The Stage, which covers all theattrical activity in the UK, has taken down its reports on the new facilities at the Old Vic Theatre, where archaic divisions of men and women were to have been abolished.
Here’s what the paper now says:
UPDATE: Sarah Ditum has republished one of the offending articles here.
This article appeared briefly on the Stage before reactions to it convinced them to unpublish both this, and the article it was responding to. The features editor originally approached me, and as well as writing the column I made myself available for any edits (which were not required), despite the £50 fee being well below my usual rate – I consider the issue of women’s access to public toilets important enough to take a hit on the fee. Unfortunately, the Stage did not consider it important enough to support the work it commissioned, nor did they consider it necessary to notify me before unpublishing. You can read it here and decide for yourself whether it is an obnoxious enough piece of writing to deserve that treatment. …
For men and women to have equal wait times for toilets, a good rule of thumb is that women should have access to twice as many toilets as men. But few public toilets put that principle into practice, and the disparity is rarely more infuriating for women than when trapped in the queue at the theatre with the bell summoning you to your seat. So when the Old Vic launched a fundraiser to double provision for women, a lot of female theatregoers were very keen to give it their support.
But now the Old Vic has completed the refurbishment, it’s clear that something has gone very wrong. Yes, there are more toilets, with 44 where there were once 22 – but not more toilets for women. Instead, there are 26 toilets and 18 urinals, and all toilets have been turned “gender neutral”….
From James Irsay:
As of this morning, there is no more WBAI. The national office has fired ALL staff (including our manager Berthold Reimers and program director Linda Perry-Barr). There is no more technical staff, and 99.5FM is broadcasting programs remotely from a California Pacifica station (not sure if KPFA or KPFK). This is the work of new Pacifica interim Executive DirectorJohn Vermile.
Sorry to bring you such horrific news. We are hoping to get back in action after consulting with the appropriate professionals.
Founded in 1941, WBAI was a liberal, left-wing, progressive radio station with a diverse musical output.
From the 1960s, under Music Directors John Corigliano, Ann McMillan and, later Eric Salzman, the station aired an annual 23-hour nonstop presentation of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, recorded the previous summer at Bayreuth. It was also the first to broadcast a Philip Glass opera.
New York’s won’t hear its like again.
Statement from Faber Music:
Faber Music and Diversity
“Faber Music’s philosophy has always been to identify and support outstanding composing ability wherever it is to be found. We have become aware, however, that we need to do more to ensure both that we are hearing composers from backgrounds and ethnicities that might be different from those we have traditionally published and that those composers see Faber Music as a potential home. Over the coming weeks we will be developing specific strategies to turn that ambition into reality, including articulating a new policy and supporting the wider industry as it continues to address lack of diversity within classical music.”
Richard King, CEO Faber Music (October 2019)
The conductor Teodor Currentzis has halved his involvement in a Berlin and Vienna Beethoven symphony cycle played by his Russian ensemble, MusicAeterna.
Too busy elsewhere?
The press release says his withdrawal is a consequence of his ‘strained time budget (strapazierte Zeitbudget)’ and a ‘reorientation’ of the ensemble, which sounds like he’s dumping them.
Excuses come these days in ever-more evasive guises.
The violinist Joshua Bell, 51, married soprano Larisa Martinez, 32, at their home in Mount Kisco, N.Y., on Saturday.
The officiating minister was New York Times columnist David Brooks.
The bride, who has toured with Andre Bocelli, wore white.
As did the groom.
The Times reports they have been together for seven years.
photo (c) Elena Cherkashyna
Rupett Chistiansen in the Telegraph has scored the first interview with Christiane Lutz, wife of the international tenor, who is making her UK debut directing Rigoletto for the Glyndebourne Tour.
The intervew is behind a paywall, otherwise we might tell you more about the baby.
Jonas is elsewhere this week, doing promos for Sony.
Slipped Disc was the first to report the incident in Cincinnati a week ago when Anne-Sophie Mutter broke off in the middle of the second movement of the Beethoven concerto to berate a female front-row audience member who was filming her.
Opinion divided over her conduct. Many of our respondents felt she had crossed a line.
The Mutter machine roared into action with a response via the New York Times:
“The first movement is over, and I’m trying to concentrate and stay calm,” Ms. Mutter recalled. “Then she takes out a second phone, and a power bank. I continued the second movement, but it’s already boiling in me. I’m totally out of the flow.”
“I feel violated in my rights, of my artistic property,” she said, noting that unauthorized filming is illegal. “As an artist you take such care when doing a recording — that you have your own sound engineer, that the mics are hung in the right spots. The sound is a part of you, you want your voice replicated in a way that really represents what you have worked on for an entire life.”
The audience expressed its approval of her stance, she said, and “erupted in long, powerful applause.”
The NY Times contentualises the event among several other recent concert phone incidents.
Read here.
Message from Domingo on the sudden death this weekend of Marcello Giordani:
Dearest Marcello, What an immense sadness I feel for your unexpected and premature departure.
What beautiful memories I immediately call to mind of our beautiful Metropolitan Opera performances of Simon Boccanegra in January 2010 and Tosca in November 2015. We will miss you so much! What a stupendous voice. Goodbye súper tenor.
Carissimo Marcello che immensa tristezza provo per la tua inaspettata e prematura partenza.
Che belle memorie mi sono subito venute in mente delle nostre stupende recite al The Metropolitan Opera di Simone Boccanegra nel gennaio del 2010 e della Tosca a novembre del 2015. Ci mancherai tantissimo ! Che voce stupenda. Addio súper tenore 🙏👏👏👏!
More tributes here.
