In the performances of La Traviata on September 25, 29 and October 2, Ailyn Pérez will sing Violetta in place of the sick Venera Gimadieva. Galeano Salas will take over the role of Gastone on 25th September for Manuel Günther.

This was Calgary’s violin store for decades.

 

All rubble now.

Story here.

Message received:

The composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery has lost her Karl Dennis, 2016 Del Gesu model violin and Dörfler violin bow. It was in a violin shaped black carbon fiber case with stickers along the top.

Montgomery lost it on the NJ Transit traveling between New York City and Montclair, NJ, on Friday September 13, on train 6263 at 4:52pm. She has alerted NJ Transit of the missing instrument.

Montgomery asks that any leads be sent to: Jmonttemp@gmail.com

Montgomery is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. She is the composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, and an Artistic Partner with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. This coming season, her works will be premiered at Carnegie Hall, Stanford University, the National Cathedral, the Cincinnati Symphony, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is currently writing works for the New York Philharmonic and National Symphony. She is a Graduate Fellow in Music Composition at Princeton University, a member of the Catalyst Quartet, and performs regularly with Silkroad Ensemble and Sphinx Virtuosi.

 

The Baltimore Symphony musicians have agreed to a one-year contract. That means more pain next summer.

Some rich people apply sticking plaster in the meantime.

Read the press release below (so we don’t have to):

UPDATE: There’s already a disagreement.

September 23, 2019 – The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Inc. (BSO) and members of the Orchestra and the Musicians’ Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, Local 40-543, announced at a joint press conference today that they have reached a one-year agreement and will open the Orchestra’s 2019-20 concert season this weekend.

In opening the press conference, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Board Chair Barbara Bozzuto said, “It is a proud moment at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra that an agreement has been reached with our musicians. In the view of the Board, the establishment of a Vision Committee is the most promising provision, as we are committed to including our musicians in additional aspects of planning, programming, fundraising and governance.” Bozzuto added, “There is still a great deal of work to be done in building a new business model, but we are better poised to accomplish these goals together.”

Music Director Marin Alsop, in attendance at the press conference, stated, “I’m thrilled that an agreement has been reached and that we will have our musicians back on stage to open our 104th season beginning on Friday night. The musicians of our Orchestra are a great treasure to our community and this agreement assures that we will continue creating the highest level of music-making together.”

Also in attendance at the press conference, Baltimore City Mayor Jack Young said, “The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an essential part of what makes Baltimore, and the state of Maryland, such a special place to live, to work and to visit. I am proud to partner with my colleagues in the State and all the surrounding Counties and communities that you serve, in assuring that the BSO is here in our great City for many generations to come.”

BSO President and CEO Peter Kjome stated, “The Baltimore Symphony is one of the most important orchestras in the country, and the year ahead will be a pivotal one for us. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of those who provided additional support to enable the BSO and our exceptional musicians to reach agreement. We look forward to opening our season this week at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and The Strathmore Music Center.” Kjome continued, “Important work lies ahead. All of us need to come together to advance our great orchestra – through participation, attendance and philanthropy – to achieve our shared goal of a robust and achievable plan for the future that will ensure that Baltimore and Maryland remain home to an exceptional orchestra for many years to come.”

BSO Players Committee Co-Chair Brian Prechtl stated, “The Musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have felt an incredible outpouring of love and support from citizens in Baltimore City and across the state of Maryland this summer.” Prechtl continued, “We look forward to returning to this stage at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and at the Music Center at Strathmore alongside our supporters that have demonstrated their dedication to preserving our amazing orchestra for generations to come. The musicians also look forward to working side by side with leadership to chart a course for a promising future and to once again fill this room with the glorious sounds of music.”

The terms of the one-year agreement, effective through September 6, 2020, include the following:

Increase of 2.4% in weekly scale over 38 concert weeks plus 2 summer weeks, including the BSO’s Star-Spangled Spectacular at Oregon Ridge.

Bonus compensation to the musicians of $1.6 million for the 10 weeks of summer equal to their increased weekly scale, made possible through the generosity of special friends of the BSO.

Collectively, average pay will increase to $94,000 during the contract period.

Continuation of a comprehensive year-round benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, life, long-term disability and instrument insurance. Musicians and management will jointly address the expected increase in health insurance premiums on January 1, 2020, with a possible modest increase that would be borne by both the musicians and the BSO.

Four weeks of paid vacation during the concert season, as well as additional time off during the summer that will be covered by the $1.6 million in bonus pay.

A commitment to hire additional musicians during the 2019-20 season.

The formation of a standing Board committee, the Vision Committee, to include musician participation, with a broad mandate to plan for the future of the BSO.

Agreement to meet together to continue addressing work rules over the next 60 days.

No strike and no lockout through September 6, 2020, and the musicians will withdraw and not refile the unfair labor practice charge that was filed on September 10, 2019.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra paid health, dental, and vision insurance premiums in full for the period of the lockout and for the month of September.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will open its 2019-20 season this weekend with Music Director Marin Alsop leading the Orchestra in Verdi’s La forza del destino Overture, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Also on the program, violinist and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain joins the Orchestra to perform his Voodoo Violin Concerto.

Fri, Sept 27 at 8 pm and Sun, Sept 29 at 3 pm at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Sat, Sept 28 at 8 pm at The Music Center at Strathmore

The college is being dismantled and the faculty are issuing a final call to action. Delay and it will be too late.

The music ends here.

Call to Action for Westminster Choir College (national release) 9-22-19 

Call to Action for Westminster Choir College 9-22-19
Recently, the Rider University administration announced that it intends to tear Westminster Choir College from its historic home in Princeton, NJ and move it to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus – in less than a year. Westminster’s prestigious programs and its performing ensembles are internationally celebrated. Its community music division, the Westminster Conservatory, serves hundreds of New Jersey residents, and its Continuing Education division is highly successful.

If allowed to proceed, moving Westminster and selling the property will cause the death of the institution and irreparable harm to the Princeton community. There are no adequate facilities in Lawrenceville to house Westminster’s specialized, professional-level programs, nor will there be by August 2020. This poor decision to move comes on the heels of Rider’s failed bid to sell Westminster Choir College to a Chinese firm that seemed to be state-controlled. The move is by unilateral decision of the Board and the administration, with absolutely no input from faculty or other supportive groups, nor has the greater community been involved in determining who or what would occupy a twenty-acre campus in the middle of Princeton.

We believe the following to be true:
● Rider’s president and Board are not good-faith stewards and their role as stewards of Westminster must end.
● The leadership’s claim that Westminster is a substantial drain on University resources was not true prior to the 2017–2019 attempt to sell it, a fact publicly acknowledged by Rider’s president in national and local media.
● The staggering losses suffered during the past three years (around $11 million in lost revenue plus legal expenses, and a 60% decline in Westminster enrollment) are a direct consequence of Rider’s foolish attempt to monetize Westminster. In any other institution, such wastage alone would be cause for removal of senior leadership.

What can you do to save Westminster Choir College?
1. Support the Westminster Foundation (www.westminsterfoundationprinceton.org/) Unaffiliated
with Rider or Westminster Choir College, the Foundation comprises friends, alumni, and faculty who lead the fight to keep Westminster in Princeton. Rider officials have ignored repeated requests from the Foundation to hold talks about Westminster’s future. 2. Contact Governor Phil Murphy. 609-292-6000. www.nj.gov/governor/contact. 3. Contact Gregory Dell’Omo, President of Rider University. 609-896-5001 (gdellomo@rider.edu).
Sincerely, Members of the Faculty – Westminster Choir College
Contact: Prof. Elem Eley, EEKavbar@gmail.com

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced a new Vice President for Development.

He’s Dale Hedding, arriving from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Before that, from 2007 to 2014, Hedding was Vice President of Development for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where (we read) he led a $15 million annual fund and $65 million endowment campaign.

And Baltimore still ran out of money.

Per Hauber will be the new head of Sony Classical International, succeeding Bogdan Roscic, who’s off to Vienna to manage the Opera.

Hauber, 42, has been Bogdan’s self-effacing deputy.

No need to change a failing formula, then.

From the press release:

Sony Music Entertainment has promoted Mark Cavell and Per Hauber to lead the Company’s Classical, Jazz, Broadway and non-traditional contemporary music business.

Based in New York, Cavell will become President of Sony Masterworks and Hauber will become President of Sony Classical, based in Berlin.

They will report to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, Chief Operating Officer, Sony Music Entertainment.

… Prior to this promotion, Hauber was Senior Vice President for Sony Classical International, the Company’s Classical repertoire center in Berlin since 2011.

He oversaw the repertoire center’s A&R, International Marketing, Catalog and Product Development departments. Hauber has worked closely with top Classical artists including Jonas Kaufmann, Igor Levit and Teodor Currentzis.

He was instrumental in bringing to Sony Classical the New Year’s Day Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. He joined Sony Music Entertainment from Universal Music Germany, where he was Director, running the marketing team for the Company’s Classical releases from 2002-2011.

In making the announcement, Stringer said: “I want to thank Bogdan for leading our Classical music business for the last 10 years.

“He has been a great steward of our rich catalog and brought in new artists to the Sony Music family. We all wish him well in the next exciting phase of his career at the Vienna State Opera.

“Mark and Per have a track record of success expanding our Masterworks and Classical division around the world.

“Their understanding of the importance and evolving nature of the market underscores their commitment to maintaining Sony Music as a home to iconic and developing artists, music experiences, live entertainment and stage soundtracks. I’m pleased they will be at the helm of this next chapter of the company.”

Anne has resigned as chief classical music critic at the Washington Post, a position she has filled with distinction for 11 years. We’re finding out why.

There is nothing on her social media.

The paper has been relatively well funded since it was taken over by Amazon’s owner. It will not be the same without her.

UPDATE: She’s writing a book.

She’d like to spend more evenings at home with her son.

Her last day at the Post is November 22.

On the late Christopher Rouse, by Donald Elfman:

I worked with Chris at Sam Goody’s in Philadelphia when he was studying with George Crumb. I was a jazz guy, or so I thought, but Chris shared his love and knowledge of orchestral repertoire and rock music with me. In fact most of what I know about Nielsen and Sibelius and Berlioz and … comes from him.

I stayed at his apartment in downtown Philly one night and we listened to Janacek, Nielsen, two full Berlioz operas and Led Zeppelin in addition to watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. We got to bed about 5 AM and made it to the record store for our 9 AM shift.

 

From the artist Suzanne McDermott:

Why do I want to start with an expletive? Why are there no online photos of the white bread, string bean, young Chris Rouse? (My ream of handwritten letters from Chris in our youth including a cartoon self-portrait are deep in storage.) How could I explain what a profound influence on my life and ears and music our intense relationship stamped upon me? Why has this come as such a shock? Oy. The long Philadelphia sessions at Pop Edwards with Donald Elfman​ over Elephant Beer or Vodka and soda with Rose’s Lime after work at Wanamaker’s Music Department, Tower Records, and George Crumb. The intense listenings to Symphonie Fantastique (and certainly more) where I really learned to hear every single note and every single bit of an orchestra and programmatic story. The presents that Chris and Don made me of the best and latest Mahler and Joni Mitchell recordings. My long bus rides to Ithaca where Chris insisted that I sit in on percussion with the Cornell Wind Ensemble through impossible readings of Hindemith and experimental music concerts at excruciating volume with doors locked and Karel Husa asleep behind me. And the downtime when I poured through Chris’s binders of correspondence from Varése, Copeland, Schumann, Honneger, and more (what fun!). Right. Copeland wrote to Chris as “Chip”. Chip Rouse knew what he wanted to do from age 11 (at least) and made a direct bee line through Oberlin, Crumb in Philadelphia, Cornell, and so forth. Chris learned everything there was to learn about orchestral (he was quite specific) composition, courted the greatest American (and more) composers from his pre-teens, honed his craft, taught what he was best at at the best schools (Eastman and Julliard), schmoozed the shit out of his profession because he was beyond worthy of doing so. He followed the imprints (in ridiculously intimate and spiritual ways) of his faves, i.e. Hector B. Christopher Rouse​ is the penultimate example of a fully realized life. From our intimate days in Philadelphia (with Mr. Donald), obsessed with music, we flowed into the realms of classical, jazz and folk. What magnificent joy we shared…listening. Thank you, Chris for everything you opened my ears to. You were the wonderful and whacky bridge from my father, Sam Goody, and Theodore Presser to the world beyond. Thanks, Don, for calling me right away. Good job, Chris. You hit all the marks and enriched my life along the way. Love you, honey. Thanks for inviting me to your Requiem in LA. It was a wonderful experience all around. May there be loads of white bread and mayo in heaven. Onze, onze. Sad face. Fare thee well, Christopher Rouse. Many thanks and lots of love. Rest in peace, darling. Oh, just realized. The good news is that you may be comparing notes with Hector, Anton, and okay, maybe Lenny if he would let you get a word in edgewise.

Can he down it in one?

The desolate cover of Florian Novack’s new release of Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives:

Makes you want to rush out and buy?

Here’s the photographer.

Mikko Franck has named two assistant conductors for this season at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

They are fellow-Finn Emilia Hoving (pic) and a Greek-born Sibelius Academy graduate, Kornilios Michailidis.

What they’d call in French Finn-de-séries.