The inimitable Paul Robeson.

Deutsche Oper Berlin has just released plans for a new production of Das Rheingold in a 90-minute chamber version by the British composer Jonathan Dove.

It will involve 22 musicians and 12 singers, conducted by music director Donald Runnicles on the parking deck of the opera house. The First night is June 12.

There will be room for an audience of 200.

 

From the President of the Manhattan School of Music, James Gandre:

Dear MSM Community,

As a follow-up to the message that I sent to you yesterday regarding the recent convergence of horrific racist events in this country, and in the interest of taking Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words to heart and not sitting “idly by,” we can take action in various ways and today I am announcing a commitment that MSM is making: For the upcoming 2020–21 academic year, all performances will feature work by African American creators or those from the African diaspora.

As part of MSM’s Cultural Inclusion Initiative, formally launched last year and led by Chief of Staff Alexa Smith, we have been working on, among other initiatives, a policy relating to a markedly broader and more culturally inclusive curriculum and performances. Provost Griggs has led those discussions and that new policy will be announced by Dr. Griggs and me no later than at the conclusion of the upcoming fall semester.

The legacy of racism and hate that is tragically sewn into the fabric of America is centuries long, and, sadly, recent events are anything but anomalous. We are engaged collectively in the long climb out of hatred, fear, and ignorance, one that is consistently marred by what sometimes feels like an endless slide backwards after some progress.

Among his many other words of wisdom that still echo in our ears and our hearts, King also said these: “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I hope that each and every one of us in the MSM Community continue to take those words to heart and that we all play an individual role in that necessary process toward inclusion of all.

Best,

 

 

The harpschordist Janine Reiss, director of musical studies at the Paris Opéra from 1973 to 1980, has died in her 99th year.

The singers she coached in major roles included Maria Callas, Teresa Berganza, Mady Mesplé, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. She was music advisor on Joseph Losey’s Don Giovanni film.

Here’s a full interview in English with Bruce Duffie.

She said: ‘I never prepare a singer for a conductor.  I always prepare a singer for the composer.’

Professor Orhan Ahiskal, biographer of Rusen Günes, has sent us this outline of his richly varied life:

Violist Ruşen Güneş, former principal viola of LPO and BBCSO, passed away on 29 May 2020 in London.

In his own words a “music labourer”, Ruşen Güneş was born on March 17, 1940 in a traditional wooden Turkish house in Beypazarı, a small town about 100 km West of the Turkish capitol Ankara. Güneş entered the Ankara State Conservatoire in 1952 as a violin student. A full-time boarding school of ten years the Conservatoire was established with the help of Paul Hindemith in 1936. There he studied with N.R. Atak, a Turkish violinist who had been a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in the late 1920s. It was going to be another nine years before Güneş would pick up the viola either as a result of a coin toss to choose who would be playing the viola in a string quartet or, according to him, because of his then-girlfriend would not return his violin at the end of the summer break claiming that she loved his violin more than she loved him. Upon graduation Güneş joined the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra in 1961. After a concert conducted by the former conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), George Weldon, where Güneş had stepped in as a last minute substitute soloist, Weldon helped to find him a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London Between 1963 and 1965 Güneş studied at the RCM with Frederick Riddle, principal viola of the London Philharmonic, a position he was to hold years later. Güneş continued his studies at the University of Indiana at Bloomington with the legendary William Primrose in 1966-67.

Having married, Güneş moved to London in 1970. He played with orchestras like the Royal Opera Orchestra, the English Concert with Trevor Pinnock, and as principal with the English Chamber Orchestra extensively touring with Daniel Barenboim, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Murray Perahia and Paul Tortelier in the 1970s. Güneş was the principal viola of the London Philharmonic between 1979 and 1988, and later with the BBC Symphony between 1988 and 2000 after which he retired.

Güneş was also an avid chamber musician, a founding member of the Özsoy (1968) and the London String Quartets (1979), and collaborated with Sir George Solti, György Pauk, Lydia Mordkovitch, Raphael Wallfisch, John Williams, Idil Biret among others. He was solely responsible for the creation of a viola repertoire by contemporary Turkish composers and either commissioned and/or premiered virtually all Turkish viola concertos including A.A. Saygun, N.K.Akses, Y. Tura and C. Tanç. He also played the Turkish premieres of many 20th century works like Walton and Bartók concertos. Güneş played the solos of Sancho Panza to many Don Quixotes including André Navarra, Pierre Fournier (conducted by Mstislav Rostrpovich), David Geringas, Heinrich Schiff, and Ralph Kirshbaum in R. Strauss’s Don Quixote.

Ruşen Güneş had an immense interest in poetry and literature, himself writing hundreds of poems, short stories and also setting music for viola and piano to the poems of Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanık.

Ruşen’s passing has been received with much sadness both in his native Turkey and his home in England. He has always been very supportive and loving toward younger musicians and non-musicians alike as hundreds of social media messages of love and great sadness will attest.

Ruşen, whose unique sense of humour and innumerable anecdotes, especially with conductors, still make everyone involved grin even after decades, is remembered as a man of great character with high morals, a man of great generosity and sincere friendship, a great section leader with a glorious sound, a mentor to so many younger musicians and a man of no bullshit!

Prof. Dr. Orhan Ahıskal, D.M.A.
Violinist, biographer of Ruşen Güneş
Viyola Düştü Yola (2015)
ahiskal.com

 

 

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin), frustrated at being unable to perform in a concert hall, has been utilising the fine spring weather to play on the streets and the waterways.

 

Daniele Gatti yesterday conducted the strings of the orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in the gardens of the Quirinale palace, residence of the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

Everyone wore full concert dress, with masks.

The concert marked the start of Republic Day and was preceded by a moving presidential address in which Signor Mattarella praised the spirit of solidarity and togetherness that is signified by music. The concert was dedicated to the many thousands of Italian victims of the Coronavirus pandemic.

 

[Editor’s note: The headline has been altered to reflect a comment below.]

Matti Raekallio, the first Finn to teach at Juilliard in New York, has announced he is returning home to the Sibelius Academy as professor of piano from August. He has been on the faculty at Juilliard for 13 years.

Raekallio, 65, told Finnish media: ‘It is especially pleasant to return to Finland. It is easier to live again in a country that has an identity, is rationally governed and has social values that ​​are in the right direction.’

UPDATE: In a comment on this post (below), Raekallio provides  a slightly different translation of his remarks – ‘It feels like a relief to live in a country I can identify with, a country with a rational leadership, and a country which has the right kinds of social values.’ He adds: ‘Nowhere did I say that I am “quitting Juilliard over US unrest.”’

In a second comment to the post, he adds that he will continue teaching at Juilliard remotely from Finland. This did not appear in the Finnish media reports that we cited. We have adjusted the headline accordingly.

We hear that the Opus3 artists agency has laid off 11 staff, including two well-known veterans who are being pushed into retirement.

Word is also out that IMG Artists are terminating staff.

Those most at risk are people involved with artist travel and orchestral touring.

Not going to be much of that in the forseeable future.

 

Soon after Peter Gelb announced yesterday that the Metropolitan Opera will not reopen before the end of the year, the musicians responded with dignified restraint:

While we understand that the cancellation of such a large part of our season is necessary for the safety of our community, we long for the day when we will go back to live performance. In the meantime, we continue to play, teach, and reach out to our amazing audiences in New York City, across the country and throughout the world with the power of great music. In these times of uncertainty, despair and turmoil, we come back again and again to music, to the transformative power of this great art form and its unique power to transcend barriers and boundaries.

The Met previously said:

Based on current information regarding the ongoing health crisis, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the first few months of the 2020–21 season. We now expect to re-open our doors and welcome audiences back to the Met on December 31, 2020, with a special gala performance, the details of which will be shared at a later date. 

Because of the lack of time available for technical preparations, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni will be performed in revivals of the Julie Taymor and Michael Grandage productions, respectively, rather than the previously announced new stagings by Simon McBurney and Ivo van Hove. These new productions, as well as the previously scheduled fall new stagings of Verdi’s Aida and Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, will be rescheduled for later seasons. Van Hove’s Met-premiere production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, conducted by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, remains on the schedule as planned. Maestro Nézet-Séguin will conduct a total of 26 performances over the course of the revamped season, including performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette….

In anticipation of changing audience expectations, the Met has moved up its evening curtain times to 7 p.m. whenever possible and shortened the running time of Handel’s Giulio Cesare from four-and-a-half hours with two intermissions to three-and-a-half hours with one intermission.