French musicians are offering condolences to Anne Douday, violinist of the Altair Quartet and Les Musiciens de Louvre, over the loss of her daughter, Luce Douady, in a climbing accident.

An athlete of Olympic potential, Luce, 16, is reported to have fallen 150 metres after losing her footing on a slope in the Isère. Her death has been extensively reported in sports media around the world.

The cellist Denis Jeannet writes:

Luce, quand tu es née, nous étions en répétition générale et le chef d’orchestre nous a annoncé que ta maman ne pourrait pas y participer car elle venait de donner naissance à une petite « loutché », prononcé à l’italienne, autrement dit « lumière ».
Tu as perdu la vie ce dimanche en glissant sur un sentier d’approche tellement plus facile que les exploits accomplis en compétitions.
Tu es une étoile filante, ta lumière restera dans l’imaginaire des passionnés d’escalade. Et la tristesse nous étreint.
Mes pensées émues à Anne, notre amie et collègue du Quatuor Altaïr, à sa famille et ses proches.

Luce, when you were born, we were in rehearsal and the conductor told us that your Mum couldn’t participate because she had just given birth to a little ” loutché “, which means ” light “.
You lost your life this Sunday by slipping down a trail so much easier than your achievements in competitions.
You are a shooting star, your light will remain in the imagination of climbing enthusiasts. And sadness grips us.
My thoughts are with Anne, our friend and colleague of the Altaïr Quartet, to her family and loved ones.

We hear that Daniel Barenboim surprised organisers of the Granada Festival by offering to play a benefit recital for the Red Cross on Friday, 24th July.

Granada has a fantastic piano lineup:  Krystian Zimerman, Grigori Sokolov, Martha Argerich, Igor Levit, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Bertrand Chamayou and Javier Perianes.

He just didn’t want to feel left out.

Professor Ramon Reeberg, Minister of Music at Mother AME Zion Church and vastly influential former Teacher at LaGuardia High School, has died of unknown cause.

The opera singer Laquita Mitchell writes:
Mr. Ramon Reeberg entered LaGuardia Alums a semester after I began High School. Funny, I don’t remember much before he arrived. I feel that my music education began once he arrived. I’m not negating any of my experiences at LaGuardia. But once I began to work with Ramón. I found my voice and then that expanded. Through him I then realized that my voice was important, but more so, I had a right to use it. Where Ms. Jessye Norman planted the seed, Mr. Reeberg helped me to tend to my garden. First there were tapes, then CD’s, videos, then tickets to see amazing singers. But first, there was sight singing, solo voice, women’s chorus, and then his beloved Gospel Chorus. He was bold, demanding, and sometimes brash. But you always knew that he cared and wanted you to do the work. I owe him so much. He prepared me and helped me to attend Westminster Choir College.. yes, I was the first. He attended every recital. He heard me sing through my repertoire before I sang my grad auditions. Cheered me on during competitions. Checked on me as I moved to another state for an apprenticeship. And when I became a professional singer, (he had finally retired) he would get up at the crack of dawn and drive me to JFK airport for international engagements, always an on time pick-up! Hmm…I have so much to be grateful for. He was my stand, whether things were great for me or not so great. He loved in HIS way, a nod, a quick answer, a cursing out (if you deserved it) but it was his way. I’m gonna miss him and I ask that you hold his family and all of his children (there are thousands of us) in your prayers. If you feel so inclined, join me and a few friends tomorrow Wednesday June 17, 7pm on Laquita Mitchell Soprano as we remember this amazing educator, father, and musician.

Four German states – Rhineland-Palatinate, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland – are starting to permit choral singing from next week.

All insist on three metres distance between singers and two of the states are limiting chorus size to ten.

All singers will be on test-and-trace and the rooms must be well aired.

Still, it’s a start.

We broke the news yesterday that Britain has its first music director of Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) extraction: the young and extravagantly gifted Alpesh Chauhan becoming chief at Birmingham Opera Company.

Not one national newspaper has carried that news today. Nor, needless to say, has sad-sack, celeb-obsessed BBC News.

Alpesh is Birmingham born, a British-Asian product of state education at its best. He is principal conductor at Parma in Italy. He ought to be a source of national pride and a role model for minority communities. But the national media blank him because…. well, you tell me.

Were they aware? Well, I personally flagged it up to the Telegraph news desk, who usually respond to music events.

When Munira Mirza puts together Boris’s panel on institutional racism, I’ll be happy to testify at the media session.