From Chicago Lyric Opera:

Due to a family situation in Europe, Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov has had to withdraw from Lyric’s production in order to be closer to home in the coming months.

Ildar’s engagements to the end of the year are in Moscow and St Petersburg.

He will be subbed in Chicago as Don Giovanni by Lucas Meachem.

 

 

 

From Zoe Brownlee:

 

Nailed it, says Lawrence.

Zubin Mehta has cancelled his Italian concerts in December.

‘I am very sorry,’ he says, ‘I have to undergo medical treatment in Los Angeles.’

Zubin, 83, took an eight-month break last year for cancer treatment.

 

 

We are saddened to hear from his friends of the death of Brian Hawkins, a key figure at the heart of London’s music making for six decades. He was 84.

After studies at the Royal College of Music, Brian was a founder member of the London Bach Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta as well as being a regular member of the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Nash Ensemble.

He was professor of viola and chamber music and Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music.

The mezzo-soprano Maria Collien has added her voice to the chorus of victims who are waiting to see the former rector of the Munich Academy of Music begin his jail sentence for sexual abuses.

Ms Collien writes (on the harp-duo blog):
As a victim (co-plaintiff in the 2nd Mauser trial, because of my statement Mauser was convicted), unfortunately, I could not comment publicly for a long time, but now this incredibly debilitating gag is being lifted…

As someone who has long been active as a singer in classical music I have experienced inappropriate sexual approaches as well as quid pro quo offer, but Mauser’s audacity far exceeeded anyone else’s…

And still the German music establishment covers up for Mauser.

Read on here.

 

 

The Ojai Music Festival Board has moved fast to replace Chad Smith, who has become CEO of the LA Phil.

Smith will stay in charge until next summer when he will be succeeded by Ara Guzelimian, another lifelong back-stager. Guzelimian is, until next June, Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City. Before that he was a programmer at Carnegie Hall.

So safety with budgets and no breath of fresh air.

 

The formidable German violinist makes her debut on Zsolt Bognar’s Living the Classical Life. You see it first on Slipped Disc.

Samples:

‘The first record I bought with my pocket money was Bruckner 4.’

‘Karajan was the embodiment of charisma.’

‘Those were the days when there was time to rehearse.’

‘Meeting Karajan was a little bit like meeting John Williams…. I was intimidated by John Williams. I was not intimidated by Karajan.’

‘I try to be a useful member of human society…. I am on Instagram and Facebook… I have never been an artist who wanted to be seen as more than an artist.’

‘If one of my dogs is very sick, I am very grateful for the responses.’

‘I need time to stay humble, to stay grounded…. I try to be a serious musician who is not blindfolded when it comes to social causes.’

Totally fascinating empathetic stuff.

‘We need to be realistic why we want to be a musician.’

 

From Kevin Bourdat, baroque cellist:

Cello stolen on the train between rambouillet and le mans (departure montparnasse 15:06). Instrument Built by Charles Coquet in 2012, in a black soft cover. Thank you for spreading as widely as possible!

 

This morning, our moderators approved the 250,000th comment on a Slipped Disc post.

That’s a rate of 50,000 a year, or 1,000 a week.

Not to mention tens of thousands that get binned or spammed out for abuse.

Thank you all for maintaining the debate – which is, by far, the biggest open forum in classical music and opera.

Keep ’em coming.

 

In a strong indication of where Amsterdam is looking for its next conductor, Jaap Van Zweden has just been awarded the annual Concertgebouw Prize.

Citation: ‘Jaap van Zweden has been intimately associated with the Concertgebouw from an early age. As an Amsterdam child he performed several times, won the Oskar Back Competition there in 1977, was concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra from the age of 19 and later performed as a conductor with various orchestras. As chief conductor of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, he gave many unforgettable performances. The concertante Wagner operas are dear to many music lovers. Van Zweden is now one of the most celebrated conductors of his generation internationally.’

Van Zweden, 58, is music director of the New York Philharmonic and in Hong Kong.#

  

Erika Wien, who has died in Zurich aged 91, seldom spoke about her origins as a refugee from Nazi-occupied Vienna and, later, Poland and Russia.

She returned to Vienna after the War as a student, was signed up by the Volksoper in 1952 and went on to have a fruitful career at various German houses before settling at Zurich Opera from 1964 to 1980.

She was a noted Marie in Wozzeck.

 

Seventy-five years ago today, a train from Theresienstadt arrived at Auschwitz. Among those crammed into its standing-room cattle trucks on a journey of almost 24 hours were four composers:

Viktor Ullmann

Hans Krasa

Pavel Haas

Gideon Klein.

All four were murdered in the gas chambers, either immediately on arrival or a few hours later on the following day. The date was either 17 or 18 October.

Never forget.