it takes the strength of a gladiator to even be on stage with you“, or “nice choice of fingerings in the second movement of Brahms – stupid or brilliant – who knows?” But, he simply said “You are brave” and walked away.

And so, that’s it. I was brave. For wearing those disgusting shoes, for taking it up the G string for our final concert instead of just playing it just like I had the night before. Or maybe I was brave to audition for this job, or to take it, or to quit it. Or to take the job and make it my own, to not disappear into a very disappear kind-of position. Second violin in a string quartet demands a bit of disappearing – we are there to try to make everyone else sound better – to support and to not stand out.

I am thankful to a lot of people. To Jason and the girls for tossing our lives up into the air, to Norman for being my steadfast friend, to Sonia for not only being the manager of the quartet, but also for being the manager for each of the 4 of us. For Gregor and his stupid sense of humor, for Vinny and her emojis and our girl channel, for Ecki and his grandfatherly knowledge. For all of my friends and family back home in Oregon and Connecticut, who never stopped writing or calling or visiting. For our new friends – our house slowly filling with play dates and coffee and cake.

When I took this job, I knew it was something crazy. That it was something impossible. I was the first American violinist to be accepted into a European quartet. I wanted to win the job, and then do it so well, and improve at it every day. I am a fanatic worker, and have goals which constantly increase. I am never satisfied with myself, with my technique or my emotional complexity. I wanted to be accepted by the German musical society – accepted by the audiences and the teachers and the players. In my own right. With my own personality, with a personality that would compliment and enhance the personalities of the other members, but that would be honest and personal. I wanted Jason to have a chance to shine. I wanted Jason and the girls to learn German and for me to learn to speak it well enough that I could hold my own in a Visa appointment. I wanted the girls to become best friends and to excel in school.

Did I accomplish all of these things? Maybe. Maybe I did.

When I entered this group, it was under a dark cloud. A cloud of shock, an exhausted cloud which had hung so low for seven months since the death of the violist, nearly enveloping them in a static hopelessness. It had taken them some months to realize that they would be able to continue after the suicide, and after that, it seemed (to me) that they were stuck in a cycle of indecision. No one was the correct fit. And, when I came, it was, finally, the correct fit.

When a loyal audience member asked me last night why I had decided to leave, all of a sudden I realized. Because, like her, I had traveled with this quartet in my life. Had heard them (24 years ago playing Schubert, in NYC), befriended them. And as my life continued, my marriage, my children, my career, like with this woman, somehow was connected to this quartet. And, I realized, I still refer to them as “them“, not “us”. That maybe, my function was just the rebound relationship – a chance to find their footing again, and to rekindle hope. And, as the last remaining original member leaves, my job here is done. They are healed, and strong, and ready to take on the world again. And they will be great.

 

Berlin’s Kultursenator Klaus Lederer has said he will wait until the summer before deciding whether to renrew Daniel Barenboim’s contract as music director at the Staatsoper.

Barenboim has faced accusations of bullying,which he denied.

Lederer said: ‘I’m having many discussions with all those involved. I want to get a feeling for it, Above all, one has to talk to the people who work with him. Crucial here is the question of what the orchestra wants.’