The connection between I Fagiolini, an English a capella group, and the Soweto Sdasa Chorale is one of then most wondrous things I have seen – unfailingly uplifting.

 

We’ve been informed of the death of Ann Griffiths – Welsh harpist, harp historian, composer, teacher and editor – in her mid-80s.

After graduating in Welsh at Cardiff University, she obtained a Premier Prix of the Paris Conservatoire in the class of the legendary Pierre Jamet – the first British-born harpist ever to do so. Later she graduated as a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Birmingham. As a performer, her major interest is in historical harps, and she is passionate about the harp music of John Parry, Krumpholtz, Dussek, Parish Alvars, John Thomas and N.C. Bochsa. She has written extensively for various scholarly publications including the New Dictionary of National Biography and the New Grove Music Dictionaries, where she was responsible for 46 entries, including a completely new major article on Sebastian Erard. At present her main scene of activity is Adlais Music Publishers, of which she is Director. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the World Harp Congress and former Chairman of the Lady Llanover Society.

 

 

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was in deep trouble before Covid hit. Now it has gone silent.

Press release:

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra management team and Orchestra Committee, which represents the ISO’s musicians, having met to discuss the challenges associated with the upcoming ISO season in the complicated and uncertain backdrop of the pandemic, released the following joint statement:

“While our mutual desire is to return world-class music to a city that
has been upended by the events of the last few months, we recognize
the challenges presented to the ISO by the pandemic and unforeseen
economic pressures. For those reasons, the 2020-21 indoor season
will not go on as planned.
Although we will not be able to bring you the performances we had

planned, we are committed to collaboratively exploring creative ways
to continue to connect with our patrons and return to performing if
conditions allow.
We will also be meeting to discuss how the musicians will be
supported in the interim, with a priority on providing health insurance
for the musicians and their families.
The pandemic only heightens our shared resolve to assure the ISO is
positioned to provide the most transformational and impactful
programs for our community.

The progress made during these discussions is a promising step in re-
emerging and in re-imagining the ISO’s long-term future. The ISO

management and musicians are committed to working together to
build a vibrant, thriving ISO and look forward to returning to the
concert stage.”

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:

When Christopher Rouse died ten months ago, aged 70, it seemed to spell the end of a line of American composers who placed the symphony at the heart of their art. And not just Americans.

Apart from Kalevi Aho and Leif Segerstam in Finland, David Matthews and Philip Sawyers in the UK and one or two Russians and Germans, composers seem to have given up on the symphony in the 21st century. The assumption is that audiences have lost interest. Is that really the case? In these COVID times, we have no way of judging except on record.…

Read on here.

And here.

And here (in Czech).

And here (with an extra Spanish angle)

 

The Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died at 73.

Albatross, the band’s first #1 hit, was his composition. A gift to buskers everywhere.


 

The Polish bass-baritone Bernard Ladysz, who performed in the premiere of Penderecki’s St Luke Passion, has died in Warsaw, a day after his 98th birthday.

He was a stalwart of Polish National Opera, its regular Boris Godunov.

 

UPDATE: WE are further informed that he was:

1 the only Polish bas-baritone who sang with Maria Callas (after he won Vercelli competition in 1956) considering the fact it was, as you can imagine, hard to leave the iron curtain country without Communist Party membership (he was clean);
2 he was also an actor in movies by Andrzej Wajda (including Promised Land, 1975)  and other movies by  Konwicki and Hofman;
3 the tenor Wiesław Ochman who sang in Metropolitan, La Scala and recorded for DG described him yesterday as a voice of the century, comparing Ładysz with leading singers Ochman sang with in Metropolitan, Paris, Milan etc.

 

The Mariinsky chief has announced:

We are probably the first ensemble to fly anywhere in five months for major touring performances. The Ravenna Festival in Italy is the largest festival, this is the festival of Riccardo and Cristina Muti, my wonderful Italian colleagues and friends. 

 

The Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral has quit.

Andrew Bryden announced it on Twitter.

He has swiftly been erased from the cathedral website.

Meanwhile, at Sheffield Cathedral, which last week abolished its choir, the dean has ordered an inquiry into alleged bullying of music staff.

Holy, holy, holy mayhem.

 

The Proms favourite Philip Fowke, in a 70th-birthday article in Pianist magazine, has shut the lid for the last time:

After nearly 60 years of performing I have decided to retire from the concert platform and to radically reduce my teaching commitments. It is time to move on and puruse interests that have been on hold for many years.

It has been announced overnight that the lifetime achievement award at the Österreichische Musiktheaterpreis next week will be awarded to Placido Domingo.

Domingo, who will be 80 in January, has lost all of his US positions and much of his allure following allegations of sexual misconduct.

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only ceremony at Salzburg airport on August 6. The jury was made up of journalists.

Here’s the announcement, posted on Domingo’s social media:


Salzburg (LCG) – With his multifaceted talent, Plácido Domingo is one of the best and most influential vocal actors in the world; he has been setting international standards at the very highest level for decades. In addition to his repertoire, which with more than 150 roles has never been matched by any other tenor, Domingo has also made a name for himself as a conductor and opera director. Reason enough for initiator Karl-Michael Ebner to award this exceptional artist, who suffered from COVID-19 and has since recovered, with this year’s Austrian Music Theater Prize for his life’s work. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at W. A. Amadeus Airport in Salzburg.

“It is with great pleasure that I have received the news that the Austrian Music Theatre Prize will be awarded to me for my career! Even greater is the joy of receiving it in the anniversary year of the Salzburg Festival, exactly 45 years after my debut in Salzburg. It is such a delicate moment in history for all of us, for our health and for the health of the whole world. The message of the Austrian Music Theatre Prize is simply wonderful: the promotion of the arts, and especially of music, is important in order to gain the energy for a new beginning. Austria is the country where music has accompanied every person since childhood. It is an immeasurable asset for the inner wealth of us all. My career is firmly connected with Vienna and Salzburg, where over the years I have had the honour of working with the best artists who have made me truly great. We applaud them for their commitment to make this incomparable atmosphere possible. We all hope that we will soon be able to breathe freely again, because we miss them so much,” says Domingo.

“Plácido Domingo is without doubt one of the greatest artists of our time. With over 4,050 performances, the tenor is a cultural ambassador without equal. In addition to an unparalleled career, Domingo has also rendered outstanding services in the promotion of young talent as the initiator of several singing competitions and sponsorship programs. It is a great pleasure and honour for me to honour him in the city where he made his debut at the Festival 45 years ago,” said Ebner.

Among the artists honoured for their life’s work at the Austrian Music Theatre Award are star tenor René Kollo (2019), who achieved international fame as a pop singer as well as in Wagner operas, opera star and exceptional voice Grace Bumbry (2017), who, since her retirement from the stage with the “Grace Bumbry Vocal and Opera Academy”, has been increasingly committed to the next generation of opera singers, the multi-award-winning and internationally acclaimed maestro Zubin Mehta (2016), as well as Neil Shicoff (2015), among others, holder of the Austrian Honorary Cross of Science and Art I. Class.