Grange Park Opera has announced the discovery of a major work by Sir John Tavener (1944–2013), the minimalist British composer

Tavener wrote his final opera, titled Krishna, in 2005. It has remained in manuscript until now but Grange plan to stage it in its Theatre in the Woods in June 2024, directed by Sir David Pountney.

Krishna tells the life of Krishna in 15 vignettes. The text is Tavener’s own. Krishna is born when the earth is crying for help and in the final scene, he rises into Paradise until the earth needs him again.

Grange Park Opera chief Wasfi Kani says: ‘David Pountney brought me the project and within two days I was at Chester Music examining the 358 giant sheets of Tavener’s manuscript. It quickly became clear this was a masterpiece that needed to be brought to life. We are now actively searching for collaborators to give premières in Europe and, of course, in India.’

Tavener was a mystic who dabbled in several faiths, achieving a rare state of transcendence in his finest works, A Celtic Requiem and Song for Athene, which was played at Princess Diana’s funeral.

 

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who is finishing terms as chief conductor of Norwegian Radio and music director of the Fort Worth Symphony, as been appointed director of orchestral studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

The Peruvian maestro is 52.

It’s an unusual mid-career move.

 

 

Press release:

Harth-Bedoya will be charged with expanding and directing the orchestra program in the School of Music at the Strauss Performing Arts Center. His vision includes the creation of a brand new Bachelor of Music program in orchestral conducting, which is currently lacking at the undergraduate level in the United States.
“I am very excited to join the faculty of the UNO School of Music,” Harth-Bedoya states. “The school’s faculty are excellent teachers, performers and visionaries, the student body is eager to learn, and the program is led by a strong administration under Dr. Washington A. Garcia, Director of the UNO School of Music, and Dr. Michael L. Hilt, Dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media. The overall community is an inspiration. I am grateful that an institution of higher learning believes in the creation of a new undergraduate conducting program, which I know will be of great impact in the U.S.”

Another sad tale of our time. At least this press release does not try to put spin on it.

(April 7, 2020) – Extraordinary circumstances created from the COVID-19 outbreak caused the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to cancel performances through May 27. In an unprecedented step to protect its long-term viability, the ISO last week placed its musicians and stagehands on unpaid furlough, and laid off nearly half of its administrative staff.

ISO leadership has applied for financial relief through the Paycheck Protection Program as part of the recently passed CARES Act. CEO James Johnson has advised employees on furlough or layoff to seek unemployment benefits. The ISO has committed to providing healthcare coverage through May.

“Given the far-reaching economic impact of COVID-19, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is implementing measures to best protect its financial stability during this time,” Johnson said. “These personnel actions are extraordinarily difficult, but necessary to manage the challenges faced by our organization. The health and safety of our employees remains a priority. I am grateful that our Board of Directors has pledged to fund health insurance for employees for the near future.”

As is the case with all organizations in the performing arts and entertainment industry, the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak has prevented the ISO from being able to announce, promote or confirm plans for future performances until there is definitive guidance on when it will be safe to gather and perform again. During this hiatus, the ISO is retaining a minimum administrative staff on reduced pay and benefits to maintain basic operations.

The Rotterdam Phil went viral with 2.4 million hits for their at-home video of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

Now you can join them on the next video.

Download the sheet music for your instrument at the bottom of this page and play with us. Make a video of your performance, share it on social media with the tag @rdamphil or send it to actions@rpho.nl for a chance to win an online master class by a musician from our orchestra.

The Cheltenham Music Festival, in July, has been cancelled.

With deep regret we have taken the decision to cancel this year’s Cheltenham Music Festival. We had been optimistic that our Music Festival could still go ahead in July, but because of the continuing impact of the COVID 19 virus, we must put the safety of our audiences, artists, staff and volunteers first. We are sorry for this additional disappointment, following the cancellation of our Jazz and Science Festivals.

At the forefront of our minds are the wonderful artists and ensembles who will no longer be able to perform in Cheltenham this summer. We are working hard to find a way to bring them back as soon as we can.

 

We’re hearing that Zachary Lewis has been laid off in the latest round of cuts at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He is among 22 newsroom staff to be let go.

That leaves the internationally renowned Cleveland Orchestra without coverage in its local newspaper.

Lewis was also the paper’s fitness columnist.

Cleveland can now go flabby.

 

Zach says: Thanks, all you wonderful people, for your kind words Friday upon my early retirement from The Plain Dealer. Your generous sentiments softened the blow of an ugly day. Even during this unusual and now, for me, additionally trying time, I have to say it’s comforting to feel so much warmth from so many sources. I’m one lucky guy.

 

 

We don’t have details yet from both sides but it looks like Deborah Rutter has made a humiliating climbdown in her bid to dismiss the orchestra during the virus crisis. The musicians are now demanding the reinstatement of sacked members of staff.

Here’s what the musicians have just told us:

The Musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra are pleased that a settlement has been reached to resolve the grievance filed by our union challenging the Kennedy Center’s decision to furlough musicians beginning this week. That action was not permitted under our collective bargaining agreement and, under the settlement, musicians will not be furloughed. In recognition of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Kennedy Center, however, we have agreed to modify our collective bargaining agreement to make substantial economic concessions. Our agreement also will be extended for an additional year, through the beginning of September 2024. This will provide financial stability to our musicians during this difficult time.

We are grateful to have a collective bargaining agreement and a union—the D.C. Federation of Musicians, AFM Local 161-710—to protect us. Not all Kennedy Center staff are so fortunate. We urge the Kennedy Center to bring back the Orchestra’s staff as a matter of fairness and so that our venture can flourish. We need their talents to help start new musical projects to present to our patrons and the larger world. The musicians of the National Symphony are pledging at least $50,000 of our own money over the next 10 weeks to help support our NSO staff colleagues. While it is not enough to make them whole, we hope that it helps materially as well as demonstrating our respect and admiration for them.

Throughout this process, the NSO musicians, as always, have been willing to work with management to try to find creative solutions to difficult problems.

 

UPDATE: Here’s the house version from Ms Rutter’s office:

After several days of collaborative discussions, Kennedy Center leadership and the musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) have reached a new agreement, a significant step in stabilizing the institution as it faces financial challenges resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic. The NSO musicians have agreed to a restructure of their current contract resulting in payroll savings of nearly 35% (over $2.5 million) through early September, as well as further savings realized through a wage freeze in the 2020-2021 season and delayed wage increases for the duration of the contract. Combined, these financial sacrifices total approximately $4 million and represent a substantial long-term investment in the Kennedy Center’s future. NSO musicians and NSO management have also agreed to form a joint working group to discuss alternative ways to share new and archived NSO content during the current pandemic closure.

This recent agreement with the NSO musicians, along with previously announced administrative staff furloughs and pay reductions through May 10 and critical $25 million from the CARES Act funding, are key measures in a multi-pronged plan designed to ensure the Kennedy Center will be able to re-open its doors and stages, re-employ its artistic and administrative staff, and secure the Center long into the future. The Kennedy Center has committed to covering full healthcare benefits for all its furloughed employees during this time. The Kennedy Center closed its doors on March 13 and will remain closed until at least May 10 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is an unprecedented time for all of us here in D.C. and around the world,” stated Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter. “The severe economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have unfolded at an incredibly rapid pace, requiring all of us to work together and demanding the highest levels of strategic and creative thinking to solve our problems in the long-term. We are grateful to the musicians of the NSO for partnering with us and that, together, we have found a way forward.” 

The Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has been invited to sing in the cathedral of Milan by Mayor and the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo.

There will be no audience present, in compliance with Covid regulations, but the concert will be streamed live globally on the tenor’s YouTube channel, from 6pm UK time, 10am PST, 1pm EST on Easter.

From the press release:

“Our ‘Hallelujah’ is an invitation that we placed in the ark forty days ago and that the flood, which has overwhelmed us all, almost made us forget the joy of expressing it on the day of Easter. The voice and word of Andrea Bocelli reminds us that the reason for our hope does not come from us but it is a gift that comes from God. This is what it means to promote, from our Duomo – the home of the people of Milan – and through the voice of Bocelli, the confidence that the Spirit of the Risen Crucifix will help us shape the days granted to us in the Kingdom of the One who wanted a new humanity, united and fraternal,” said Monsignor Gianantonio Borgonovo, Archpriest of the Duomo of Milan.

“I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now. Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride. The generous, courageous, proactive Milan and the whole of Italy will be again, and very soon, a winning model, engine of a renaissance that we all hope for. It will be a joy to witness it, in the Duomo, during the Easter celebration which evokes the mystery of birth and rebirth,” said Andrea Bocelli.

The Richmond Symphony in Virginia has named Valentina Peleggi as its next music director, starting in July.

She was conductor-in-residence with Marin for two years in Sao Paolo and shares the same agent.

The selection process was interrupted by the virus crisis. Only four out of five candidates were auditioned. The fifth has claimed he is the victim of an injustice.

 

 

 

Ivan Fischer’s orchestra, threatened for months with insolvency, has been saved by Hungary’s newly authoritarian regime.

Here’s what they tell us:

An agreement has been reached between the Hungarian Government and the Budapest Municipality regarding the subsidizing of Budapest’s theatre companies. The agreement includes a 4-year subsidy agreement of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The internationally celebrated orchestra will receive 1650 Million HUF (US$5 million) from the state and 240 Million HUF from Budapest in 2020, and from 2021 the grant from the state will be raised to 2 000 Million HUF ($6 million).

Ivan Fischer, Music Director of the BFO, says: ‘I am very happy, this is a very welcome and satisfactory arrangement which puts an end to years of cuts and uncertainty and allows us to concentrate on the music.’

 

Tillman Dost of the Stuttgart Philharmonic has been named boss of the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

He replaces Annette Josef who is moving to Leipzig.

Message from Kasper Holten at the Royal Theatre:

Det Kongelige Teater will cancel all performances and activities for the audience for the rest of the season, as well as our Summer Ballet and Opera in the free country over this summer. We don’t give up Hobbit – but postpone the whole adventure with a year, so we play in the zoo in May / June 2021 and at Moesgaard in 2022. It is with a heavy heart that we report this out – but our whole staff are fighting for the theater to be ready to come back strong, because we believe that this time will be a reminder for everyone that live experiences, presence and meeting in the theater’s room is not a luxury, but something we need. We’ll see you again soon, and in the meantime we’re thinking of all those who fight out there to take care of our society, our health care and our exposed. In the meantime, both they and all of us can meet ourselves digital at www.kglteater.dk/xtra