Slipped Disc

If you can't be there, observe a minute's silence for a brave musician whose tragic death may have helped save many young lives. … [Read more...]

Yun-Ting Lee, who only joined the first violins last summer, has won a seat in the second violins in Cleveland. That's about a fifth of the ensemble gone during the course of the season-long lockout. We are witnessing, as never before in my experience, the player-by-player dismantling of a great orchestra. Well done, Michael Henson. … [Read more...]

One of Germany's oldest and most respected cultural establishments has intervened in the row over the Düsseldorf production of Tannhäuser, taken off after a single performance amid widespread public protest. About a dozen first-nighters required medical attention for shock and distress. The production opens with Tannhäuser in SS uniform shooting Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp. The director, Burkhard C. Kosminski, claimed he was the victim of censorship. The Akademie seems to … [Read more...]

The financial crisis and the near-collapse of the Maggio Musicale in Florence have left opera singers fearing that their profession will be wiped out.  A group of activists have written to the nations's president, asking him to seek United Nations protection for an art that has brought the world such joy. We are proud to bring the letter to world attention.   Cantori Professionisti d’Italia Italian Opera Soloists Milan, May 2013 To His Excellence The President of the … [Read more...]

When Arild Remmereit was dismissed as music director by the board of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, players and supporters split into opposing camps of passionate adherents and opponents. Legal bids to have the Norwegian reinstated at the RPO have stalled. But the conductor of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, David Fetler, has decided to call it quits after 50 years - leaving his podium to Remmereit. Rochester has not seen the back of him. Read more here.     … [Read more...]

It is more than three years since James Levine's health left him unable to continue as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is more than two years since Andris Nelsons made his BSO debut as a substitute for Levine in Mahler's ninth symphony, captivating players and audiences alike. Last summer he conducted at Tanglewood. I saw him shortly afterwards in Bayreuth and asked him if he had been approached about the Boston vacancy. 'They haven't said a word to me,' he said, … [Read more...]

Horowitz, Richter, Cortot, Curzon, Kempff, Glenn Gould.... it can happen to anyone. Warning: Do not watch while consuming a hot beverage. … [Read more...]

We love the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music and, since we don't have time to be there this year, we'll be bringing you live coverage next month on Slipped Disc. Just to give a sample of what you're missing in Morocco, Mary Finnigan previews the 2013 Festival below and Lynn Evans Davidson offers an exclusive Slipped Disc sample of last year's highlights. There's nothing like it on earth. Performers: CLIP 1 Christian Boissel (piano and composition on poems of Divan del Tamarit and Federico … [Read more...]

When Peter Crook vanished overnight in mid-term, the Purcell School clamped a lid on its embarrassment. No reason was given for his departure. A new head was appointed, a man of impeccable credentials. David Thomas acted quickly to restore confidence and it did look for several months as though the school was alighting onto gentler pastures. But two clouds hung heavy over Purcell. One was a whispering discontent from the previous head's hushed-up departure and the other was a financial … [Read more...]

A film about the composer's formative experiences will go on limited release next week. It's by Tony Britten - no relation - and it looks at how the boy was shaped at Gresham's School, which lost 100 of its recent pupils in the First World War. Watch the trailer. … [Read more...]

That's what they're doing on the work's centenary, May 29, on  Q2 Music, the contemporary classical online station of WQXR. I might take the day off. Press release below.     "The Rite of Spring” performed by the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. (Photo by Francette Levieux)   Rite of Spring Fever: A Q2 Music Centennial Marathon 24 hours of recordings of The Rite of Spring, including a live solo piano performance by Vicky Chow from The Greene … [Read more...]

An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted to Kansas City after a woman refused to stop singing I Will Always Love You. Here's what happened when the aircraft made its unscheduled landing. … [Read more...]

Fazil Say, convicted by a Turkish court for blasphemy, walked away without injury after his car smashed into a traffic barrier while travelling frrom Istanbul to Ankara. There appear to be no suspicious circumstances. More here.   … [Read more...]

Burkhard C. Kosminski has been talking to Der Spiegel about the terrible insult he suffered at Düsseldorf when the opera management asked him to tone down his Tannhäuser production. Kosminski loaded the show with SS men, gas chambers and other irrelevant references to the Nazi era. The audience rose in uproar, some required medical attention, many more cancelled their tickets. When the director refused to back down, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein scrapped the production and staged the rest of the … [Read more...]

In response to an international outcry about its decision to lay off opera singers for up to three months in order to stage commercial musicals, the antipodean opera company has published a belated statement on its website. Instead of admitting error and agreeing to respect the legal and moral rights of its artists, the company attacks the media for misrepresenting its position and asks for privacy so that it can chop the legs off singers without further interference. We have seldom seen a … [Read more...]