It’s the new curatorial role at the Atlanta Symphony, a kind of intellectual hub/artistic administrator.
Here’s what they say in the press release:
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) has named noted musicologist, author and artistic innovator Elena Dubinets to its newly created position of Chief Artistic Officer. Dubinets most recently held the position of Vice President of Artistic Planning and Creative Projects at the Seattle Symphony (SSO), where she has served since 2003. Dubinets will begin her new role with the ASO in August 2019.
As a musicologist, Dubinets has published four books and more than one hundred articles in Russian, American and British general and scholarly publications, has presented her work at numerous international scholarly meetings, and has received stipends and fellowships from the NEH and Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. Her fifth book, entitled “Zagranitsa: Russian Composers Abroad,” a look at historical and sociological aspects of professional musical culture during the “waves” of emigration from Russia and the former USSR from the end of the 19th century to present day, will be released in 2020 by the Indiana University Press.
The festival’s chief executive has sent us this placatory statement:
On Friday, I became aware that a report was being filed in the Observer relating to a complaint I received regarding this year’s festival and the programming of Beethoven’s ninth symphony. I feel it’s important to respond and to clarify some misconceptions.
Shortly after announcing our programme in late March, I spoke with a gentleman who planned to boycott the festival – and encourage others to do the same – because he felt the inclusion of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony was a pro-EU provocation in a region with a strong ‘Leave’ profile. Our conversation was measured and respectful, but despite my assurances that the choice of repertoire was apolitical, and his own long-standing devotion to our event, he remained determined to avoid the festival this year. Although I regret that he will miss a magnificent week of music-making and conviviality, and do not share his views, I respect his right to express them.
Ticket sales for the festival overall are healthy, but it’s true that sales for this particular concert are below the level we would generally expect for our final night (although we’ve sold almost a hundred more since this story broke)! There are likely to be several reasons for this: the other major work on the last night programme is a rarely-performed and unfamiliar work – The Mystic Trumpeter – by Cheltenham-born Gustav Holst; there could be other local events which have diverted audiences; bookers might have decided they prefer some of our other 70+ events. Additionally, there’s a general trend emerging for people to book later, so all I can say with certainty is that two people are not attending this event because of a perceived connection with Brexit politics.
As our Artistic Director, Adrian Partington has already made clear, Beethoven’s inclusion was not politically motivated. I expect this is true of most, if not all, other performances taking place this year, including one at the BBC Proms a fortnight after our own. We’re staging a magnificent, celebratory work to close a festival which sees thousands of people – audience members, internationally renowned performers, our locally-sourced festival chorus and a host of dedicated volunteers – come together through a shared love of music. While there’s no denying that music can be, and is, used as a powerful tool in communicating a message, it should also be allowed to stand as a simple expression of creativity; a monument to the extraordinary achievements of human cultural endeavour and a common language that has the power to move us all, regardless of our politics.
I’ve been saddened by the aggressive nature of some of the responses directed at the complainant described in the article. Events in Strasbourg last week have made an isolated conversation suddenly topical, but the response seems symptomatic of a deep division which will not be bridged by what amounts to little more than name-calling. Perhaps it’s appropriate then, to quote the other composer in our contentious concert (composer of, among many other things, the tune to the hymn “I vow to thee my country”), Gustav Holst: “I believe most thoroughly in comradeship in all shapes as being the ideal of this world”.
When we come together on the 3 August, I hope we can celebrate the performers’ achievements – it’s an extraordinary feat of stamina to cover so much repertoire to such a high standard over the course of the festival – and let the music speak for itself. It is joyful music – I hope we can all raise a smile.
Alexis Paterson, Chief Executive Monday 8 July 2019
We hear that Boston Symphony concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, who was invalided out for a year with concussion and returned recently to play in the rear of the section, resumed his first seat in this weekend’s concerts.
Excellent news.
The producers of a July 20 gala concert at the Chorégies d’Orange festival in France, featuring Anna Netrebko and her husband Yusif Eyvazov, have cancelled the event due to ‘circumstances beyond their control’.
The press release below is somewhat bizarre.
COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE
Orange, le 6 juillet 2019 Annulation
Gala Anna Netrebko et Yusif Eyvazov
Production Idili Céleste, producteurs du Gala Anna Netrebko et Yusif Eyvazov viennent d’informer la direction des Chorégies d’Orange « qu’en raison de circonstances indépendantes de leur volonté, les producteurs sont contraints d’annuler le gala réunissant Anna Netrebko, Daniela Barcellona, Yusif Eyvazov et Christopher Maltman prévu le 20 juillet » prochain au Théâtre Antique d’Orange. Les Chorégies d’Orange regrettent cette annulation et espèrent pouvoir recevoir les artistes dans d’autres circonstances.
Anna’s in Verona at the moment, having a good time.
The supporting singers at Orange were supposed to have been Christopher Maltman and Daniela Barcellona.
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has awarded an honorary doctorate to the soprano Margaret Marshall, its graduate in years gone by.
Margaret made her operatic debut in Florence in 1978, in Gluck’s Orfeo under the conductor Riccardo Muti, going on to sing roles at London’s Royal Opera House, La Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.
She has also been a prolific recitalist with a large recorded repertoire.
The BBC’s head of classical music Alan Davey has published a somewhat damp response to the Guardian’s editorial deprecation of the coming Proms season as dull and posh.
Your editorial (5 July) asserts that “for the rich, events like the Proms provide status experiences that will convey bragging rights with fellow have-yachts”. It must please be noted that once again this summer there will be 100,000 seated tickets available for under £15, alongside 70,000 Promming (standing) tickets that can be purchased daily for £6, as the Proms continues its commitment to being one of the world’s most democratic festivals.
On the question of “What is classical music for?” you make some good essential points: that classical music is and never should be reduced to background muzak; it should not live in the past; it should not become simply a commodity. It should make the listener think, understand humanity, and feel more alive.
However, I don’t recognise the suggestion that the BBC Proms is “easy listening” nor that Radio 3 is a “complacent titan”. Radio 3 and the BBC Proms are among the most significant commissioners of new classical music anywhere in the world. Much of the music we play is not heard anywhere else, the BBC Proms indeed opens with a world premiere and new music features right through to the last night. On Radio 3 we play complete works, reflecting live music up and down the country, supporting talent making new work and working hard to redraw the boundaries of the canon, recording historical works by female and BAME composers that have not been widely heard before. So it’s curious the writer dismisses Radio 3, and the BBC Proms, orchestras and choirs for their work pushing boundaries in classical music – the BBC’s support in this area should never be taken for granted.
Alan Davey
Controller, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Classical Music
The Hans Gabor Belvedere international singing competition – one of the more useful contests – was won last night in Villach, Austria, by the veryy young Valeriia Savinskaia from Russia.
Aside from a cash prize, she receives a prompt engagement at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Second was Boikhutso Owen Metsileng of South Africa. Third was Slávka Zámečníková of Slovakia.
The Singapore Symphony has named the Austrian Hans Graf as its next music director. Graf, 70, will take over the baton a year from now from the outgoing Lan Shui, who has been in charge for 22 years.
Graf was music director in Houston, 2001 to 2013.
He has also held the reins at the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg (1984-94), Calgary Philharmonic (1995-2003) and Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine (1998-2004).
His first date after Les Mis was playing a Bach Brandenburg concerto with the Oxford Phil.
He is seing out the season in the opera orchestra at Garsington and will also deputise at English National Opera. Tim plays the natural trumpet as well as the modern trumpet and is a very good piccolo player – lips of steel, his friends say!
Tim, 65, has played trumpet since he was 8 years old.
The Stage reports that the West End’s Queen’s Theatre will be renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, when its refurbishment is completed in December.
Cameron Mackintosh, the theatre owner, said: ‘For the past 25 years I have tried to build a studio theatre in central London named after Sondheim…’
The theatre is home to the long-running musical Les Miserables.
Watch Natalia Ushakova recording an aria from “La fille du Regiment” for her new album “A Tribute to Maria Callas”
The Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas died of a ruptured hernia in 1949, shortly after the birth of his second son. He was 45 and completely unknown, his health broken by internment in a camp during the German occupation.
Possessed of a questing mind, Skalkottas enrolled in Arnold Schoenberg’s Berlin class from 1927 to 1932, learning how to write ultra-modern serialism and balancing it with his own instinct for Mediterranean melody. This collection…
