From the Rotterdam Philharmonic:

Two of our hornists say goodbye to the orchestra at the end of May. Martin van de Merwe and Jos Buurman played with us for respectively 45 and 38 years. We will of course miss them on as well as off the stage. Our magazine Intrada interviewed them here.

 

Photo posted today by Momo Kodawa

Momo writes: ‘With the one and only Maestro Seiji Ozawa in Tokyo. So much to learn always musically and humanly from Maestro who did also so much for younger ( and not so younger 😊) musicians – I was one of them and felt lucky and privileged to be able to profit from his generosity by sharing music and talking about many subjects.  Look forward to listen to the concert on Friday with the great Mito Chamber Orchestra and the magnificent Martha Argerich.

Latest from the embattled National Theatre is that Silvia Hroncová, much-respected director of the National Theater Opera and the State Opera, resigned today. Taking the side of employees protesting against Peter Boye Hansen’s arrival as artistic director from August 2019, she’s the second boss to go in as many days.

‘My decision to resign as a director was conditioned by the unresolved situation associated with the new season,the different views on the future direction of the opera, its organizational and personnel structure, and the opera’s operation. Director Jan Burian has a different perspective and I have so far respected him in his position, but in connection with the tense situation in the opera, which culminated in an open letter to the theater director, who signed almost 350 opera employees, this situation and a busy working environment I can no longer accept,’ said Hroncova.

 

The tenor’s still coughing.

Bedauerlicherweise muss Jonas Kaufmann aufgrund einer ärztlich angeordneten Rekonvaleszenz seine Auftritte in den nächsten zwei Wochen und somit auch seine Mitwirkung beim Jubiläumskonzert der Wiener Staatsoper am 26. Mai 2019 absagen. An seiner Stelle wird Roberto Alagna die „Juive“-Arie singen.

The open-air, free-to-air programme now reads:

„Dich teure Halle …“ aus Tannhäuser (Richard Wagner) Nina Stemme
„Ha, welch ein Augenblick“ aus Fidelio (Ludwig van Beethoven) Tomasz Konieczny
„Come dal ciel precipita“ aus Macbeth (Giuseppe Verdi) Jongmin Park
„Va, pensiero“ aus Nabucco (Giuseppe Verdi) Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
„Dove sono“ aus Le nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang A. Mozart) Olga Bezsmertna
„Fin ch’an dal vino“ aus Don Giovanni (Wolfgang A. Mozart) Erwin Schrott
„Là ci darem la mano“ aus Don Giovanni (Wolfgang A. Mozart) Valentina Naforniţă, Erwin Schrott
„Pourquoi me réveiller“ aus Werther (Jules Massenet) Benjamin Bernheim
„Glück, das mir verblieb“ aus Die tote Stadt (Erich W. Korngold) Camilla Nylund
„O tu Palermo“ aus I vespri siciliani (Giuseppe Verdi) Ferruccio Furlanetto
Duett „Già nella notte densa“ aus Otello (Giuseppe Verdi) Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak
„Lied an den Mond“ aus Rusalka (Antonín Dvořák) Valentina Naforniţă
Schlussterzett aus Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss) Nina Stemme, Stephanie Houtzeel, Chen Reiss
Arie des Gremin aus Eugen Onegin (Piotr I. Tschaikowski) Günther Groissböck
„Je veux vivre“ aus Roméo et Juliette (Charles Gounod) Aleksandra Kurzak
„Rachel, quand au Seigneur“ aus La Juive (Jacques F. Halévy) Roberto Alagna
„Un bel dì“ aus Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini) Sonya Yoncheva

 

Yesterday, two months before his term ended, Petr Kofroň resigned as Artistic Director of the National Theater Opera and State Opera. Jan Burian, CEO of the theater, will take over his responsibilities until 31 July when the Norwegian director Per Boye Hansen will take over.

Hansen had counted on continuing to work with Petr Kofron for a handover period.

More than 350 artists and staff have protested at Hansen’s appointment.

 

The orchestra today announced Esa-Pekka Salonen’s successor.

He is Santtu-Matias Rouvali, 33, a fellow-Finn.

Aside from the new conductor’s youth and energy, it’s not the smartest appointment in the present climate.

The Philharmonia has been losing profile under the absentee Salonen. It will not gain much from appointing a double-barrelled, relative unknown of identical origin, albeit from a very narrow field of tested candidates.

The South Bank orchestras these days seem to look no further than the end of their noses.

The Philharmonia last week parted company from its managing director. Perhaps we can now see why.

Rouvali has signed a five-year contract to work with the Philharmonia for 10 weeks a year. He remains chief conductor in Gothenburg, Sweden, with a new contract taking him up to 2026.

From the press release:
Santtu-Matias Rouvali was born in Lahti, Finland, where his parents were both members of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and he grew up in and around the orchestra. Trained as a percussionist and with experience playing drums in rock bands, he took up conducting at a young age, and studied at the Sibelius Academy. His first principal conductorship, which he still holds, was in Tampere, Finland, where the orchestra has had to repeat concerts because of the “Santtu Effect” on audiences for classical music in the town.

UPDATE: Several players have told us they are excited. Maybe they are right to be.

On the other hand, there was a time that the public took a keen interest in who headed the London orchestras. No more.

Much fuss was made recently of Esa-Pekka’s engagement as a specialist teacher at LA’s Colburn School.

Some 115 student applications were received from around the world.

Just two were selected: Angus Webster and Ross Jamie Collins.

Both are British, both Helsinki winners of the Panula Prize established by Salonen’s teacher.

He may have known them before the process started.

 

There were some questions over the Salzburg future of artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser, but they were settled yesterday with a five-year extension to his contract.

His first challenge will be the centennial festival in 2020. The board today upped that summer’s budget to 66.5 million Euros.

 

The Library of Congress has announced that soprano ‘Jessye Norman has donated thousands of items documenting her illustrious 50-year career … The collection of about 29,000 items consists of musical arrangements written specifically for Norman, including orchestrations of songs by George and Ira Gershwin and the sacred music of Duke Ellington; business papers related to Norman’s opera and concert performances; publicity materials; concert and opera programs; mockups of album art work; fan mail; recordings; and professional and amateur photographs, providing a visual record of her legacy as a performer.

The collection also contains correspondence, schedules and itineraries dating from Norman’s early operatic career in Europe, through her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, to her unforgettable performance at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games and recent advocacy work with young people.’