Slipped Disc

Alan Turning: the opera

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:56:11 +0000

The man who cracked the German enigma code is the subject of a work in progress, to be premiered in New York the week after next. Here are some press-release links to the background and the lead singer: Jonathan Estabrooks was selected from over 20 baritones heard by composer Justine F. Chen, librettist David [...]

A formidable singing teacher is no more

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:34:15 +0000

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 [...]

He will be cremated in a white t-shirt and jeans

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:21:20 +0000

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. [...]

Another sea-change in Boston

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:06:42 +0000

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 [...]

What Boston can expect of Andris Nelsons

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:52:19 +0000

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 [...]

An Attenborough aims for the Gove-rnment jugular

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:09:29 +0000

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 [...]

Anne Frank opera premieres in France

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:57:03 +0000

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.

Tribute concert tonight to Frances Andrade

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:28:18 +0000

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.

Another Minnesota musician floats away

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:14:07 +0000

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.

Berlin’s Akademie der Künste calls for reinstatement of Nazi-themed Tannhäuser

Norman Lebrecht — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:36:08 +0000

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. [...]