July 19, 2013   |
| | | Thought of the Day | "A forest bird never wants a cage."
--Henrik Ibsen |
| Quote of the Week | | "An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail" --Edwin Land |
| | English National Opera Chief Resigns | 
English National Opera Chief Executive Loretta Tomasi has announced her resignation after a decade with the company, effective at the end of 2013. Her reasons, according to local media, are personal. Tomasi came to her position in a manner objectionable to many--specifically, she and John Berry were appointed overnight as CEO and artistic director in the wake of Sean Doran's firing in fall 2005, without any attempt at an external search. But naysayers were silenced when the two of them, and Tomasi in particular, brought the company back to fiscal health (until recent funding cuts threatened to put it back in the red). Tomasi said the decision to leave had been "immensely difficult," but that the time had come to "choose a new path." MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Bolshoi Violinist Falls into Pit, Dies |  Russia's Bolshoi Theater is mourning the death of Viktor Sedov, a violinist in the orchestra who succumbed to injuries incurred from falling into the pit. Sedov, 65, was a veteran of the ballet and opera house's orchestra for four decades. According to spokeswoman Katerina Novikova, "he fell into the orchestra pit on Tuesday and died on Wednesday in hospital as a result of his injuries." Sedov was well liked by colleagues an especially known for his "sense of humor and extraordinary erudition," Novikova added.
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| | | | Back to the Alps for the Verbier Festival 2013 |  | | Eugenia Zukerman's 2013 Verbier Vlog |
The Alpine adventure continues! I am thrilled and honored to be taking part in the Verbier Festival's auspicious 20th anniversary summer. I'll be performing with superb colleagues and interviewing some of the most stellar musicians at the festival. I'm excited to be sending a 2nd Verbier Vlog out into cyberspace via MusicalAmerica.com. Read more |
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Shrinks by Ten |  Bruce Coppock, back in the saddle as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra president and managing director, has sent a letter to the orchestra's wider community indicating which of its musicians have opted for the early retirement buy-outs. There are ten, neatly fulfilling the orchestra's new contract terms (and then some) that the band be reduced from 34 to 28. It seems ironic that, after 18 months of negotiations and six months of a lock-out, the contract terms that both sides finally agreed on have actually created four openings. Following is a list of the retirees, all having served a minimum of 30 years in the band. They have been assured packages of up to $200,000, presumably based on length of service. The numbers next to their names indicate the number of seasons they've been in the orchestra. Pictured: Evelina Chao, assistant principal viola |
| The Minnesota Problem: An Imbalance of Power |  Robert Levine, principal violist of the Milwaukee Symphony and an articulate commentator on the orchestra business, has a theory about the Minnesota Orchestra problem: The two men with the most power on the administrative side of the table--the board chair and negotiating committee chair--are two of the most powerful men in the State of Minnesota. One is executive VP and director of government and community relations for Wells Fargo bank and the other is chairman, president, and CEO of U.S. Bancorp. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S., U.S. Bank the fifth. "Normally, one would expect the mayor, or the state's governor, or perhaps the state's U.S. senators, to get involved in a negotiation that's garnering so much negative national publicity," writes Levine. But politicians need donations, and most certainly don't need the fourth or fifth largest bank in the country opposed to them." |
3 Classical Recording Distributors Shutter |  Record distributor Codæx U.K. is entering bankruptcy following last month's collapse of its Benelux-based parent company. In May, Harmonia Mundi's Spanish and Portuguese division, Harmonia Mundi Ibèrica, closed. In June, 45-year-old Qualiton, the oldest classical distribution operation in the U.S., also failed. Qualiton had hundreds of labels on its list, from Accent to ZonicEntertainment, and included Elysium, Signum, and Supraphon. There is some relief for Harmonia Mundi Ibèrica labels, since parent Harmonia Mundi France recently announced, "All labels distributed by Harmonia Mundi Ibèrica have found agreement with HM for unpaid invoices." The move was seen as an attempt to provide reassurance when some were questioning the future stability of Harmonia Mundi's U.K. and U.S. divisions. Some of the labels faced losses of many thousands of dollars; the company did not give details of the agreement. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
100 Years Ago...in Musical America: 19 July 1913 | |  METROPOLITAN AIMS LEGAL FUSILLADE AT THE HAMMERSTEINS Opera Company Serves Summons in Application for Permanent Injunction Restraining Impresario and His Son, Arthur, from Producing Opera in New York Until April 26, 1920-"Glad They Brought the Suit," Comments Hammerstein, Declaring His Work Will Be Carried on by Corporation in Case Injunction Is Secured [continued next week] See the Original Page and Read the Full Story |
| A Manager's Deposit of Trouble | | To submit a question to GG Arts Law write to  Dear Law and Disorder: We are a small classical music presenter. Several months ago, I booked an artist for a performance this fall. Recently, I received a phone call from the artist's manager asking for a deposit. Usually, we don't pay deposits, although sometimes we will if it's an artist or manager with whom we have never worked before. However, we've worked with this manager before and she's never asked for a deposit before. When I asked her about it, she said that she (the manager) was having a slow summer and that she needed the money to give her some cash flow to "tide her over" until the fall. She threatened to cancel if I didn't agree. Is this legal? Read the full story |
| Historical Pianists from Sony; Kronos at 40 |  From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark With copyrights soon to expire, several major labels are releasing huge box sets of their holdings for their Last Hurrah at ridiculously low prices. One of the first was Sony Classical's complete Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky series on 22 CDs for $45. Others from Sony are complete editions of Toscanini, Rubinstein, and Heifetz, with Horowitz on the way. Universal has released sets of Curzon, Ferrier, the complete operas of Wagner and Verdi, Solti's Wagner Ring remastered, and two delicious 50-CD boxes of Mercury Living Presence with a third set reportedly in the works. Decca will celebrate the Britten centennial soon with all of the composer's recordings in one mammoth set. And the prices are IN-SANE! Graffman and Fleisher--Two OYAPs Complete Sony Classical has just announced upcoming box sets of its complete recordings of Gary Graffman (on RCA and Columbia) and Leon Fleisher (Epic and Columbia), two of the pianists known in the early 1950s as OYAPs-Outstanding Young American Pianists. Others in the group included William Kapell, Julius Katchen, Eugene Istomin, Jacob Lateiner, and Claude Frank. |
| Latest Roster Changes |  Musical America is helping presenters keep up with its advertisers! Managers whose rosters appear in the 2013 edition of the Musical America Directory should write to listings@musicalamerica.com with the names of artists and attractions that have been either added or removed, and please be sure to indicate "added" or "removed." NEW THIS WEEK Altenberger, Korbinian, violin, removed, Astral Artists Beilman, Benjamin, violin, removed, Astral Artists Beyer, Jonathan, baritone, removed, Astral Artists Chooi, Nikki, violin, added, Astral Artists Cole, Caroline, harp, added, Astral Artists Curenton, Julietta, flute, removed, Astral Artists Dodson, Jordan, guitar, added, Astral Artists Fang, Luosha, violin, added, Astral Artists Fry, Adam, bass-baritone, added, Astral Artists Hollingsworth, Harrison, bassoon, removed, Astral Artists Lamprea, Christine, cello, added, Astral Artists Mahidhara, Pallavi, piano, added, Astral Artists Wedd, Peter, tenor, added, Hazard Chase Wintringham, Jonathan, saxophone, added, Astral Artists |
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