August 16, 2013   |
| | | Thought of the Day | "Peace begins with a smile." --Mother Teresa |
| Quote of the Week | | "Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success." --Swami Sivananda |
| | | | | Musical America news can be easily read on your smartphone! |
Vienna Phil May Leave Salzburg Festival |  BERLIN -- It seems impossible to imagine the Salzburg Festival without the Vienna Philharmonic. But board members of the orchestra have revealed to that they are having second thoughts about the future. Discontinuity in leadership; the exclusion of the orchestra from planning sessions; a widening infrastructure that diminishes the Philharmonic's prominence; the possibility of capitalizing on other opportunities abroad--all have led the musicians to publicly question whether they will renew their contract in 2016. "An intendant comes, makes a plan for five years...then it all lies in ruins," laments orchestra board member and flutist Dieter Flury, referencing Intendant Alexander Pereira's premature departure for La Scala after next summer. "Meanwhile, one has to come to the fundamental decision about whether the Vienna Philharmonic should [or even] want to remain the backbone of the Salzburg Festival."
|
| | | Proposal to Negotiate Rejected in Minnesota | Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell may have been successful in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, but bringing the two sides of the Minnesota Orchestra dispute together--even getting them to agree to negotiating terms--looks like it may be a stiffer challenge. Mitchell has put forward a proposal "to soften the downside for musicians to engage in bargaining," reports the StarTribune. Musicians agreed to the terms, but management did not. Mitchell's last proposal was accepted by management but not by musicians. The musicians will not negotiate until the lockout is lifted; management won't negotiate without it. Meanwhile, Music Director Osmo Vänskä has said he will resign if no agreement is reached by
Sept. 9--three weeks from now.
|
| Steinway Purchased by Hedge Fund |  It has been an exciting few days for Steinway Musical Instruments, capped Wednesday morning by its purchase by hedge fund Paulson & Company for $40 cash per share, or about $512 million. On Monday, news arrived that the original bid by Kohlberg of $35 per share had been topped by $3 to $38 per share by an "unidentified" firm, which, it turns out, was Paulson. "At $5 per share more than the offer from Kohlberg, this transaction provides shareholders significant additional value for their investment," Michael T. Sweeney, the chairman and chief executive of Steinway, said in a statement. Said Paulson & Co. President John A. Paulson [pictured], "We fully intend to maintain the superb quality of Steinway's musical instruments." According to Forbes, Paulson's net worth was $11.2 billion as of March 2013. |
Musical America Launches NEW Job Board |  JOB SEEKERS: From instrumentalists to executive directors and administrators, search over 4,000 jobs on MusicalAmerica.com.
Post resumes, create alerts, get hired! EMPLOYERS: Post your jobs for reasonable rates. Special discount packages available. Post a job, find the perfect hire! Visit Job Board |
"Bravovations" at Bayreuth |  BAYREUTH -- "Boovation" is the newly coined term awarded to director Frank Castorf and his creative team for the new Bayreuth Ring, an apt description of the enraged audience's reaction at its opening. Personally, I would much rather talk about the "bravovations" that greeted performances of Lohengrin (seen 11 August) and Der fliegende Holländer (13 August). Yes, folks: a performance--at Bayreuth--not only absent a single "boo," but with extended ear-shattering bravos, stomping on the wooden floor, and an extremely rare total standing ovation. And the loudest, longest ovation I have encountered in more than a decade of visiting the festival was for the sublime interpretation of Lohengrin by Klaus Florian Vogt [pictured]. It is rare in our time to find someone who so totally owns a role as Vogt does the titular son of Parsifal. Call him the undisputed king of the (Green) Hill. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| Clarice Smith Center Names New Exec Director |  The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland has named Martin Wollesen, current artistic director for ArtPower! at the University of California, San Diego, as its executive director, effective Sept. 2. He succeeds Susie Farr, in the job 14 years--virtually since the Center opened--who is retiring. ArtPower! is UC's multi-arts program in dance, music, spoken word, and film. Wollesen also directs the University Events Office, another of the school's presenters. Previously he was director of education and associate director of programming for Stanford Lively Arts at Stanford University. The Clarice Smith Center, part of the UMD's College of Arts and Sciences, houses the School of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies; the School of Music; and the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. A large part of Wollesen's job will be creating cross-fertilization among the performing arts departments--not always an easy task in turf-driven academia. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
100 Years Ago...in Musical America: 16 August 1913 | |  THE CARUSOS OF OTHER DAYS How New York Opera Audienes of a Half-Century Ago Idolized Their Tenors-Brignoli's Famous Appetite-Memories of Victor Capoul-Theodore Wachtel's Vogue See the Original Page and Read the Full Story |
| Its Not The Length Of A Contract That Matters, Its How You Use It | | To submit a question to GG Arts Law write to  Dear Law and Disorder: I want to start getting the artists I represent to sign a written representation agreement. However, all of the models I have found are too long and complex. I definitely do NOT want a 14 page contract, more like 4 or 5 at most. I won't be able to get folks to sign it otherwise! And, can the language be more simple? I like simplicity. Read the full story |
| George Benjamin's Written on Skin |  From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark British composer George Benjamin's opera Written on Skin certainly doesn't need my praise after all the encomia it received at its world premiere at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in July 2012 and its London premiere on March 9 at Covent Garden. But I can report on the U.S. premiere this past Monday at Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music in Ozawa Hall. In a word, it was thrilling. The playing of the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, a student orchestra, was flawless from top to bottom--indeed, already imbued with the elder orchestra's Boston richness and depth of tone. Even in a concert performance, the young singers displayed a sense of drama and commitment fully competitive with the excellent Aix cast available on the recently released Nimbus CD set. They were: Lauren Snouffer (Agnès), Evan Hughes (Protector), Augustine Mercante (Angel 1/Boy), Tammy Coil (Angel 2/Marie), and Isaiah Bell (Angel 3/John). My concert companion had heard the Aix premiere and expressed misgivings about attending the Tanglewood performance, but after the first few minutes she turned to me, smiled, and nodded her assent. |
| 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 Aasbø, Jens-Erik, bass, added, Bel Canto Global Arts
Colombara, Carlo, bass, added, Bel Canto Global Arts
Kim, JiHee, soprano, added, Bel Canto Global Arts
Laporte, Eric, tenor, added, KulturKontor Regine Dierse
Or, Netta, soprano, added, KulturKontor Regine Dierse
Webb, Philip, tenor, added, Bel Canto Global Arts |
| | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment