Where do this week’s developments leave the Royal Opera House in London? Domingo is just as much of a favourite performer at Covent Garden as he is at the Met. He has been appearing there since 1971 and he is scheduled to return next summer in Verdi’s Don Carlo. But the question of his continued involvement is now an increasingly embarrassing one for the Covent Garden management. Like all the houses where Domingo still performs, the Royal Opera House love the glamour and the artistry, not to mention the ticket-price income, that Domingo brings. But Covent Garden is living in a dream world if it imagines these performances can or should still go ahead….
There is certainly room for a variety of views about the #MeToo movement and its effects. And Domingo’s status as one of the greatest tenors of all time is secure. But sexual harassment has long been a feature of the opera world as well as other workplaces, and there is no room for the view, which is still all too common, that opera houses can simply ignore it.
Plácido Domingo was a fixture at Washington Opera for almost two decades. The first small step that WNO and the Kennedy Center should take to acknowledge these revelations may seem cosmetic but is critical: the company should immediately change the name of its young artists program. Founded by Domingo in 2002, as still noted on the Kennedy Center’s website today, it continues to bear his name as the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program. It would be a relatively easy but significant step to excise the first half of that name.
… In addition to removing his name, Washington National Opera can and should do more. The company would do well to take a page from L.A. Opera’s book and appoint an outside investigator to document any accusations against Domingo throughout the company’s history, even before the merger with the Kennedy Center. There could well be more stories waiting to be told from the decade and a half Domingo reigned over Washington Opera.
By coming to terms with Domingo’s checkered past in a public and candid manner, Washington National Opera will show that the company values the bravery of the women who came forward more than the increasingly empty denials of its former star artistic leader.
Associated Press: None of Domingo’s upcoming performances in Europe have been canceled; he has a busy fall lineup of operas and concerts in Switzerland, Russia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland.
Justin Davidson in the aptly named Vulture: Society has changed, and the Met is limping to keep up. When the news about Levine’s transgressions broke, the company called in lawyers to run an investigation, bury the results, and settle the case. The Domingo protest makes it clear that’s not enough to restore harmony within and trust without. In Levine’s case, the Met’s leaders claimed they had no idea that the man most widely credited for the company’s artistic luster, who spent virtually all his waking hours in the building during a 40-year tenure, had a darker side. Met employees kept Levine’s schedule, reserved his tables, carried his bags, and arranged his travel, yet the official position is that none of them saw or reported a thing. Those same powers of unobservation applied to Domingo, too. Hours before the divorce, Gelb was still claiming that the multiple accusations were “not corroborated.”
There’s more at stake here than Gelb’s leadership or Domingo’s reputation. The Met is a global beacon of an art form that is hugely expensive to produce and pricey to attend. More than most forms of culture, it depends on the public’s good will. For the sake of its artists and its art, the Met needs to change its culture, not just cover its ass.
Friends are mourning the death today of Myron Bloom, the most sought-after horn player in America.
Myron was principal horn of the New Orleans Symphony from 1949 to 1954, when he was recruited by Georg Szell for the Cleveland Orchestra, where he played until 1977. That year, at Daniel Barenboim’s instigation, he became principal horn of the Orchestre de Paris, serving until 1985.
He went on to teach at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
He set the standard of his times.
The International Horn Society writes: ‘We mourn the loss of Myron Bloom, and send deepest condolences to his family and friends.’
No-one would dispute that the Met’s removal of two of the world’s greatest singers in as many days was woefully mishandled by its general manager Peter Gelb.
But is it a sacking offence?
In the Boston Globe, Zoe Madonna thinks it has to be:
Whatever the reasons for Gelb’s circling the wagons around Domingo, he simultaneously created a toxic environment for his staff and confirmed my worst fears about opera. His response reinforces a paradigm of opera as a hidebound, hierarchical world, where venerated men get away with absolutely anything. In the meantime, artists who depend on good relationships with the powerful few (a.k.a. almost everyone else working in opera) must stoically sing past all kinds of inappropriate behavior — or leave the field entirely.
It’s time to ask: what do we want opera to stand for? I know what I want: I want an opera world where no one has to worry about giggling and smiling through harassment when they go to work. I want a world where having a famous name, or the support of the top 0.01 percent, or legions of adoring fans to descend on accusers and critics, doesn’t mean it’s easier to escape accountability. I want a world where less sympathy is given to abusers than those they abused, no matter how well those abusers might sing.
It’s time for Gelb to go, and take the board with him…
Mikko Franck has just called in sick for tonight’s concert, and the following two nights.
Happily, Ivan Fischer is around to jump in – though it’s hardly his choice of music:
Einojuhani Rautavaara Apotheosis Sergei Prokofiev 2nd piano concerto Claude Debussy Printemps (Orch. version) Maurice Ravel Daphnis et Chloé, Suite Nr. 2
We have been leaked the general manager’s internal message about the suspension of two singers. Many feel it was inappropriate on Gelb’s part to juxtapose the momentous departure of Domingo, with 51 years of service, with that of the less constant Grigolo.
Here’s the message.
Dear Members of the Company
Placido Domingo has agreed to withdraw from all performances at the Met, with immediate effect. We are grateful to him for recognising that he needed to step down. Placido made the following statement today:
“I made my debut at the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 27 and have sung at this magnificent theater for 51 consecutive, glorious years. While I strongly dispute recent allegations made about me, and I am concerned about a climate in which people are condemned without due process, upon reflection, I believe that my appearance in this production of Macbeth would distract from the hard work of my colleagues both on stage and behind the scenes. As a result, I have asked to withdraw and I thank the leadership of the Met for graciously granting my request. I am happy that, at the age of 78, I was able to sing the wonderful title role in the dress rehearsal of Macbeth, which I consider my last performance on the Met stage. I am grateful to God and the public for what they have allowed me to accomplish here at The Metropolitan Opera.”
I also wanted to inform you that following an alleged incident of misconduct reported by the Royal Opera House concerning Vittorio Grigolo we will be suspending him with immediate effect from all future performances at the Met, pending the outcome of the ROH investigation.
If you receive any queries from the media, please direct them to the Met press department.
With many thanks for your understanding though what I appreciate has been a very difficult time for the Company. Best wishes, Peter Gelb
The message is barely punctuated and the pay-off line is semi-coherent: With many thanks for your understanding though what I appreciate has been a very difficult time for the Company.
This is a man with his back to the safety curtain and a ticking in his ears.
Charlotte Schroeder is stepping down as President of Colbert Artists Management, handing over to Lee Prinz at the end of the year.
Charlotte joined the agency as a recptionist in 1972 and became its owner in 2002.
Colbert’s artists today include Ken-David Masur, the Jack Quartet, Mahan Esfahani, Till Fellner and Anne-Akiko Meyers.
Charlotte’s farewell letter is a classic of the genre:
To my colleagues, friends, artists, artist managers, recording and performing arts administrators, publicists, journalists and individuals everywhere in the classical music world, I send my personal greetings for the new season with news from Colbert Artists Management.
I have made the decision to step down as the President of Colbert Artists Management and in so doing, have appointed Lee Prinz to succeed me. The official “handing over the keys” will occur on December 31 of this year.
Lee joined the management in 2003 and immediately became an invaluable addition to the booking staff, rising to his current position as Senior Vice President for Artist Management and Booking. He has, in fact, been leading the company for the past months with his characteristic joy, enthusiasm and superb professionalism. And he is loved by all! I could not be happier nor more confident for the future of Colbert Artists.
My life with Colbert began in 1972, shortly after moving to New York from my family home in Oklahoma where I lived through college years studying music with no intention whatever to pursue a performing career. This is the story of so many in our field seeking to make a meaningful contribution to the business of music. The formidable Ann Colbert was the owner in 1972, having started the management in 1948 with husband Henry Colbert. By the time I was hired as the receptionist, Colbert Artists was located on the 14th floor of the famed Steinway Building at 111 West 57th Street and represented a stellar and enviable roster of opera and concert singers, conductors, chamber ensembles and instrumental soloists, a list Colbert Artists can boast of to this day. Agnes Eisenberger was the constant and devoted Vice President to Mrs. Colbert (as she was always addressed), taking over the business in 1991. After the untimely death of Miss Eisenberger (as she was always addressed) the day after Christmas 2002, I found myself the owner of Colbert Artists Management.
This story would be incomplete without underscoring the importance of Christina Putnam. She joined the management in 1982 and has been an invaluable friend and contributor to the success of Colbert Artists. Chris has been an unfaltering positive influence on the artists represented by the management and beloved by the orchestra, opera, and concert presenting field world-wide. She will continue in her role as Executive Vice President for Artist Management and Booking. Special mention and gratitude also to Amy Carson-Dwyer, our California-based member of the Management and Booking staff since 1987 who continues as Senior Booking Representative and Tour Manager for Western States and Florida; Boston-based Emily Motherwell who has presided over publicity, marketing and social media since 2006 and Rob Scott, looking after artist logistics as Director of Concert Servicing since 2011.
Never wanting to miss out on anything wonderful, I have had the privilege of involving myself in every aspect of artist management. One never finishes. And that is thrilling. But at the same time, one misses out on the quieter, less thrilling, equally satisfying aspects of life and that is what I wish to explore now with friends and family, most especially my life companion of many years, Malcolm Addey.
Please join me in support of our President-in-waiting, Lee Prinz as he leads Colbert Artists Management into the future.
Making a joyful noise, I remain yours, Charlotte Schroeder
The tumbrils are rolling.
Statement from the Metropolitan Opera: ‘Following the alleged incident reported by the Royal Opera House concerning Vittorio Grigolo, the Met will be suspending him with immediate effect from all future performances, pending the outcome of the ROH investigation.‘
He has upcoming engagements at La Scala and Berlin.
We have heard indirectly from his partner, Elisabeth, that Paul Badura-Skoda died last night, just short of his 92nd birthday.
Elisabeth gave the sad news to the pianist Didier Castell-Jacomin, for whom Paul, a renowned authority on classical-era repertoire, was writing a cadenza for the Haydn D-major concerto.
UPDATE: The news was made official at noon today.
A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda became a sought-after soloist with Furtwängler, Karajan and Szell. He often performed on instruments from his own historic collection and was one of very few pianists to record the same works on historic and modern keyboards.
He edited the Mozart piano concertos with his wife Eva for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe and was considered a paramount authority on Schubert. An amiable musician who shunned artificial rivalries, he worked happily with Jörg Demus (who died in April) on a study of the interpretation of the 32 sonatas. Together with Friedrich Gulda, Paul and Jörg re-established the authority of Austrian classical pianism in the modern era.
A week after Simon Woods stepped down as chief exec of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Paul Meecham has announced he is leaving the Utah Symphony next week – apparently because he’s music director is leaving and he can’t face another search process.
Paul was previously chief at Baltimore and Seattle. Before that, in a 40-year career, he ran the Liverpool Phil and the London Sinfonietta.
Paul said: ‘I have enjoyed immensely my time with USUO, with its unique blend of Symphony, Opera and the Deer Valley® Music Festival. In making this decision, it is definitely a bitter-sweet moment. However, after a very fulfilling career in the orchestra field spanning almost 40 years, I would like to explore new avenues. And with Thierry Fischer’s recent announcement that he would be stepping down as music director at the end of the 2021-22 season, my decision will allow the next president & CEO the opportunity to see through the search process and the appointment of his successor.’
Other available UK managers in the US include Minnesota’s Tony Woodcock and Michael Henson.
Less available are two past managers of the Orpheus Ensemble: Graham Parker who is now head of Uinversal Classics in the US and Dr Krishna Thiagarajan, president of the Seattle Symphony.
Meet Olga Sroubkova. She won the audition for concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and confirmed it last night on television.
She is their first woman in the hot seat and one of the youngest in any major orchestra.
Olga, who is from Prague, studied at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, graduating last year.
