Opus 104/5: In autumn.

 

The Dutch Government has ordered concert halls and opera houses to shut for the next four weeks in a bid to stem soaring Covid numbers.

The Concertgebouw says: Yesterday the Dutch government announced stricter measures as a result of an increase in coronavirus cases in the country. No more than 30 people may now gather indoors. Much to our regret, we have thus decided to cancel all concerts up to and including 5 November. Ticket holders have been informed by email. Time and time again, the coronavirus measures have had an enormous impact on the Concertgebouworkest. We can well imagine that you as a listener are also very disappointed. It is precisely in times like these that music can be a source of comfort and support. That is why we also look forward to informing you in the coming period about the ways in which you can continue to listen to our music. And we hope to be able to perform for you again in person very soon.

Rotterdam Philharmonic: Following the new measures taken by the central government to prevent further spread of the Covid-19 virus, we had to decide that our Red sofa concert of Thursday 15 October cannot take place. We hope to welcome you again in good health in the future at concerts of our orchestra.

Dutch National Opera: Due to the stricter measures that were announced in the press conference last night, we unfortunately have to cancel all performances in our main auditorium until November 11th. We are still looking at the possibilities for OFFspring and Goud!, because these performances have a maximum capacity of 30 visitors. UPDATE: We are very happy that the Kriebel family performance, despite the tightened corona measures, can still continue! This show can take place completely within the guidelines of the RIVM and there are still tickets available for tomorrow’s show.

 

 

Say a kaddish for Lenny, who died on this day.

Remembered as if yesterday, with both hands behind his back.

Any of our readers remember playing in this?

Krzysztof Polonek today completed his probationary period as concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic.

His father, the violist Zdzisław Polonek, was also a member of the orchestra and his son’s first teacher.

Krzysztof Polonek joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2009 after spells as concertmaster at Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Dresden Philharmonie and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. In February 2019, he won the audition to succeed Andreas Buschatz as concertmaster. He has now won early confirmation.

 

Quite a week for Marie-Helene Bernard, president of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra.

First she posts: On October 3, 2020, I married the love if my life, Douglas Copeland. It was a magical day.

 

Then she posts a balanced budget: The SLSO detailed the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on its 19/20 season: the SLSO had to cancel or postpone 59 performances between March and August. The resulting financial impact on the SLSO was a loss of $3.2 million in earned revenue for FY20. Despite thissignificant impact, the SLSO finished the 2020 fiscal year (ending August 31, 2020) with a balanced budget.

And finally, when most US orchestras are silent, it was back to work: It feels great to be making music in Powell Hall again with Music Director Stéphane Denève! Rehearsals began today for the first in-person concerts at the hall this fall. Stéphane conducts works by Beethoven and New York-based composer Jessie Montgomery.

This is Sevak Avanesyan playing an Armenian song in the bombed Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

 

The US violinist Randall Goosby, 24, will perform works by William Grant Still and Florence Price on his Decca debut album next spring.

Dominic Fyfe, Label Director of Decca Classics, says, ‘Randall and I first met back in February 2019 and I have followed his development closely. It’s rare to find such a supremely eloquent player and an equally articulate advocate for the value of classical music. In his playing Randall looks back to a golden age of violin greats, as befits a student of Itzhak Perlman, and in his advocacy for music education, outreach and diversity he is a forward-looking ambassador for the future of our industry.’

The press release headlines him as a ‘champion of diversity in classical music’.

From the director Jochen Breiholz’s Facebook page:

Tonight’s the premiere of our new production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” at Theater an der Wien! It’s a huge cast, it’s a huge production, but with everyone getting tested for Covid regularly and a strict safety concept for the theatre, we sailed through six weeks of rehearsals safely, and here we are! The singers have to be heard and seen to be believed! So proud that we got such outstanding artists: Eric Greene and Simon Shibambu alternate as Porgy, Jeanine De Bique and Pumeza Matshikiza alternate as Bess, Mary Elizabeth Williams as Serena (with Pumeza singing shows later in the run), Zwakele Tshabalala as Sportin’ Life, Brandie Sutton as Clara (with Jeanine singing one show later in the run), Tichina Vaughn as Maria, Norman Garrett as Crown, Ryan Speedo Green as Jake, Ronald Samm as Peter, Calvin Lee as Robbins, Themba Mvula as Frazier, Sani Muliaumaseali’i as Mingo, Njabulo Madlala as Jim, Sarah-Jane Lewis as Annie, Felicity Buckland as Lily, April Koyejo as the Strawberry Woman, Msimelelo Mbali as the Undertaker, Siphesihle Mdena as the Crab Man and Nelson, Ernestine Stuurman as the Woman, Tobias Vogt as the Detective, Markus-Peter Gössler as the Policeman and the Coroner. Matthew Wild directs in sets and costumes by Kathrin Lea Tag, choreography is by Louise Ann Talbot, lighting by Bernd Purkrabek! The Wiener KammerOrchester, in this case no less than 55 musicians, and the super energetic chorus perform under the baton of Wayne Marshall. Toi toi toi to everybody involved onstage and backstage in the making of this electrifying production, and a very special thank you to Anja Mayer for doing such a fabulous job!

 

 

© photo Monika Rittershaus

Scherzo reports from Barcelona:

The Liceu has been forced to cancel the Savall and Don Juan de Gluck concert  scheduled for Sunday, October 25, because the orchestra Le Concert des Nations has reported that several members of the same are infected with Covid-19. 

In the official statement, Jordi Savall’s company states that “as a result of a stay in Poland, several cases of Covid-19 have been discovered within the orchestra.”

Poland yesterday reported a record daily toll of 6,526 new Covid-19 infections.

UPDATE: Savall himself has tested positive.

Herbert Kretzmer, the Daily Mail theatre critic who wrote the lyrics for Charles Aznavour’s hit ‘She’ has died at 95.

He gave up journalism after writing the musical Les Miserables.

 

Five years ago, we published an article by the Carducci Quartet cellist Emma Denton about how playing Shostakovich helped cut through her father’s dementia.

Sadly, her father died on September 30.

Alan Lumsden, an engaging character, played trombone in the London orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s while also working in a specialist record store. His trips to Russia in search of musical rarities landed him in need of a quick getaway from the KGB.

After a spell playing with David Munrow’s Early Music Consort, he was appointed Professor of Sackbut at the Royal College of Music and Professor of Recorder and Early Music at Birmingham Conservatoire.