Slipped Disc

Noelle Barker, a fine soprano in her day and later a teacher to many outstanding performers, has died aged 84. Aberdeen born, she studied with Hans Hotter and sang with Britten's English Opera Group and other national copanies. She was professor at the Guildhall from 1977. Among her hobbies, she listed breadmaking and dressmaking. She was a vice-president of British Youth Opera, which announced her death (below). We are very sad to report news of the death of Noelle Barker, a … [Read more...]

The funeral of Steve Martland will take place in the East Chapel of Golders Green Crematorium at 10.30 am on May 31. Steve's friend and publisher, Sally Groves, tells us that she is just about to choose a white t-shirt for his final appearance - the inimitable fashion statement that Steve proclaimed throughout his musical life. There will not be another like him. … [Read more...]

For the first time in living memory, the BSO music director is not a client of Columbia Artists Management Inc. CAMI has not just held the baton contract in Boston since forever, it has been responsible for a disproportionate number of guest conductor and soloist engagements. Ronald Wilford, its director, had hoped to implant Roccardo Chailly as James Levine's successor, but the Italian's debut was cancelled for health reasons. Other CAMI candidates failed to pass muster. The new music … [Read more...]

I was present when the young Latvian gave his first public concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Public concert? The only previous occasion he had conducted in Birmingham was a closed acoustic test for the refurbished town hall. The CBSO were losing Sakari Oramo that season and several respected contenders had been lined up for audition. Nelsons was not among them.  So excited were the musicians at the acoustic test that several of them texted their chief executive to hire … [Read more...]

Michael Attenborough, outgoing director of the Almeida Theatre, has launched a brilliantly coherent attack on Michael Gove's attitude to education and the Tory Government's downgrading of the arts. A member of one of Britain's best-known media dynasties, he let fly in a letter last week to The Stage. The content is now going viral. Here's the  nub of it. 'I’d be surprised if any voters show up at the next general election. Have politicians really not noticed that the public now regard … [Read more...]

The French premiere of Grigori Frid's opera on the life and death of Anne Frank will be presented tonight to an audience of schoolchildren. The black-tie premiere is tomorrow. They've got their priorities right at Opéra Metz. … [Read more...]

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...]