The Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville reports the death of its American former principal flute, James Gordon Lyman Lake. James was 64.
Local media add that he was found dead inside his car, which was in a ravine on the road from El Castillo de las Guardas to the village where he lived. He was reported missing five days ago and appears to have died on that day.
James, originally from Albion, New York, lived alone and was reported to be on medication for a number of conditions.
The orchestra says he had not played for them in several years but remained in touch with former colleagues.
The latest promo gimmick from the indefatigably commercial pianist:
Hi everyone, it’s Lang Lang here!
I am thrilled to invite you and a friend to an unforgettable evening at Carnegie Hall’s opening night in New York on October 8, 2024! I very much look forward to meeting you in person backstage after the concert, in which I’ll be performing with the incredible Los Angeles Philharmonic and maestro Gustavo Dudamel.
Flights (from anywhere in the world) and a 2-night hotel stay in New York for two people are included!
I look forward to meeting you in New York and sharing this extraordinary evening with you.
See you soon, Lang Lang
YOUR MAIN PRIZE Experience an unforgettable evening at Carnegie Hall’s opening night in New York on October 8, 2024. Receive 2 tickets for the sold-out concert with Lang Lang, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. Meet Lang Lang in person after the concert for the champagne toast and personal photo. Flights (from anywhere in the world) and hotel (2 nights in New York) for 2 people are included.
The recent walkout by the veteran Eberhard Friedrich, a year before retirement, has been buried beneath a swift leak that Thomas Eitler-de Lint, head of the Leipzig Opera chorus, is to take over with immediate effect.
The new chief, who is Viennese, has previously worked for Dutch National Opera, Shanghai Opera and various German radio choirs.
UPDATE: The press release has landed:
Nach intensiver Suche und zahlreichen Gesprächen mit potentiellen Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten geben die Bayreuther Festspiele bekannt, dass Thomas Eitler – de Lint neuer Direktor des Chores der Bayreuther Festspiele wird und damit auf Eberhard Friedrich folgt, der 2025 das Renteneintrittsalter erreicht haben wird. Thomas Eitler – de Lint arbeitete u.a. in verantwortlicher Funktion an der Wiener Volksoper, der Nationalen Oper in Amsterdam, diversen Rundfunkchören wie dem WDR, dem NDR, dem MDR, den Opernhäusern Zürich und Hannover und 2016 zusätzlich als Gastchordirektor an der Oper Shanghai. Seit November 2017 ist er Chordirektor an der Oper Leipzig mit zahlreichen Einstudierungen u.a. von »Tosca«, »Carmen«, »La fanciulla del west«, »La traviata«, »Die Frau ohne Schatten« und »Johannes-Passion«.. Bei WAGNER 22 – den Wagner-Festtagen der Oper Leipzig, zeichnete Thomas Eitler – de Lint für die Einstudierung sämtlicher Opern Richard Wagners mit Chorbeteiligung verantwortlich und verfügt über eine ausgewiesene Wagnerexpertise. Darüber hinaus steht er für ein Klangbild, welches in Bayreuth hochgeschätzt wird. Hinsichtlich der Zukunft des Festspielchores sind sich die künstlerische Leiterin und Thomas Eitler-de Lint darin einig, eine neue Struktur zu schaffen, welche sowohl quantitativ (je nach Werk bis zu 134 Choristen: innen) als auch qualitativ den hohen Anforderungen der Festspiele vollumfänglich gerecht werden wird. Herr Eitler – de Lint sieht die Umstrukturierung als Chance und vor allem als zeitgemäß an.
Leonard and Felicia Bernstein’s daughter Jamie has made a remarkable assertion to Joseph Horowitz in his NPR More than Music show. Talking about the aftermath of Tom Wolfe’s inflammatory expose of the Bernstein’s party for the Black Panthers, she says:
And then, after that, there was an editorial! In the New York Times! An editorial, lambasting Leonard Bernstein and his wife for hosting that event. And the subtext was that the Black Panthers were considered by Jewish people to be ‘anti-Zionist.’. . . Friends of my parents and relations of my family were furious at my mother . . . The blowback went on and on. The hate mail started to arrive. The Jewish Defense League was picketing outside our building. . . . And it was only decades later, in the 1980s, that through the Freedom of Information Act my father was able to view his own FBI file, which turned out to be 800 pages long. . . . It was in those pages that we discovered that all that hate mail had been generated by the FBI, and all those JDL protests outside our building were bristling with FBI plants. And this all came sstraight out of J. Edgar Hoover’s playbook – it was his dream come true to pit Jews against Blacks. . . . My mother and father were just sitting ducks.”
His Majesty The King has appointed Ms Errollyn Wallen CBE as Master of the King’s Music; the first appointment to this role of his reign.
Wallen, 66, succeeds Dame Judith Weir who has held the role since July 2014. The appointment is in the monarch’s gift, delivered upon advice of the usual establishment committees.
She is an impeccable choice. Belize born, Errollyn Wallen composed works to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees. She will fulfil the role admirably, and assuredly with greater verve than such ill-chosen predecessors as Walford Davies, Arnold Bax and Arthur Bliss. We send her the warmest congratulations.
Still, one wishes the King had cast the net a little wider than his suited and botted committees. Maybe next time he will ask slippedisc.com. Our immediate recommendations would be Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sandé and Laura Mvula. Now that would be the day.
Wallen is known best for her radical Proms take on Hubert Parry’s Jerusalem.
An extremely rare interview with the grande dame of British pianism, heroine of the Blitz.
She also talks of making false crescendos to mask the noise of flying bombs. ‘When the bomb went away, I made a decrescendo.’
Using the famous oil painting by E. G. Haussmann from 1748 as starting point, Iranian artist Hadi Karimi has created a high-resolution, photorealistic, 3D model of Bach’s face. During the post-production phase of the film, artificial intelligence was used to replace the actor’s face with this digital reconstruction of Bach’s own. This so-called “deepfake” now reveals Johann Sebastian Bach as a living, breathing human being.
Idea, concept and script: Vital Julian Frey, Bachwochen Thun.
The death has been announced of Russell Malone, a prodigious jazz guitarist who worked with many leading artists, latterly with Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall.
From the AP: Anna Netrebko’s lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera was narrowed to gender discrimination claims by a federal judge, who agreed to dismiss the star soprano’s allegations of defamation, breach of contract and discrimination because of national origin.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Nadine Torres in Manhattan issued a 23-page decision…
And the word from the singer’s agent Miguel Esteban: ‘It is normal for a court to narrow the issues during litigation, but this court recognizes that the facts as alleged show that the Met wronged Anna Netrebko and that there is still an important case before it.’
That’s a bit desperate. Defamation and breach of contract are major suits. Gender discrimination merely means the Met would not have acted the same way with a male artist.. Really? It did, and has done. Many times.
Next case.
Look again: European Paintings—Rembrandt, Restoring a Masterpiece
Here’s another of those ‘behind the scenes at the museum’ videos that I love so much.
This one has curator Adam Eaker and conservator Dorothy Mahon as they discuss the restoration ofRembrandt’s Artistotle with a Bust of Homer, painted in 1653, and now on view in the renovated and reinstalled European Paintings galleries at The Met, Look Again: European Paintings 1300-1800.
… remember this? … is advertising for a peculiar new position:
St Albans Cathedral exists to glorify God and, inspired by the witness of Alban, proclaim Christ’s message of love
St Albans Cathedral is seeking to appoint an Assistant Director of Music & Music Partnerships to start summer term 2025
We are seeking someone passionate about the English choral tradition of this Benedictine Abbey and also motivated by new possibilities in cathedral music
We are committed to nurturing a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and want to encourage applications from a diverse range of people.
This is believed to be the final recital given by Pavel Kushnir, who died in prison for criticising Putin.
The recital took place in the Kurgan Philharmonic Hall in 2021.
The next soloist in the Kurgan hall will be the Putin loyalist Denis Matsuev.
