His death is overshadowed by his country’s worst crisis since the military coup of 1973.
Official announcement:
Juan Orrego-Salas (1919-2019)
Juan Orrego-Salas, world-renowned classical music composer, professor emeritus of composition and Latin American music scholar, died on November 24, 2019, in the city of Bloomington, Indiana, where he emigrated from his native Chile in the early 1960s. He was 100
years old.
As Founding Director of the Indiana University Latin American Music Center and Jacobs School of Music’s faculty, he promoted a deep understanding of Latin American music and taught music composition to hundreds of aspiring composers from around the world, many of whom currently lead meaningful careers as composers and teachers. Throughout his prolific life, Juan Orrego-Salas composed over 125 works for a myriad of templates. His catalogue includes six symphonies, two operas, several oratorios, a mass, many choral pieces, concertos for piano, violin and cello, chamber works and compositions for unaccompanied instruments, including one for bandoneón, the concertina-like instrument synonymous with tango music. His extensive creative output is characterized by an adherence to impeccable formal designs, vocal-like lyricism, and inventive musical procedures that stem freely from different time periods.
Among many honors he received, Juan Orrego-Salas was awarded the Premio Nacional in 1992, the highest recognition conferred by the Chilean Government to artists, writers, scientists, and historians, and the Premio Interamericano de Cultura Gabriela Mistral granted to him in 1988 by the Organization of American States in Washington D.C. Other distinctions included fellowships from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations as well as commissions from the Koussevitzky, Coolidge, Wechsler, and Stieren foundations.
Born on January 18, 1919 in Santiago into a politically-engaged and arts-loving family, he studied composition with Pedro Humberto Allende and Domingo Santa Cruz in Chile and later on with Randall Thompson and Aaron Copland in the United States. When he was appointed faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 1961, Juan Orrego-Salas was already a major influence in his native country. He was editor of a major music journal, director of a choir and founder and first director of the Music Department of the Universidad Católica de
Chile, the same institution that granted him a Diploma in Architecture in 1943 and an Honorary Doctorate in 1971. He retired from teaching in 1987 —after 26 years of service to Indiana University— and continued creating intensely until 2007.
Juan Orrego-Salas is survived by his wife of 76 years, Carmen Orrego-Salas; daughter Francisca; sons Juan Felipe, Juan Miguel and Juan Matías; grandchildren Serena, Magdalena, Daniel, Sebastian, Lucas, Pascal, and Andreas; seven great grandchildren; son-in law Julio Alamos; and daughters-in-law Patricia del Carmen Vazquez, Beverly Colin, Jean Schelm, Lorna Mittelman and Mara Baygulova. He is predeceased by son Juan Cristian and grandson Gabriel.
-Ricardo Lorenz
The Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Gustavo Dudamel have been included in the Tokyo 2020 Nippon Festival, the cultural programme of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Why not Kirill Petrenko, the music director?
Because, unlike Dude, he has no profile in Asia?
A message went out a few minutes ago from the principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, announcing the immediate suspension of Gareth Hancock.
Professor Martin Geck died this weekend in Bochum, aged 83.
He was professor in Dortmund and editor of the Richard Wagner Edition.
One of few German musicologists to be published in English, he had four biograpies on the stocks at the University of Chicago Press – Bach, Beeethoven, Wagner, Schumann – and a fifth volume on Beethoven’s symphonies.
Der Spiegel once called him ‘the last generalist in his guild.’
The retired mezzo-soprano, 80, has let on that she will start directing Wagner’s Ring cycle in 2021 at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl.
The festival has been under attack for all forms of abuse against singers and musicians. Its former music director Gustav Kuhn has been forced to resign and the arrival of Fassbaender is intended as part of a healing rebuild.
Brigitte is generally positive about the post #Me2 climate, saying that it has improved working conditions in opera. ‘One is more sensitive towards others, more cautious. When I think of the tantrums a director like Otto Schenk used to throw! Partly that was done for effectm to achieve an artistic end. But that is not possible today, and that’s good.’
The soprano, 48, has gone on Instagram to say she will be singing Turandot and Elisabetta (Don Carlo) for the first time in 2020. Taking on two major new roles is a challenge for any artist at any time in their career.
In another interview, she boasts of her housekeeping skills and says that her job leaves her ‘very little time for passion’.
Husband Yusif Eyvazok adds: ‘Getting drunk on the street is also not possible now, unfortunately.’
The Russian pianist Sergey Belyavsky was upset at missing out on a top prize this weekend at the 11th International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoscz, Poland.
So he took to the stage and, instead of an encore. told the audience what he thought of the judging. And dumped the envelope with his prize.
The judges were:
Piotr Paleczny, Poland – Chairman, Artistic Director of the Competition
Lilian Barretto, Brazil
Manana Doijashvili, Georgia
Janina Fialkowska, Canada
Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russia
Zbigniew Raubo, Poland
Waldemar Wojtal, Poland
Ying Wu, China
Yukio Yokoyama, Japan
UPDATE: It appears that several jury members admitted that Belyavsky originally shared first place in their ballot. Instead of splitting the prize, they were ordered to vote again. This vote resulted in Belyavsky’s elimination. It sounds fishy.
Were the Poles unable to accept that two Russians might win?
The Italian tenor’s charitable foundation has co-founded a scholarship at the at the Royal College of Music in London together with Mohammed Jameel of the charitable enterprise Community Jameel.
Neither side is saying how much money is involved, but we understand the fund is worth just under $1 million.
Press release below.
Andrea Bocelli founded ABF in 2011 to empower people and communities and help them overcome barriers in order to reach their full potential. Many of the foundation’s core values are shared by Community Jameel, a global philanthropy with a focus on creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, and youth. Earlier this year, on stage at the Winter in Tantora Festival in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, Bocelli explained how Mohammed Jameel had inspired him to pursue philanthropy and found the ABF. Community Jameel has a commitment to promoting learning in the arts, including through Art Jameel, an organisation that supports artists and creative communities, which Community Jameel founded in 2003.
Andrea Bocelli stated: ‘The Andrea Bocelli Foundation believes that music education can become an integral part of the lives of children and youth. In fact, the Foundation’s staff and volunteers work tirelessly to include and promote world-class programmes and methodologies that leverage music as a powerful tool to promote the discovery and full expression of the self. We are thrilled to take a new step in support of our commitment to music education with the establishment of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation-Community Jameel Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, one of the world’s most esteemed institutions, in collaboration with our cherished partner Community Jameel.’
