In 2010, Slipped Disc was hosted by artsjournal.com and the leader in classical music news was Alex Ross.

A decade on, www.slippedisc.com has 1.7 million monthly readers, at least four times as many as any other site.

Although we lost much of our backlog when the site went independent in 2014, here are some highlights of the decade:

2010 Boris boosts music education. It practically wrecked his career.

2011 Musicians seek boycott of Israel Phil BBC Prom. All the usual suspects signed on.

2012 Federer faces Beethoven.  Won in straight sets.

2013 JFK airport agents destroyed my flutes. The post went viral on Reddit, crashing the AJ site and prompting our move to www.slippedisc.com

2014 Jonas Kaufmann in love. You read it here first.

2015 Ten men sang most at the Met. No women.

2016 The orchestra with the most married couples. Then the conductor got divorced.

2017 Kissin weds. Just another exclusive.

2018 Maestro gets fired. Usual reason.

2019 Yuja Wang. It just got shorter.

 

Today’s travel alert comes from the distinguished pianist Andrey Gugnin:

I was held on the border between Slovenia and Croatia. Policemen made me hold my hands behind the back and threw me on the ground face down. The border was closed for two hours, and long lines of cars formed on the both sides. They interrogated my girlfriend separately and didn’t let her see me. She called the Russian consulate in Lublana where they told her they cannot find anything out at the moment since the police doesn’t give any explanations. They held me for over two hours in handcuffs, hands behind my back, explaining nothing.

As it emerged, the scanning machine at the security checkpoint identified in my bag something that looked like a bomb. Literally – with detonators and all of that. The police didn’t have the right to open my luggage, and they called for an expert from Ljubljana. When he arrived, it emerged that they talked about a Bluetooth pedal for my iPad. Namely, about a device I use for my work to turn music score pages (in my case – Airturn 105). This pedal has many parts that for the X-ray look very suspicious.

I want to warn my colleague musicians about it so they would avoid such unpleasant incidents. Carry these pedals only in carry on bags. When all of it became clear, the policemen were glad no less than I. They apologized, brought me coffee, and were very friendly. They showed me a photo from the X-ray machine and explained what exactly on the inside of the pedal looks like detonators, batteries, and sim-cards. To be honest, I’d think the same and do the same being in their position.
Be aware, colleagues!

 

Был сегодня задержан на границе Хорватии и Словении. Полицейские заломали руки мне за спину, быстро увели и положили на землю, лицом вниз.
Граница была закрыта на два часа, с обеих сторон образовались многокилометровые пробки. Мою девушку допрашивали отдельно и не пускали ко мне. Она звонила в консульство России в Любляне, где ей сказали, что не могут пока ничего выяснить, так как полицейские ничего не объясняют.
Меня держали в наручниках, с руками за спиной, ничего не объясняя, более двух часов. Позже выяснилось, что при security check, рентген увидел в моем багаже нечто, очень напоминающее бомбу. Буквально – с детонатором и всем прочим. Полицейские не имели права сами вскрывать мой багаж, был вызван эксперт из Любляны. Когда он прибыл, быстро выяснилось, что речь идёт о педали от айпеда. То есть о механизме, который я, как и многие музыканты, использую в работе, чтобы переворачивать страницы нот. (В моем случае — AirTurn 105). Изнутри эта педаль снабжена различными деталями, которые на рентгене выглядят очень подозрительно.

Я хочу предупредить коллег музыкантов об этом, чтобы они могли избежать таких неприятных инцидентов. Возите педали исключительно в ручной клади и сразу доставайте ее во время security check. Когда все выяснилось, полицеские были обрадованы не меньше моего, они очень извинялись, принесли мне кофе и вели себя очень по-человечески. Они показали мне фотографию с рентгена, подробно объяснили, что именно внутри педали выглядит как детонатор, батарея, и симкарта. Могу сказать, что, если честно, на их месте я бы поступил точно так же.
Будьте осторожны, коллеги!

 

The Royal Opera House has quietly announced in the Christmas lull the departure of its board chairman Ian Taylor ‘due to ill health’.

The oil magnate has been battling cancer for several years. We wish him well.

Taylor, 63, had held the post for two and a half years and was not always in tune with the public mood.

His deputy, Suzanne Heywood, will chair the board while a successor is sought.

It is not clear why the ROH tried to hush up the handover.

Professor Yuri Bogdanov of the Gnesin Academy, has posted news of the death of his former student Elina Valiyeva. ‘Yesterday in Budapest my graduate, wonderful pianist and beautiful person Elina Valieva was tragically killed. My condolences to her mother.’

Early indications are that Elina, who was on a trip with her boyfriend, died in a hotel shower, possibly of a gas leak. Her boyfriend is in hospital. Police are investigating.

A recital was given last night in her memory in Moscow.

Elina, originally from Ufa, graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in 2015. A teacher at the Alexandrov music school in Moscow, she was booked for an orchestral tour in Japan next March.

The Ukrainian pianist Ethella Chupryk has died at 55 of an unknown cause.

She won the first Vladimir Horowitz competition in Kiev, going on to impress at several other contests before settling to a professorial career in her home town.

She recorded extensively on Naxos, Philips and elsewhere.

The Broadway composer Jerry Herman who wrote both music and lyrics for Mame, Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles, died yesterday, aged 88.

Jerry was unfailingly upbeat.

His greatest hits include I’ll Be Here Tomorrow, The Best of Times and Before the Parade Passes By.’

Mariss Jansons

Andre Previn

 

Jessye Norman

Composers: Giya Kancheli, Christopher Rouse, Michel Legrand, Hans Zender, Dominick Argento , Jacques Loussier, Joao Gilberto, Theo Verbey, Ivo Malec, Mario Davidovsky, Barrington Pheloung, Ben Johnston, Michael Colgrass, Boguslaw Schaeffer,  Sven-David Sandström, Ami Maayani, John Joubert,  Chou Wen-chung,  Ib Norholm, René Samson, Jerry Herman

Conductors: Stephen Cleobury, Michael Gielen, Simon Streatfeild,  Elio Boncompagni, Werner Andreas Albert, Ján Valach, John Curro, Colin Mawby, Raymond Leppard

Pianists: Jörg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda. Dina Ugorskaja, Daniel Wayenberg, Alexander Tamir, Karen Shaw, Paola Bruni, Márta Kurtág, Dalton Baldwin, Abbey Simon

Violinists: Aaron Rosand, Elliott Golub, Marya Columbia

Violist Jerry Horner

Cellists: Uzi Wiesel, Vladimir Orloff, Vagram Saradjian, Anner Bylsma

Singers: Hilde Zadek, Heather Harper,  Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick, Marcello Giordani, Felice Schiavi,  Joseph Rouleau, Mira Zakai, Deborah Cook, Sanford Sylvan, Wilma Lipp, Ann Crumb, Rolando Panerai, Carol Channing, Peter Schreier

Directors: Johannes Schaaf, Hal Prince, Franco Zeffirelli, Jonathan Miller

Horns: Gerd Seiffert, Norman Schweikert

Percussionist Richard Weiner

Guitarist Alberto Ponce

Impresarios: Victor Hochhauser, Walter Homburger, Naomi Graffman

Critics: Paul J Pelkonen, Claude Gingras, Robert Henderson, Roger Covell, Martin Bernheimer

 

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