Message from José Miguel Pérez-Sierra:
I am happy to be able to share with you my appointment as Musical and Artistic Director of the Royal Opera Festival in Krakow.
In addition to the close collaboration since 2019 with the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, 4 years ago, from the hand of the Instituto Cervantes de Krakow and the Spanish Embassy in Poland, we are bringing the Zarzuela to Poland with huge success from public and critics.
Within my mission as Musical Director of the Theater of Zarzuela, I hope that this new stage in which I will also be at the front of the Royal Opera Festival serves to strengthen and grow the presence of our lyrical genre abroad, thus giving another fundamental step to arrive to be the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Thank you to my Intendente Mateusz Prendota for trusting me for this responsibility, and to my beloved and admired Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, for being my “perfect partners” for this adventure.
Today, Northern Ballet is performing Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon without its orchestra.
Two of the nation’s core arts institutions have been stripped bare by Arts Council England.
This is not what Maynard Keynes envisaged.
ACE must be reformed from top to bottom.
Its CEO Darren Henley tweets every night from a different venue outside London saying how wonderful things are under his aegis. He needs to spend more nights at home, counting his redundancy pay.
The Czech Philharmonic has lost its music director for the opening of the season while he undergoes back surgery.
The first three concerts will be conducted by Charles Dutoit.
Bychkov, 71, will be incapacitated for a month.
UPDATE: Message from Semyon: ‘Having undergone back surgery 2 days ago, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to the doctors who performed it. ‘I’ve received many heartwarming messages of support and encouragement, some from people I’ve never met. I’d like to thank all of them.’
Five staffers have resigned and one has been fired for wearing pro-Palestine propaganda at work.
The arts centre, founded in 1874 as a Jewish facility, hosts many classical music performances.
Story here.
Two current hits from the National Theatre available online today
Click here to subscribe or purchase one-off access
I often recommend plays from the National Theatre’s indispensable online platform. Many of you have become devotees of National Theatre At Home as a result. These plays have been filmed live from the stage and usually become available only after the run of the plays have finished.
This week the National is offering two of its current hits to watch live in one day – September 19th – direct from the stage.
Vanya
Andrew Scott brings multiple characters to life in playwright Simon Stephens’ radical new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Directed by Sam Yates and designed by Rosanna Vize.
Hopes, dreams, and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation which explores the complexities of human emotions.
People Places & Things
Dennis Gough reprises her Olivier Award-winning role as Emma, a struggling actress whose life is spinning recklessly out of control, in Duncan Macmillan’s searing hit play People Places & Things, directed by Jeremy Herrin and designed by Tony Award-winner Bunny Christie
This will be the ultimate theatre marathon evening, featuring 5-star talent and Olivier award-winning performances, from the comfort of your own home.
Subscribe or purchase one-off access to watch the live double premiere.
Vanya at 7pm BST September 19.
People, Places & Things at 9pm BST September 19.
Read more
US violinist Mayumi Kanagawa (centre among the finalists) has won this year’s George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest with a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s 3rd concerto.
Second was South Korea’s Hyeonjeong Lee, aged 13.
Japan’s Wakana Kimura came third.
The international jury was chaired by Dmitry Sitkovetsky.
From a correspondent:
I am a retired full time chorister who worked at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from the mid-1970s until recently.
When I started, I made $125/week for 13 weeks and about $4/hr prior to that for music (room) rehearsals held about 3 times/week. No benefits (health/pension).
After decades of negotiations the salary and benefits improved sharply and when I retired a 30 week contract netted about an annual salary of $70,000 plus individual health (NOT family) and pension benefits. A standard work week was 24 hours.
One of the ongoing issues in the performing arts is one you mention: is the employer paying for time worked or TALENT. Generally, unions’ position are both. Time, to be sure, but certainly talent is the primary qualifier. A regular chorus position opening at Lyric, the Met, or SFO regular attracts hundreds of superb singer musicians. Recent chorus hires at the Met included artists who sang PRINCIPAL roles at other companies (Met chorus annual salaries can exceed $200K). Choristers may have a “short” work week but contractually must be available Monday to Saturday 10am to midnight and Sundays about noon to 7. They also, contractually, must be available on short notice.
I appreciate your postings very much. Here in Chicago we’re looking forward to the Fidelio dress on Monday. Dress rehearsal passes are the one Retirement benefit.
Dr Harry Brunjes, who has presided over ten years of destruction at English National Opera, is stepping down. He has resisted that move valiantly for a very long time.
The good doctor may now enjoy a happy retirement attending whatever is left of ENO’s performances.
Here’s his bye-bye letter:
As the company prepares for the opening night of La bohème, I would like to take this opportunity to let you all know that the imminent 2024/25 programme will be my final season as Chair of English National Opera & the London Coliseum. By the festive period I will have completed a decade in this role and I simply cannot believe where these 10 years have gone.
So many reflections during my time as Chair, and where to start? First and foremost, it has been my immense privilege to have seen the company produce and present hundreds of world class operas both at the London Coliseum and internationally over the past 10 years. Alongside this, the positive impact ENO makes well beyond our walls continues to inspire, through our engagement programmes in schools and hospitals across the country. I am particularly proud of ENO’s groundbreaking social-prescribing programme, ENO Breathe, which was launched as a response to the global pandemic and continues to support the NHS today.
Of course, a lasting memory will be the enormous response English National Opera received from you and many others at the time of the ACE funding decision in 2022. The Company was literally inundated with tens of thousands of messages, not just nationally, but from around the world. It was both astonishing and uplifting. Clearly, English National Opera has been important to so many people over the generations and continues to be so. There is an overriding sense of warmth and collegiality which, in truth, is the foundation that underwrites the values, ethos, and reputation of this great Company.
In spite of all the challenging issues the organisation has faced over the past decade, I believe that the resilient nature of ENO has won through and the dedication, commitment, rigour, and professionalism remains undaunted. It has been an honour to be Chair of such an important Opera Company and my own enthusiasm and advocacy will continue in the years ahead. With the leadership of Jenny Mollica, Annilese Miskimmon, the ENO Board and the excellence of both the ENO Orchestra & Chorus and, indeed, the whole Company, the ENO moves into the next chapter with great optimism as it approaches its centenary in 2031.
Whatever will be left of ENO by 2031?
We hear that Elim Chan, the sought-after Hong Kong conductor, is leaving Classic Concert Management GmbH in Germany to join Intermusica in London.
No-one’s giving any reasons yet, but CCM have just three conductors on their books. Intermusica have 48.
There are more likely to be alert to the next vacancies.
The composer John Mackey has reported the death of his friend, Robert Carnochan, Professor of Conducting at the University of Miami and Chair of Instrumental Performance and Director of Bands at the Frost School of Music.
No details are presently forthcoming.
Our sympathies to his wife and family.
Only three weeks ago, Robert received the Phillip Frost Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship, the Frost School of Music’s highest honor.
Mackey writes: I just learned of the sudden passing of Robert Carnochan and I am at a loss for words. Rob was brilliant and warm and funny and kind. My thoughts are with his family and his thousands of friends and current and former students. You’re loved, Rob
Statement by Equity, acting for the endangered chorus of Welsh National Opera:
Equity members in the chorus of the Welsh National Opera will pause their first and second days of strike action, previously planned for Saturday 21 and Sunday 29 September. This follows productive discussions with WNO management over the past week. Action short of strike will still be taken by chorus members on the opening night of Rigoletto and throughout the season as originally planned.
A deal has not yet been reached and despite pausing strike action at this time the chorus continue to be concerned about the implications and any implementation of management’s current proposals. The pause will allow time for further talks to take place with the hope of reaching an agreement …
We’ve had our attention drawn to two paragraphs in the jury instructions, showing how female contestants receive preferential treatment.
The clauses are these:
4.6 If there are two candidates with equal scores competing for one place
and one is a woman candidate, we ask the Juror to consider advancing her first.
4.20 In the instance of a single gender outcome or an outcome that
significantly reduces the ratio of women to men in the Competition,
there will be a revote for all places.
Got that?
Fair, or unfair?
The finals take place this weekend.
