The successor to the excellent Alistair Macaulay will be former freelance Gia Kourlas.
The National Philharmonic of Bethesda, Maryland, has raised $150,000 to secure its immediate future.
Read here.
Message received:
The Bernstein family and the Leonard Bernstein Office are devastated to go forward in our lives without our beloved Hal Prince.
Prince met Bernstein when he was the stage manager of Bernstein’s second musical, Wonderful Town, back in the early 1950’s. Later in the decade, as a producer, he rescued a little show called West Side Story from perdition after its first producer, Cheryl Crawford, backed out. The rest, as they say, is history.
The connection between Prince and Bernstein was far more than professional; they were luminaries in the extraordinary cultural milieu of New York City in the mid-20th century. And their two families were close as well. So this loss is felt at multiple levels for all of us in Bernsteinland. We send all our love to Judy, Daisy, Charley, and everyone in the newly narrowed Princeland.
[Photograph of the West Side Story authors and producers: Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Hal Prince, Robert Griffith, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins]
The publisher of Barrington Pheloung has announced his death at the age of 65.
Pheloung, an Australian who settled in England, came to prominence with music for the long-running TV series, Inspector Morse. For the ast seven years he composed the Endeavour series,
His film credits included Hilary and Jackie, Nostradamus and Truly Madly Deeply.
We normally expect a summer dip in our Google Analytics usage report, but not this year.
Despite my being abroad or airbound for several days, we had 1,519,037 visitors in the month of July, among them 207,709 new users.
In terms of country breakdown, the US accounted for 54%, UK was 24%, followed by Canada, Germany, Australia and France.
A record 61 percent of readers were under the age of 35.
The male female readership split was 54:46.
We are having to turn away some advertisers for the coming season.
Singers are lamenting the death of Richard Gregson, a revival director who saved many a night from collapse. Richard would be listed modestly in the programmes as assistant director, or revival associate director, but he was so much more.
Rosalind Plowright writes: ‘I remember him waving directions at me from the wings on the night that I jumped in to replace Katia Riciarelli as Aida. (June 1984) It was my first encounter with the great Pavarotti… Despite Richards frantic gestures from the side of the stage there was very little I could do with the legendary tenor in our scenes together . He definitely decided that evening to park and bark (in the grand sense of the phrase). and in the end, despite Richards directions I just had to improvise as best I could. None the less, I will never forget his support that memorable night.’
John Copley adds: ‘Very very sad news of dear Richard Gregson. He was such a wonderful associate and kept my Boheme in great form for many years. Bless him and RIP to such a gentleman.’
A student has given account of the countertenor’s attempts to seduce him at the University of Michigan.
Andrew Lipian’s deposition states: ‘It’s like we were all swimming, we were all out to sea, and there is a shark swimming in the water… And they let the shark in, and they didn’t get us out of the water.’
Daniels, denying the allegations, maintains the contacts were consensual.
UPDATE: Daniel’s lawyers have issued this defence statement:
David Daniels and Scott Walters are innocent. Nine years ago, they had consensual sex with
Sam Schultz after the three men attended several parties together. When the last party ended,
Mr. Schultz drove himself to Mr. Daniels’ and Mr. Walters’ apartment at 3:20 a.m. because he
wanted to be with them. Mr. Schultz leaves this important fact out every time he tells his story.
Clarifications
There has been confusion about some of the facts in this case, leading to false information
being circulated in the media. Here are some clarifications:
• Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters were never extradited to Houston. The two men were in
Michigan when they were originally charged in January 2019. After being released on
bail in Michigan, they voluntarily and at their own expense, traveled to Houston to
appear in court.
• Mr. Daniels is not a party to any civil suit involving the University of Michigan. In
October 2018, a civil suit against UM and Mr. Daniels was filed by Andrew Lipian in the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The claims against Mr. Daniels
were dismissed in February. There is no pending civil litigation against Mr. Daniels.
• The indictments of Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters handed down by the Harris County
Grand Jury last week were not unexpected and are by no means evidence of guilt. They
are merely allegations. The indictments are part of the process of bringing a case to trial
where the allegations can be challenged. Grand juries seldom decline prosecutors’
requests for indictments. The presumption of innocence still applies, and Mr. Daniels
and Mr. Walters look forward to their day in court.
The diva has explained her last-minute absence from last night’s Adriana Lecouvreur:
Her substitute was Hui He, a Chinese soprano presently at Verona. How did she do? Brilliantly, says this Italian site.
Rough translation:
Hui He was in Verona yesterday morning, rehearsing Tosca which she will sing at the Arena on August 23 and 29. During a rehearsal break, she received a call asking if she could replace Netrebko in Cilea’s opera that evening. Hui He accepted, ran home with her pianist, Cristina Orsolato, and studied the role for two hours, having recently sung it for the first time. After that she ate an egg, put a concert dress in her suitcase and went to Villafranca Airport where a private plane was waiting for her, made available by the Festival. Arriving at the Grosses Festspielhaus, she met Maestro Marco Armiliato and did a brief test with him, put on make-up and went on stage. The reception for Hui He at the end of the work was enthusiastic with numerous acclamations and calls to the fore.
The orchestra has posted notice of the death, ‘after a severe illness, of Christian Stadelmann, leader of the second violins. He was 60 years old.
A Berliner by birth, student of the former concertmaster Thomas Brandis, Christian joined the Berlin Phil under Herbert von Karajan in 1985 and was made leader of his section two years later. He taught in the Karajan Academy from 2002. An active chamber musician, he founded the Philharmonia Quartet and the Vincent Trio. From 1991 he was a member of the orchestra’s advisory Council of Five.
Our condolences to his family and friends.
Photo: Sebastian Hänel