Andrew Litton
(c) Danny Turner

Andrew Litton, a native New Yorker, has been announced as New York City Ballet’s next music director. He will begin his tenure in fall 2015. Litton is the music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway. He will succeed Fayçal Karoui, who held the post from 2006 through 2012. Andrews Sill, who has been the company’s interim music director for the past two years, will become its associate music director.

Loosing 15% of its governmental funding, Brussels’s opera house La Monnaie is undergoing a severe change. General manager Peter de Caluwé announced that 16 full time jobs will be cut. Most of the costly of baroque opera productions will be canceled. There will be less concerts and ballet performances too.

Die Vereinigung ‘Konzert Theater Bern’ hat in der Saison 2013-14 die Gesamtzuschauerzahl im Vergleich zur Vorjahressaison um mehr als sechs Prozent gesteigert: Insgesamt konnten in 425 Veranstaltungen 140.975 Besucher gezählt werden, rund 9.000 mehr als in den 402 Vorstellungen und Konzerten der Spielzeit 2012-13. Read More →

Karel Mark Chichon
(c) Marco Borggreve

Following the publication of our article about anomalies in the selection procedure of the chief conductor in Sevilla we received a significant clarification in form of the following letter, which explains  the origins of this affair. Read More →

Salle Pleyel, Paris

A court in Paris has opened the way for the Paris Philharmonie to continue the rental procedure of the Salle Pleyel, the income of which is vital for the new hall. Today, the decision of the commercial court to stop the course of action was revoked. However Carla-Maria Tarditi’s lawyers won’t give up. Affaire à suivre, like they say in France (background: here, in German). Candidates for renting Pleyel are Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière (Fimalac), Jean-Marc Dumontet, Pascal Nègre (Universal Music) et Steven Hearn (Morgane).

American opera singer Janis Martin has passed away, aged 75, at her home in San Antonio, Texas. Martin began her career as mezzo-soprano at the San Francisco Opera. Later she changed her repertoire, singing soprano roles. As such she gained international recognition in the 1970s and ’80s. She sang leading roles in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. She is particularly known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1968 to 1997. Read More →

Karel Mark Chichon
Photo: DRP

Nachdem die Leitung der Oper in Sevilla dem spanischen Dirigenten Pedro Halffter und das Symphonieorchester dem Amerikaner John Axelrod anvertraut wurden, erwägt nun ein leer ausgegangener Kandidat gerichtliche Schritte. Laut der Zeitung ‘El Mundo’ lässt der Dirigent Karel Mark Chichon (zur Zeit Chefdirigent der Deutschen Radio Philharmonie) seine Anwälte prüfen, ob es nicht vielleicht Anomalien bei der Besetzung der Posten gegeben hat. Chichon behauptet, sein künstlerisches Projekt habe vom zuständigen Fachausschuss eine der höchsten Bewertungen erzielt. In diesem Programm hat die Ehefrau des Dirigenten, die Mezzosopranistin Elina Garança eine wichtige Rolle gespielt.

UPDATE:

Following the publication of this article about anomalies in the selection procedure of the chief conductor in Sevilla we received a significant clarification in form of the following letter, which explains  the origins of this affair.

Dear Mr Franck,

My name is Jose Maria Fernandez. I am the lawyer who was quoted in the article of El Mundo as confirming that Mr. Chichon is considering legal action against the Sevilla authorities which you have included in one of your new items today.

I feel I should clarify to you that I spoke to El Mundo on behalf of the platform of musicians ‘Maestranza’ which was formed by conductors, soloists and other musicians precisely so that the process of choosing a new conductor for Seville would be transparent. I did not speak on behalf Mr. Chichon.

It is this platform ‘Maestranza’ that has alerted Mr. Chichon about the anomalies of the process but of course it is up to Mr. Chichon to decide on legal action or not. We as a platform were not a candidate so we cannot consider any legal action against the authorities in question – only Mr. Chichon can do that. All we can do is try to ask Mr Chichon to help us expose the truth in this cloudy process, because we are all upset at the result of Halffter/Axelrod when the opportunity of having Chichon was in our opinion a one-in-a-lifetime chance for Seville to rise up to the top league of classical music.

I therefore ask you kindly to consider updating your statement to reflect this information or if you wish publishing me letter in full because we feel it’s not really fair on Mr Chichon when he is only trying to help us out of his own freewill when he has nothing more to gain in this situation.

Thanking you

Yours sincerely

Jose Maria Fernandez

The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia announces a combined $11.5 million in gifts from Board Chair Nina Baroness von Maltzahn, including a $10 million endowment gift to establish the Nina von Maltzahn President’s Chair held by Roberto Díaz. Baroness von Maltzahn has directed an additional $1.5 million from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation to support Curtis On Tour, the school’s global touring initiative and the program which first introduced her to Curtis in 2007. Her gifts are among the largest the school has received in its 90-year history.

Ingo Metzmacher
(c) Harald Hoffmann

Der deutsche Dirigent Ingo Metzmacher (57) ist als neuer Intendant der Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen in seiner Heimatstadt Hannover werden. Von der Saison 2016 an soll Metzmacher das Mehrsparten-Festival leisten, meldeten übereinstimmend die ‘Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung’ und ‘Neue Presse’. Im vergangenen Sommer war der Vertrag der bisherigen Intendantin der Kunstfestspiele, Elisabeth Schweeger, auf ihren Wunsch beendet worden. Sie verantwortet aber noch das Programm der 6. Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen 2015.

Das Gnessin Institut in Moskau

Weil das Russische Bildministerium neue Kriterien für den Unterricht an Musikschulen anwenden will, laufen die Verantwortlichen nun Sturm gegen die neue Reglementierung, die ihres Erachtens die Qualität des Musikunterrichts besonders in den Eliteschulen, z.B. dem Gnessin-Institut ruinieren könnten. Der Rat der Zentralschule für Musik in Moskau hat den neuen Ausbildungsstandard einstimmig zurückgewiesen.