It’s called cultural transference.
Bird College School of Performing Arts has shut down the Bexley Music Hub, leaving thousands of children without tuition.
The hub was funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education. Its closure was announced without warning.
When I agreed to an online conversation with the Screaming Divas – Sondra Radvanovsky and best friend Keri Alkema – never for a moment did I imagine that the content level would drop below early-middle Schopenhauer with a spot of Wittgenstein for light relief. These two ladies are very serious opera personages.
But they are also such unadulterated fun that, even as we were exploring the outer limits of how to use Covid time creatively (and, yes, we had some good ideas), we kept bursting into laughter and playing off each others’ strengths and weaknesses.
Sondra and Keri have a little chat between themselves once I’m out of the room and the whole video is just a great reminder of how to keep our spirits up as we interact in these distanced times.
Watch at your leisure and enjoy.
I certainly did.
The orchestra has released an at-home video with its absent music director.
It’s a variation on their usual game of Simon Says.
Your call.
The death has been announced of Larry Curtis, Long Beach State University’s conductor of bands for 25 years and an important influence on the youth orchestras in Melbourne, Australia.
A genial man, he succumbed to a sudden cancer.
Several UK music directors led by Sir Mark Elder and Vasily Petrenko have written to the Times warning that Britain’s orchestras need a huge cash injection to stay afloat. Elder had already written along these lines to the Guardian.
Today’s letter says: ‘It is becoming more and more apparent that orchestras, opera companies and other musical institutions in the UK, a truly world-leading country in all forms of culture, are in grave danger of being lost for ever, if urgent action is not taken.’
Other signatories include Vladimir Jurowski (LPO), Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla (CBSO), Martyn Brabbins (English National Opera), Daniele Rustioni (Ulster), Esa-Pekka Salonen (ex-Philharmonia), Lars Vogt of the Northern Sinfonia and Kirill Karabits who is falsely registered in Birmingham, rather than Bournemouth.
Nothing has appeared in the Daily Mail, so nothing’s likely to be noticed by the present Government.
As of this morning, Austria no longer requires anyone wear mouth-nose protection in public places.
The only exceptions appear to be hairdressers and restaurant waiters.
There is no longer a restriction to four adults per table. Prescribed distance between individuals has been slashed to one metre.
Rehearsals are starting in Salzburg.
It’s a semi-calculated risk.
Birmingham Opera Company just named Alpesh Chauhan as its music director, starting next month.
A former assistant conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Alpesh will work with artistic director Graham Vick at the head of one of Britain’s mostvaluable and vulnerable opera companies.
His appointment is huge, for many reasons. Alpesh has long been regarded as one of the rising talent in the British podium. He lost his agency with the collapse of HazardChase at the Covid outset and has not advanced as fast as many expected, beyond holding a post as Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma.
Now he is the first BAME music director in Britain.
That’s a big stride into the future.
The Czech Philharmonic will perform next week for an audience of 500 in the grounds of Sychrov Castle, outside Prague.
Semyon Bychkov conducts. The programme is almost normal:
MENDELSSOHN Midsummer Night’s Dream
HAYDN Trumpet concerto (Solist: Stanislav Masaryk)
BEETHOVEN 5th Symphony
The Czechs are bouncing. The rest of us are screwed.
The prolific pianist Keith Tippett, a major figure in British jazz and improvisation, has died of unknown cause.
He recorded extensively with his own group, with his wife Julie, and with other musicians from across many spectrums.
picture Tim Dickeson
The performance below took place in a hall whose name is being changed due to current sensitivities.
The quirky Irish opera festival which takes place in October has been postponed for a year. Ireland is not yet free.
Of Covid.
Press release below.
Wexford Festival Opera today announced that it has taken the difficult decision to reschedule the previously announced artistic programme to October 2021. This is due to the ongoing worldwide uncertainty regarding the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing restrictions into the autumn, and in the best interests of the health and welfare of the Festival’s audiences, artists, staff, and volunteers.
However, the spirit which enabled a small provincial town to create a world-renowned opera festival continues to this day, inspiring Wexford, with the support and guidance of its board of directors, to develop a crisis-inspired formula by presenting a reimagined, online Festival.
‘Waiting for Shakespeare …The Festival in the air’ is an online celebration of music which will still encompass many of the artistic ambitions already set out by Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi earlier in the year, principally to nurture the talents of the best young Irish singers through the mentorship of world-renowned artists who share a love of Wexford. This reimagined Festival aims to bring together audiences and the wider worldwide Wexford community through the power of music.
The Festival will now run for eight consecutive days, from Sunday, 11 October until Sunday, 18 October 2020. During this time, audiences from home and abroad will be invited to experience the magic of Wexford Festival Opera online from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Further details of where and how to join in will be announced shortly.
