Musiccosmos

Back August 22, 2018 by norman lebrecht Details have emerged of the house arrest conditions under which Kirill Serebrennikov has lived for the past year while a Moscow court ‘investigates’ trumped-up fraud charges against the outspoken Putin critic. The opera director, 48, is allowed no contact with the outside world. He may only speak to his father and his lawyer and has no access to the internet. He is confined to a small apartment without a balcony in the centre of Moscow and is permitted to take a supervised walk for two hours a day. His lawyer says: ‘The restrictions of his freedom are very stressful for Kirill. He works around the clock.’       Next Article Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post How Putin punishes an operatic victim – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2ByC5DM via IFTTT

Back August 22, 2018 by norman lebrecht A group of 59 UK arts organisations succeeded in raising £406,000 from 4,970 donors last year, according to published results. ‘The majority of respondents indicated that the hard work involved in running a crowdfunding campaign was ultimately worth the rewards,’ says the sponsoring organisation, Nesta. But here’s the catch: Nesta offered matching funds for every single donor, an incentive that endorsed the projected and persuaded more people to give. Crowdfunding, as such, is not an efficient way of running an arts org. Look what happened to NY’s City Opera.     Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post Crowdfunding works in the arts, apparently – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2Prugmm via IFTTT

We are directed to everyone who loves music and wants to be part of a very special artistic career with their support. Since today, our crowdfunding campaign fo r the production of professional of video -/ audio on  startnext  is online. I’m looking forward to your support. As a reward for support, we offer many rewards, such as an invitation to the recording session, a personalized happy birthday recording or a egyptologist. قالب وردپرس The post An opera soprano tries crowdfunding her career – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2N8qmNx via IFTTT

Back August 21, 2018 by norman lebrecht No comments . In a 2011 Lebrecht Interview with Dame Janet Baker, I warned colleagues that I was going to refer to her as ‘Dame Granite’ – her whispered nickname among awestruck singers who never saw her shocked or rattled. ‘You won’t dare,’ said the BBC producer. So I did, and Janet simply shook with laughter. It was an icebreaker that enabled her to explore areas of her formative years that she had never spoken about before. The Dame turns 85 today, wonderful and indomitable as ever.   The interview is (apparently) still available for download here. One of these days I’ll put the whole series on Youtube. Previous Article قالب وردپرس The post Happy 85, Dame Janet – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2w0kVtL via IFTTT

The flute star has been made a Commandeur de l’ordre des arts et des lettres by the French Minister of Culture. Our warm congrats. قالب وردپرس The post French letters for Sir James Galway appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2BudjVy via IFTTT

Back August 20, 2018 by norman lebrecht The Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 contes, which is being held at the Edinburgh International Festival, has turned mostly east for its finalists. They have just been announced: Nikola Pajanovič, Slovenia, violin Maté Bencze, Hungary, saxophone Ivan Bessonov, Russia, piano Mira Marie Foron, Germany, violin   Indi Stivin, Czech Rep, double bass Birgitta Elisa Oftestad, Norway, cello. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post No Brits in Eurovision Young Musicians final – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2N1ZdvG via IFTTT

Back August 19, 2018 by norman lebrecht The first post-Soviet print edition of New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians defined David Oistrakh as ‘Ukrainian violinist’. Only a Kremlinologist could understand why. Until 1991 musicians from the USSR were described as ‘Soviet’, regardless of their heritage or politics. When the USSR broke up, desperate lexicographers reverted to place of birth. Oistrakh was born in Odessa, a mixed port city with a large Jewish population. He moved to Moscow in his late teens and lived there for most of his life. His internal identity papers gave his nationality as ‘Jewish’. For Grove, that was enough to make him Ukrainian. At least for a while, until protests prompted a revision. Oistrakh was Russian by language, Jewish by heritage. If he spoke Ukrainian at all, it was as his fourth language. Most people know that by now. Still the mislabelling lives on. American scholars and journalists, unable to define musicians by race as the Russians did,...

Back August 19, 2018 by norman lebrecht Two social-media messages from the US soprano Lisette Oropesa. It is with great disappointment that I must cancel my appearance as Violetta in ‘La Traviata’ in Venice at La Fenice. I can’t tell you all how much this ‘Traviata’ meant to me and I know a lot of people were looking forward to seeing me in Venice. Dear friends and fans, I am shaking as I type this… I will be going to Paris to debut as Marguerite de Valois in the new production of LES HUGUENOTS, replacing Diana Damrau. This is a huge opportunity for me and I’m so grateful to have the chance to sing a beloved French role like this one at the Opéra national de Paris, at the Bastille. The cast is incredible, including some of my favorite singers in the world!! Bryan Hymel, Ermonela Jaho Karine Deshayes Nicolas Testé and conducted by the ever incredible Michele Mariotti. We open September 28th, just one day before my birthday this year. I can’t think of a more welcome, more extra...

Back August 18, 2018 by norman lebrecht A first? RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 16, 2018) — The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business has selected the Richmond Symphony as its artist-in-residence for the 2018-19 academic year. Now in its third year, the VCU School of Business artist-in-residence program supports the school’s EPIC strategic plan and vision to drive the future of business through the power of creativity. The Richmond Symphony will be the first musical artist and first organization to serve in the role…. Next Article Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post Business school hires orchestra in residence – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2nKtnc2 via IFTTT

Back August 18, 2018 by norman lebrecht From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:   Universally popular in the first half of the 20th-century, the music of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari has vanished into thin air. A Venetian of German ancestry and education, Wolf-Ferrari rejected modernism and allowed himself to become — along with Mascagni, Repighi, Malipiero and most Italian composers — a cultural poster-boy for the Mussolini regime. This affiliation accelerated his reputational decline after 1945; he died three years later. But there is nothing ideological about his music. Nor is it in any sense reactionary…. Read on here. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post This week’s album is a five-star Ferrari – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2BmgY7B via IFTTT

Back August 18, 2018 by norman lebrecht From the Baltimore Sun: BALTIMORE —  Math majors at Goucher College will soon be a thing of the past. Gone, too, will be physics majors, music majors and students in a range of subjects the school is eliminating from its offerings as part of a cost-cutting “academic revitalization” announced Wednesday. “A small college can’t just keep adding majors,” President Jose Bowen said in a statement to the Baltimore Sun. “Sometimes we need to move resources from one to another and subtract too.” The liberal arts school in Towson joins a growing number of institutions removing majors such as math and physics to save money. Seven Texas universities began eliminating their physics programs in 2010. The University of the District of Columbia  cut 17 degree programs , including physics, five years ago….     Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post College abolishes music and math majors – Slipped Disc appeared firs...

Because: 1 The worst of them are rigged. 2 Most juries are dominated by teachers who reward precision above passion and cannot recognise personality. 3 The all-shall-have-prizes rule prevails. Juries are too scared to declare that no-one deserves a cheque. What needs to be done? They must: 1 Try different repertoire. 2 Diversify the juries. 3 Subject contestants to public interview in addition to their performance. قالب وردپرس The post Some other reasons why violin competitions yield no stars appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2nLlW4r via IFTTT

Back August 17, 2018 by norman lebrecht In an unacknowledged followup to Slippedisc’s story of a French orchestra abandoning printed notes, the Times has a page three story today of British bands racing to replace paper with tablets. Key points: In Leeds tonight the Yorkshire Young Sinfonia will go “100 per cent digital” with sheet music ditched from its musicians’ stands in favour of iPads and Bluetooth foot pedals deployed to turn the pages. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is to allow audience members sitting anywhere in the auditorium to use smartphones and tablets to receive real-time information on, for example, the oboe solo that has your neck hairs tingling. It said it expected about 10 per cent of its audiences to use the Encue app, adding  that concerns about light disruption had been alleviated during trials.   Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post UK orchestras in headlong rush for electronic notes – Slipped Disc appeared first on Mus...

The hallowed incubator of modernist music at Donaueschingen is under fire over an apparently decommissioned work. Here’s the view of composer Wieland Hoban and a host of familiar fellow-travellers: For decades, the Donaueschingen Festival (Donaueschinger Musiktage) has stood not only for new sounds, but also for new ideas and discourses, including controversial ones. Whether dealing with world politics or cultural policy, with globalization or equal opportunities in the music industry, there were generally no taboo topics. Not in the past, at least; for I was recently forced to acknowledge that there are evidently some restrictions after all. I shared my ideas for a possible new orchestral work with the festival’s artistic director, Björn Gottstein, and asked if he might be interested in taking on the project. As well as outlining some of its anticipated sonic features, I explained that I was intending to make the piece part of my cycle on the Gaza Strip, which deals specifically ...

Back August 16, 2018 by norman lebrecht The past decade has produced outstanding talents on the piano, most of them from major competitions. Daniil Trifonov (Tchaikovsky), Seong-jin Cho (Chopin), Beatrice Rana (Van Cliburn), Boris Giltburg (Reine Elisabeth) and quite a few others since 2008 have already left big footprints on the concert stage.   But I struggle to name a single winner of a major violin competition who has made a comparable mark apart from, perhaps, Ray Chen (Reine Elisabeth, 2009). Now why is that? Last night Montreal announced yet another violin competition. Is that what we really need? Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post Why are competitions failing to produce star violinists? – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2PeNqMk via IFTTT

Back August 15, 2018 by norman lebrecht The Dresden Philharmonic will open its season with a symphony commissioned from the Turkish pianist Fazil Say. It’s his fourth, and he has titled it Hope. Say has been prosecuted by the Erdogan regime for blasphemy, but he has been making conciliatory gestures of late. Turkey, meanwhile, is progressively reducing its engagement with western civilisation. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post A symphony of hope for fading Turkey – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2P4Xrvr via IFTTT

Back August 14, 2018 by norman lebrecht Ricdhard Rodzinski, long-serving head of the Van Cliburn Competition, has been named General Director of the First China International Music Competition at China Conservatory of Music. Richard has also been a reforming head of Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post Beijing hires Cliburn man to start new competition – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2MKxJL4 via IFTTT

Back August 14, 2018 by norman lebrecht The remarkable return of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa is being shown on a handful of cinema screens around the UK, but not on any television channel. You can watch it here for free tonight , from a Vienna-based streaming site. Or 2pm NY time. Ignore the ugly costume. Emma Bell is Vanessa. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس The post Glyndebourne goes streaming from Vienna – Slipped Disc appeared first on MusicCosmoS . from WordPress https://ift.tt/2vEPWDe via IFTTT

Back August 13, 2018 by norman lebrecht The Munich music director Hermann Levi gave the world premiere of Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1882. A rabbi’s son, Levi had to endure antisemitic sniping from the Master through the rehearsal period. In letters to his revered father, he bit his bearded lip Wagner died the following winter and Levi continued as music director in Munich until ill-health forced his retirement in 1896, at the age of 57. He then made a late marriage to Mary, widow of a wealthy art historian. When he died in February 1900, she created an imposing tomb for him near their villa in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Nazis destroyed the mausoleum, outraged to find that their Master was involved with a rabbi’s son. But the burial plot remains, and there lies the problem. The present landowner, a former town councillor, called in the Mayoress and a rabbi to open the coffin, with a rabbi in attendance. Levi’s remains are still there. But the village – which gives pride of ...

Back August 13, 2018 by norman lebrecht Fro m Marston Records: At a private gathering with conductor Eugene Ormandy in 1940, Rachmaninoff demonstrated just how he wanted his new orchestral work Symphonic Dances to be performed, playing a single-piano reduction of the score for a single piano while singing and given spoken commentary to Ormandy, to whom the work was dedicated. Marston Records will be releasing a tremendously important historic CD sets on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. The recently discovered recording of Rachmaninoff at the keyboard is presented twice in this set: first edited to conform to the score, and again just as the occasion unfolded, with Rachmaninoff jumping from place to place as he demonstrates, comments, and sings. The playing throughout is absolutely phenomenal – some of the greatest, if not *the* greatest, that exists of Rachmaninoff on record. Previous Article SHARE THIS: قالب وردپرس from WordPress https://ift.tt/2KOoY0H via IFTTT