Apollinaire as pop song.
The violonist Yury Revich has been working with Martin Wulfhorst on the first edition of two versions of an unknown cadenza by the Belgian virtuoso Henri Vieuxtemps to the first movement of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, soon to be published by Doblinger.
You hear them here first.
Black Dyke band has parted company for the time being with flugel player Zoe Lovatt-Cooper, who is expecting her first baby.
Zoe, who has been with Black Dyke for ten years, has won just about every flugel competition on earth.
She says: ‘I’m excited to share the news of our first child in February. Paul and I are absolutely delighted and are looking forward to the joy and excitement that a new family member will bring. It has however made me think about my future playing with Black Dyke.
‘The band is in great demand all over the world and requires full commitment, which as a new mum can be extremely challenging. 2020 hasn’t been the year that any of us expected and certainly not how I wanted my final year to plan out, but after consideration I’ve decided that the time is now right.’
On the upside, Black Dyke has just been awarded £76,080 in a Covid recovery grant.
The wellspring of Italian opera was supposed to launch its 20-21 season this morning, a season that traditionally begins on December 7.
But the renewed rise of Covid across Italy has thrown everything into confusion.
The theatre issued this very short-term emergency statement, confirming its plans until next Monday:
Due the evolution of the epidemic in Italy and Europe and to the consequent uncertainty of the regulations, Teatro alla Scala postpones the press conference which was scheduled for today to present the activity calendar from December 2020 to March 2021.
The performances scheduled up to Monday 19 October are confirmed. Teatro alla Scala follows the situation and will give information about the next performances as soon as the regulations are clarified.
Jumping in for David Zinman at a French radio orchestra, the British conductor has bewailed the lack of UK financial support for his freelance ensembles, the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir.
‘Mes orchestres sont en péril,’ he cried.
He claimed the recent £257 million Government handout was not intended for independent ensembles like his own, which seems strange since other independent baroque groups such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment received generous grants.
UPDATE: The German Requiem that JEG was meant to conduct was replaced at late notice by Brahms 3rd symphony after a member of the chorus tested positive for Covid-19
A plan to present a ‘completion’ of sketches of Beethoven’s 10th symphony has been shelved for at least a year due to the restrictions entailed by Covid-19.
The score has been prepared by ‘an international team of experts headed by Dr. Matthias Röder’ and the premiere had been planned next month at the Telekom Forum in Bonn by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn under General Music Director Dirk Kaftan.
The cellist Alexander Rudin has been named chief conductor of the Saratov Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia for the coming season. He has performed with them often as a soloist.
His son, Fedor Rudin is concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic.
The Australian violinist Aaron Barnden was sentenced today in a County Court on Friday to two months’ jail after offering a guilty plea to producing and owning child pornography. Barnden, 43, was sacked yesterday by the string quartet in which he played. Its members had no prior idea of the charges against him.
