The London conductor Ben Palmer has signed with the faltering mega-agency. He will be represented Michael Freiburg from the company’s Hannover office specialising in film music.

Ben is married to the cellist Morwenna DelMar, descendant of a conducting legend.

 

The death was reported today of Alexander Tamir, male half of the Tamir-Bracha Eden Duo.

The pair enjoyed an international career in the 1960s and 1970s.

Bracha Eden died in 2006.

Too late to overturn its previous missteps, the Philadelphia music college is offering a confidential safety mechanism to students.

Here’s what president Roberto Diaz has posted:

ugust 14, 2019

To the Curtis community:

As president and CEO of Curtis, I have a responsibility to ensure a healthy school culture in which our community members feel safe, supported, and heard when they voice concerns. Although we have existing channels for bringing reports of misconduct to our attention, we want to underscore our commitment to this responsibility and announce the launch of a new, additional reporting channel.

Effective August 9, 2019, we have engaged Lighthouse Services, Inc. to provide all Curtis community members with access to a hotline for reporting misconduct from the past or present. The purpose of this service is to ensure that any community member wishing to make a report of misconduct can do so in a safe space, without fear of reprisal.

Since 2003, Lighthouse Services has specialized in providing independent third-party hotline services to organizations of all types and sizes, including non-profits, institutions of higher education, K–12 schools, and youth services organizations. Lighthouse serves a roster of more than 3,000 clients with a reporting network covering over 2 million users.

To ensure maximum accessibility, Lighthouse Services provides a toll-free number, along with several other reporting methods detailed below, all of which are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for use by Curtis community members. Concerns may be reported in any one of the following ways:

Website: www.lighthouse-services.com/Curtis

Telephone:
English-speaking USA and Canada: (833) 700-0026
Spanish-speaking USA and Canada: (800) 216-1288
Spanish-speaking Mexico: 01-800-681-5340
French-speaking Canada: (855) 725-0002
E-mail: reports@lighthouse-services.com (If using this method, Curtis’s name must be included within the report.)

Fax: (215) 689-3885 (If using this method, Curtis’s name must be included within the report.)

Website and e-mail reporting are available to anyone around the world, and Lighthouse staff are trained to receive reports in 39 different languages. Additional information about the hotline may be found in the Procedures document. Information about student safety and misconduct prevention protocols may be found here. Information about counseling and other student support services may be found here.

We will take every report made to the hotline seriously. The reports will be reviewed and investigated and, if the circumstances warrant, we will bring in an outside investigator to conduct an investigation.

If a community member does not wish to make a report to the hotline, but would like to speak to someone at Curtis, he or she may reach out to me, Senior Director of Human Resources Patricia Lombardo, or Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs Nicholas Lewis. We are all here to listen. I can be reached at (215) 717-3107, Patricia can be reached at (215) 717-3133, and Nicholas can be reached at (215) 717-3160.

Regards,

Signature_Roberto Diaz

Roberto Díaz
President and CEO

 

The Hamburg baritone Jan Buchwald who sang a terrific Donner in the Daniel Barenboim Ring cycle at the 2013 BBC Proms has died at an early age.

He also sang the role with Barenboim at La Scala.

Jan Buchwald was a member of the Hamburg Staatsoper, from 2002 to 2015.

The president of his native country South Ossetia, Anatoly Ilyich Bibilov, and the Prime Minister Eric Pukhaev have expressed condolences to the Marinsky Theatre director Valery Gergiev on the death of his mother, Tamara Lagkuyeva-Gergeieva.

The funeral was held yesterday in Vladikavkaz.

Tamara Lagkuyeva is survived by her son, two daughters and several grandchildren.

Our condolences to Valery on the loss of this formative figure in his life.

He is due back in Salzburg later today.

The Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecień, who is having a nightmare year of cancellations, has withdrawn from the ROH Don Pasquale in October ‘due to personal reasons’.

No replacement has yet been found.

Also out of the Covent Garden season is the Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser, who was down to sing Ägisth in Elektra.

The first to break the silence is Sonya Yoncheva.

Here’s a longer version of her tribute:

‘A real gentleman, philanthropist, artist, charming and peaceful human being, who is devoted to the new generation of singers in the most humble and respectful way. I know Placido for nearly 10 years and it was, it is always a great pleasure to work with him. You can rarely find today a person who respects more his job, his colleagues, the team of each theater and his fans. An irreplaceable figure in our industry, he, more than anybody else, proved that a successful career depends only on your work and your talent, nothing else can help it or destroy it! Placido Domingo.’

There have also been messages from such senior figures as Mara Zampieri and Maria Guleghina.

UPDATE: The Mexican tenor Javier Camarena writes: ‘Maestro Domingo: You know how much I appreciate and admire you. You have my eternal gratitude for your kindness and your always beautiful words regarding my work. I pray to God for the peace in your heart, may his arms embrace and protect your family in this moments of storm.’

 

Here’s another – Nino Machaidze:

Una delle persone più gentili, umili e professionali che io abbia conosciuto! #ISupportPlacidoDomingo #StandByDomingo

One of the kindest, humble and professional people I’ve known! #Isupportplacidodomingo #Standbydomingo

Message from Sondra Radvanovsky:

Well, I am back! SO sorry for the radio silence these past few weeks, but I have been going through quite a bit in my personal life…more on that in another post. But, I am ready to get back to work, starting with a fresh haircut and colour yesterday, thank you Brienne and @launchyourhair, and heading to Barcelona today for my recital at the Peralada Festival @festivalcastellperalada on Saturday.

Austin Larson, rising 3rd horn at the locked-out Baltimore Symphony, will play the coming season in the Cincinnati Symphony.

A fine orchestra is being worn down by attrition.

Austin writes: Austin is currently Acting Assistant Principal Horn of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the 2019-20 season while locked out from his permanent position as Third Horn in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. 

 

In the 48 hours since the Associated Press published sexual allegations by eight anonymous women against Placido Domingo, the music world has split in two halves.

In the US, institutions have hurriedly dissociated themselves from Domingo and cancelled his bookings, with the exception of the LA Opera which is conducting an independent investigation, and the Met which says it will follow LA’s findings. Everywhere else, Domingo is held to be guilty as alleged and no voice has been raised in his support.

The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) declared overnight: ‘Today, AGMA became aware of serious allegations of sexual harassment made by multiple women against Plácido Domingo.  We have contacted our employers to demand investigations into these allegations.  Additionally, we have reached out to our members in opera companies that may have been affected to offer guidance and support.  We will continue to closely monitor this situation, making the safety of our members our first priority.’

In Europe, on the other hand, there has been no condemnation of Domingo’s alleged conduct. On the contrary, the Salzburg Festival president Helga Rabl-Stader declared instant solidarity, praising Domingo’s ‘appreciative treatment of all festival employees’ and confirming his appearance in Verdi’s Luisa Miller later this month.

Zurich Opera, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and several other institutions have stood by him. La Scala and Covent Garden say they are monitoring the outcome of the LA investigation. The music world has never been more divided on geographic lines.

What is significant beyond the split, is that no major music personality has uttered a single word, either in condemnation or in solidarity of the beleaguered Domingo. Apart from three Spanish sopranos, there has not been a peep.

Not from Netrebko, or Gergiev, or Kaufmann, or Barenboim, or any of his supposed best friends.

Which is strange. And timid. And rather typical.

UPDATE: A star speaks up for Domingo

You can read this post in Spanish translation here.