For the past two decades I have been the recital pianist for a well-known opera soprano. She’s now pushing sixty and won’t last more than a couple more seasons but her public is large and loyal and no-one – least of all me – is giving her any hint of frailty.
My problem is private. Years ago, on the road, she used to turn to me for comfort sex in dark hotels, a lights-out communion without a word spoken, during or after. I was young and single at the time, and fairly flattered by the attention .
This past season, she has resumed her demands on me. I tell her I am now happily married and unwilling to cheat but she says her physical needs must override my conscience if she is to continue to give the audience of her best.
I have come to dread that time – after concert and dinner – when we get to the hotel and gives me that look. So, dear Alma, what do I do? I like and respect my diva and I enjoy working with her. The fees are better than I’m getting with anyone else.
But the deal has turned sour and I am, yours truly
one unhappy piano partner
Dear one unhappy piano player,
Mixing work and private life is never simple. It’s messy and fun and awkward and heart-wrenching. Our spur-of-the-moment decisions end up being pivotal, life-changing forever things, holding on to us like a rubber glove.
Why is it so hard to be honest with another person in a relationship? I mean any kind – romantic, friend, family, working. Honest as in, how do I feel about this, not full-disclosure no matter how hurtful it will be to the other person. Not “I’m going to tell her what she needs to hear because I don’t want to hurt her”, but “I need to say what I am feeling, no matter how hard it will be to say”.
Kudos to your partner for coming out and saying what she wants. That’s clear. She says she needs to feel powerful and confident on stage, and she believes resuming your previous sexual relationship will do the trick.
We can’t know what she is thinking, exactly, we can only guess. She certainly doesn’t see that this isn’t an equal, two-way street – that you don’t have the same footing. Or maybe she does see this and is using that power relationship to her advantage. She either doesn’t know that this request is hurting you, or she does and doesn’t care. It’s frustrating, and infuriating, and in recent history, this unequal power dynamic and the games it plays has gotten a lot of people very hurt, very fired, and sometimes very jailed.
My friend, you need to spend a little time thinking about what YOU want. Not what she needs, how this is affecting her career, or being afraid that you will lose her. You clearly have affection for her, but it’s not the same affection that steamed up those dressing room mirrors all those years ago. It’s respect, awe, gratitude, happiness in your work relationship and fulfillment in performance. Tell her this. Be honest, and don’t base your statements on how you think she will react. No matter the outcome, make sure your next steps are ones that fill you with honor and goodness, for all parties concerned.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
All the talk these past two days has been on the persistence of the orchestra’s new regime with its policy of encouraging audiences to keep their phones on and take pictures and video in concerts. A furore that started on Slippedisc has spread to national newspapers and, this morning, to the BBC Today programme.
Christopher Morley wrote today: There is huge discontent among loyal CBSO supporters, fearful that their concert experience is being disrupted. Many patrons are considering withdrawing financial support. There was little consultation when these controversial plans were implemented — they also involve audience members being encouraged to take drinks in, to clap whenever they like, to take videos of themselves and their friends enjoying the concert. The CBSO have also gone to the extravagance of hiring theatrical and lighting directors to create visual interpretations of the music being performed, and spotlighting players who are required to stand for solos, jazz-like. Fortunately these visual ideas seem to have been sidelined for a while.
Meanwhile, the CBSO’s music director launched last night into his new era. Review by Norman Stinchcombe:
CBSO at Symphony Hall ★★★★★
Kazuki Yamada’s first concert as the CBSO’s Music Director began with a bang and ended with an even bigger one. George Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ could have been bespoke for Yamada’s strengths – crackling with rhythmic extrovert energy, every nuance of tonal colour lovingly revealed, the orchestra given freedom to relish the work’s profusion of great tunes. The native New Yorker’s starry-eyed view of Paris fizzed with energy, its honking taxi horns and bustling boulevards sharply captured. Then, in the musical equivalent of a movie-screen dissolve, the mood changed as Eugene Tzikindelean’s violin ushered in the romantic switch, enter Jason Lewis’s trumpet to herald the melody that will blossom as the work progresses to its surging affirmative climax – superbly played by the CBSO.
Difficult to top one might think until we heard Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. Not the obligatory Ravel orchestration, although he got a compensatory nod with a performance of his delicate miniature ‘Pavane pour une infante défunte’. Here instead Mussorgsky was clothed in a suit of English cut by Sir Henry Wood whose 1915 orchestration, preceding Ravel by seven years, was a huge hit at his Promenade Concerts and will be played at the Proms by the CBSO in August. Wood’s version has the reputation of being heavy handed – the programme notes referred to throwing “the kitchen sink” – as if Wood had used an orchestral bludgeon instead of the dapper Frenchman’s rapier. Yamada and the CBSO’s performance showed both that Wood’s extra weight and heft could be effective and also delicate too, as in Eugene Tzikindelean’s deliciously playful solo in ‘Les Tuileries’. Wood’s use of the organ added sepulchral gloom to ‘The Old Castle’ and he imbued ‘Baba Yaga’ with some creepily effective Bernard Herrmann Psycho-style screeching strings. Ravel wins out on telling detail: using a solo trumpet for the initial Promenade and as the whining Schmuÿle rather than instrumental sections. In the climactic ‘Great Gate of Kiev’ honours are even. Wood invokes the religious authority and dignity of Orthodox Church by using pipe organ and tolling offstage bells – no kitchen sink required. There was a moment’s silence at the end and then uproar. Wood decidedly vindicated.
In between these two stunning performances the UK premiere of English composer Anna Clyne’s piano concert, a CBSO co-Commission, might have been completely overshadowed. It’s a tribute to her achievement in ‘ATLAS’ that its energy, colour, wit and vivacity ensured that it wasn’t. The title refers to the four-volume work chronicling 5,000 photographs, drawings and sketches made by the German artist Gerhard Richter. Clyne says that the concerto’s ‘music responds to Richter’s imagery’. The four-movement work sounded a lot more fun that Richter’s austere work and had more in common with Gershwin’s orchestral hi-jinks. In his sparkling, energetic performance American pianist Jeremy Denk was aware of this – with the occasional archly humorous nod to the audience. In the opening movement ‘Fierce’ Clyne reminds us that the piano is a percussion instrument, Denk in thunderous call-and-response with the CBSO timpani, his role confined to the keyboard’s extremes. ‘Freely, intimate’ showcased Clyne’s lyrical gifts with a long arching sinuous theme. The succeeding ‘Driving’ is a fun, if diffuse, scherzo. Clyne often used the orchestra in small sections creating separate little islands of distinctive sound. She has a nice line in parody too: I’m sure I heard Rachmaninov’s penchant for quoting the ‘Dies Irae’ in his concertos being gently sent up. Denk’s ragtime encore from Scott Joplin was exquisite too.
Norman Stinchcombe
David Chan will become director of Chicago’s Credo Music festival in 2025.
Meantime, he’ll join them as conductor.
Chan has held the first seat at the Metropolitan Opera since the turn of the century.
He says that faith-based Credo will be ‘a uniquely meaningful opportunity where I can draw on every facet of my professional life — as conductor, violinist, and teacher — and also fulfill my personal callings to service and ministry.’
This is an original viola setting of the BBC ‘s theme music for the snooker finals, arranged by Nick Howson and accompanied by some brilliant potting.
Definitely one for the Proms.
The Los Angeles has been spiralling headless, or worse, since Deborah Borda took a siren call from the New York Philharmonic seven years ago.
Borda’s successor, an Englishman from Seattle, lasted two years. He was followed by an inside promotion, a bullyboy suit who made the working atmosphere at Walt Disney Hall a good deal less agreeable than before. Chad Smith, his name was, and he was duly plucked in 2023 to save the ailing Boston Symphony. For the past nine months, the LA Phil has been run by an interim CEO who awarded new titles and pay hikes to senior VPs and got rid of several loyalists whom he distrusted.
Her track record is unblemished. At the Dallas Symphony she handled the Covid crisis with considerable flair while maintaining musical morale and leadership. She arrived as Jaap Van Zweden’s airy music directorship was ending and she replaced him with Fabio Luisi, an intensive, creative conductor who swiftly raised the voltage. Noltemy added the untested Gemma New as principal guest conductor, along with a number of social initiatives. The Dallas Symphony is said to be devastated by her sudden departure (she kept her LA Phil application strictly secret).
In LA she will see out the last two seasons of Gustavo Dudamel who said last night: ‘I look forward to welcoming Kim into our L.A. Phil family. Our extraordinary musicians and organization have shown the world a powerful new vision for what an orchestra can be, and how it can impact the community around it, and I am confident we will continue to push ourselves to even greater heights in the years to come.’
There is no like-for-like replacement for Dudamel. If Noltemy is to succeed, she will have to pull in a range of very different talents in a short space of time and see how they jell with the musicians. Some of the stronger characters in the orchestra have been drifting away in the past couple of years. The orchestra faces change in every department. It remains to be seen if the new chief can deliver where three others have wantonly failed.
Some hours after* principal oboe Liang Wang sued the orchestra over his suspension, lawyers for associate principal trumpet Matthew Muckey issued a complaint in these terms:
Statement of Steven Hyman, Mathew Muckey’s lawyer
Matthew Muckey has filed this complaint with the sole purpose of returning to the job he loves and was born to do: Play the trumpet for the New York Philharmonic, a tenured position he secured in 2008. The actions taken by the Philharmonic and the Union in recent weeks are a clear violation of a binding arbitration award that restored him with regard to these false allegations. It is disgraceful that the Philharmonic has come back 14 years later, after Mr. Muckey has been investigated over and over again, in an attempt to rob him of a hard earned career and reputation. And it equally unacceptable that Mr.. Muckey’s union has likewise abandoned him notwithstanding the arbitration award they helped secure in his favor. It is time that both the Philharmonic and the Union respect the rule of law.
There is no indication of coordination between the two legal teams.
*UPDATE: We’ve heard from Muckey’s team: ‘Just for clarification we did file the lawsuit first’.
Click here to watch My friend Hazel has found us a new platform for online classical music concerts. It’s called Br-Klassik, check its Index, and it has a splendid roster of videos including this superb,”Gurre-Lieder”. “Gurre-Lieder“ is an oratorio in three parts for soloists, speaker, choir and orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg, performed here at the Isarphilharmonie by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with the Bavarian Radio Choir and international singing soloists including Simon O’Neill, Dorothea Röschmann, Jamie Barton, including Thomas Quasthoff as speaker. Conductor Simon Rattle describes it as “the wildest, most beautiful, most romantic work imaginable.” And he describes why the performance of the Gurre-Lieder has special meaning for him: “As an eleven-year-old in Liverpool, I was fascinated by the largest orchestral score that was in the music library – Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder. The volume was almost as big as me and it was really difficult to bring it home! And now, many years later, I am here to celebrate the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s 75th birthday with this piece by Arnold Schönberg!”
With their gigantic effort of musicians and singers, Schönberg’s Gurre songs push almost every concert venue to its capacity limits. A border crossing that is, however, rewarded with an unforgettable music and sound experience, beyond the usual concert experience. The Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra are reinforced by the MDR Broadcasting Choir. I envisage that we’ll be dipping into the BR-Klassik catalogue often in the future.
Today it was agreed that she would conduct the last concert of the present season in exchange for dropping her lawduit.
The statement reads: ‘Maestro Thomson is thrilled to return to the podium to conduct the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra for the May concert series, after which she will hold the title of Conductor Emeritus.’
Liang Wang filed a lawsuit today against the NY Philharmonic and Local 802 over his suspension from the orchestra.
Press release follows:
May 1, 2024 – NEW YORK – Liang Wang, principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic since 2006, has sued the Philharmonic for suspending him without cause. As the suit explains, the Philharmonic did not suspend Liang for anything he is alleged to have done, but instead, the suspension is the Philharmonic’s cynical reaction to a negative magazine article about long ago events that the Philharmonic knows to be inaccurate. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, also names Liang’s union for failing in their obligation to stand up for Liang’s rights.
The suspension occurred only two days after the publication of an article in “Vulture” – an online publication of New York Magazine – criticizing the outcome of a 2019 arbitration that was favorable to Wang, which in turn was about a disputed event of a decade earlier. Most egregiously as to Liang, the article gave the completely false impression that the arbitration related to allegations of misconduct by him in 2010, in Vail, Colorado. That was not the case. As the Philharmonic’s lead counsel made clear in 2019: “We don’t say that [Wang] engaged in misconduct in Vail.”
But the article nonetheless created a firestorm, and rather than correct the grossly misleading impressions about Wang that were circulating due to the article’s mistakes, the Philharmonic’s actions damaged Wang further. Alan Lewis, Partner at Carter, Ledyard and Milburn and attorney for Mr. Wang said:
“Liang Wang is an extraordinarily fine person, a devoted husband and the father of two young children. He has an entirely unblemished record in his 18 years at the Philharmonic, and has always conducted himself with dignity, generosity and professionalism.
“The Philharmonic suspended Liang without giving a reason, other than cowering to the public reaction to a magazine article. The writer of that article did not have access to any of the extensive arbitration testimony, resulting in serious errors. But the Philharmonic conferred unwarranted legitimacy on the substantially inaccurate article. Any doubt about this is put to rest by the unfortunate words of the Philharmonic’s own CEO. As he put it in his email to the orchestra announcing Liang’s suspension, the article ‘prompted a lot of strong feelings.’ But feelings are not facts.
“The actual facts – relating to a resolved dispute about events in decades past – were fully vetted in the 20 day long arbitration hearing in 2019 presided over by Richard I. Boch, an arbitrator agreed to by the Philharmonic and perhaps the most renowned and respected labor arbitrator in the nation. And when faced with an inaccurate article relitigating the facts that were thoroughly adjudicated in the arbitration, the Philharmonic’s response should have been to stand by the binding arbitration result – and not throw Liang up as a sacrificial lamb to an angry mob misled by a magazine hit piece. Bluntly stated, the Philharmonic chose cowardice, rather than courage.
“The shockwaves of the Philharmonic’s actions have driven Liang off stage, suspended him from faculties, and cancelled him from festivals and competitions. He is separated from his fans and the orchestra to which he has devoted two decades of his life. While Liang and I are supremely confident in the merits of our case, we can never replace what’s been taken from him already.
“Finally, there are almost no words for the Union’s disloyalty, in failing to perform its solemn duty to protest the unlawful and unexplained mistreatment of Liang Wang. Our system of labor relations entrusts unions with the obligation to stand up for their members who are unjustifiably accused or mistreated. But here, Local 802 has not stood up for its loyal member, Liang Wang, even when he has been subject to mistreatment from his employer – without being accused of anything.
“The matters resolved in the thorough 2019 arbitration were resolved in a final and binding process, which Mr. Wang will not relitigate in the press, or any other lawsuit. He is demanding basic fairness and respect for the rights that are afforded to him and all of his colleagues by the collective bargaining agreement. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys’ fees from the Philharmonic and Union for their breaches of their contractual and solemn obligations to Liang.”
The case is 1:24-cv-03356 filed in the Southern District of New York.
photo: Liang Wang in 2010
We hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic is about to announce a new president and chief executive.
According to our trusty mole, it’s going to be Kim Noltemy, presently prez of the Dallas Symphony. UPDATE: This report has now been confirmed by all parties. It was originally scheduled for announcement on Friday.
Kim will take over from LAPO’s interim CEO Daniel Song whose year in charge has been frayed by executive pay hikes and plummeting staff morale.
Before taking over Dallas in January 2018, Kim Notelmy was Chief Operating and Communications Officer for 12 years at the Boston Symphony, which has taken both of its last CEOs from the LA Phil.
Expect an announcement before Pacific sunset.
Choice Kim quote: ‘It was always difficult to be a non-musician in a very specialized field like orchestra management. There are so many technical aspects to the work and so much knowledge that is innate to musicians that I had to work hard to learn. I was motivated because I wanted to be good at my job, and I knew it would be valuable for me both professionally and personally to know a lot more about music and orchestral repertoire. There were times that people made me feel stupid or silly for my lack of knowledge, but it just made me want to overcome that inexperience. It also made realize that a lot of people are intimidated or think they don’t know enough to enjoy classical music. My experience helped me strategize ways that my orchestra could reach more people who did not have a musical background or play instruments, and we need new fans!’
The conductor Rebecca Bryant Novak is a doctoral student at Eastman School of Music. She’s having a tough time complaining about a particular faculty member.
Here are some of the issues:
…I’ve never been sexually assaulted, but I have dealt with a lot of aggressive, entitled men in this field and the institutions that protect them – most recently at the Eastman School of Music.
It’s impossible, in situations like these, to know how much to share and how much not to, especially in a forum as wide-open as the internet. Over-sharing can feel irresponsible. So can under-sharing. It leaves an awful lot to the imagination.
The ambiguity of that decision is one reason, among many, that so many people in problem situations say nothing. I’m not going to do that. Saying nothing can be the most irresponsible thing of all. But one of many, many costs of going through a situation like this is agonizing over the balance between saying too much and not saying enough.
I’m a doctoral student in orchestral conducting at Eastman – one of very, very few women admitted to the program in its history. Six weeks into my first semester, I had to report a long list of concerns about a faculty member.
Some of it was hostile, unprofessional behavior and some troubling comments – toward and about other students. Some of the hostility was directed at me, in addition to some gender-based remarks and privacy concerns. By the time I raised concerns, the situation had become extremely uncomfortable. Most of it was clearly documented. And the problems weren’t new. He said he’d gotten “a slap on the wrist” for bad behavior in the past.
The school was well aware of ongoing issues. I took a long report to the appropriate member of Eastman’s leadership. His first advice was that I transfer out of the school all together, because, he said, “I don’t want things to get bad for you.”
I didn’t expect a perfect response, but I was genuinely shocked by the degree – bordering on adulation – to which Eastman protected its faculty – despite clear-cut, chronic issues of behavior and competence. (Badly behaved geniuses are a myth. I’ve never met one – just lots of emperors who have no clothes.)
The first solution I accepted was limiting my contact with the situation. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it allowed me to get on with my life. When the faculty member objected, Eastman altered the agreement to suit his wishes. I wasn’t asked – just told that if I didn’t comply, I wouldn’t get my degree – despite the fact that several members of the school’s leadership had expressed concern about our having prolonged contact.
I refused, and told Eastman they were welcome to fail me out of the program. What ensued was an administrative nightmare, and it took three tenured faculty members – all women – taking up the issue on my behalf, and my decision to initiate a university investigation (on issues that were largely documented and not in dispute), to even get a partial resolution.
Even then, I was in an enormously compromised position. I lost opportunities I would have otherwise had and lost the potential for references. I also spent the entire first year of my doctorate in a state of constant stress, discomfort, and distraction.
Other students and faculty members in my department offered little support, despite being aware of the situation. Most didn’t even offer a private word of concern. Some excused and enabled the behavior. It is continually shocking to me that an entire professional culture still treats this kind of thing as normal.
I’m a doctoral student, and I came back to the degree after spending time in the professional field. This was a nearly impossible process for me to manage, and it has taken a huge toll on my work and sanity. If one of Eastman’s many 17- or 18-year-old students took this on, it’s hard to imagine how they could make it through. Mine wasn’t the worst situation imaginable, and it was still hugely damaging.
I’ve said repeatedly, for nearly nine months, that the attitudes Eastman operates on – and models for its students – are irresponsible. The situation I experienced is a direct antecedent to the kind of abuse seen at the New York Philharmonic and so many other places. The degree is different, but the mechanisms are exactly the same.
Students are learning those lessons – of fear, compliance, silence, the normalization of abuse – right here, right now. You don’t have to teach those lessons explicitly. You just have to make it clear who is protected and who is not, and the lessons teach themselves.
Eastman has only doubled down and deflected. I have been repeatedly lectured on the rights and status of its faculty members. I have seen some truly extraordinary mental gymnastics performed on behalf of the man I reported. Because – as Eastman’s Title IX Coordinator told me – “He’s faculty, so we trust his judgment.”
The Library of Congress has taken possession of the archive of the Kronos Quartet.
It makes sense. Kronos has premiered more new music than any other US ensemble in the past half century – much of it by American composers.
“Kronos Quartet’s impact on contemporary music is hard to overstate,” said Susan H. Vita, chief of the Library’s Music Division. “It is ideal for the quartet’s legacy as cutting-edge multidisciplinary artists and commissioners of living composers to be preserved here at the Library of Congress, an institution which itself plays a role in the creation of new music and which has long been a preeminent international destination for the living string quartet tradition.”
