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The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, one of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, said Thursday that it would allow the Jerusalem Quartet to perform, two days after it had canceled the ensemble’s concerts amid security concerns related to threatened protests. The Concertgebouw said in a statement that the Jerusalem Quartet would be allowed to perform on Saturday after all, with expanded security measures and a more robust police presence. The ensemble had originally been scheduled to perform on Thursday and Saturday, but the Concertgebouw canceled the engagement, saying it could not ensure the safety of audience members, musicians and employees because of the threat of protests related to the Israel-Gaza war. Simon Reinink, general manager of the Concertgebouw, said in an interview that the hall had reversed course after securing commitments from the police. We were forced to crack the dilemma of security on the one hand and freedom on the other.”
Persons: Simon Reinink, Organizations: Concertgebouw, Quartet Locations: Amsterdam, Jerusalem, Israel, Gaza
Little Island, the $260 million park on the Hudson River that opened in 2021, was imagined as a haven for innovation in the performing arts. But the park’s cultural offerings — mostly sporadic, one-off works — have so far fallen short of those ambitions. Now Barry Diller, the billionaire media mogul who paid for the park, is setting out to deliver on the original vision, financing a robust, four-month annual performing arts festival on Little Island, the park announced on Monday. The festival, one of the most ambitious artistic undertakings in New York City in recent years, will promote new work in music, dance, theater and opera. “I want people to enjoy the originality and adventure of Little Island,” Diller said.
Persons: Barry Diller, Scott Rudin, Diller, Twyla Tharp, Mozart’s, Figaro, Anthony Roth Costanzo, , ” Diller Locations: Little, New York City
The New York Philharmonic, which has been facing an uproar since a recent magazine article detailed allegations of misconduct against two players it tried and failed to fire in 2018, said on Thursday that it was commissioning an outside investigation into its culture. Gary Ginstling, the Philharmonic’s president and chief executive, said in a letter to musicians, staff members and board members that the organization had hired an outside lawyer, Katya Jestin, a managing partner of the law firm Jenner & Block, to “launch an independent investigation into the culture of the New York Philharmonic in recent years.”“I am empowering Katya to look at everything and to leave no stone unturned, including any new allegations as they are reported,” Mr. Ginstling wrote. The decision came after a report last week in New York magazine detailed accusations of misconduct made in 2010 against the players, the associate principal trumpet, Matthew Muckey, and the principal oboist, Liang Wang.
Persons: Gary Ginstling, Katya Jestin, Jenner, , Katya, ” Mr, Ginstling, Matthew Muckey, Liang Wang Organizations: New York Philharmonic Locations: New York
The New York Philharmonic said on Monday that two players it had tried to fire in 2018 — but was forced to rehire after the musicians’ union challenged their dismissal — would not take part in rehearsals or performances for the time being after a magazine article detailed the allegations of misconduct that had been made against them. The Philharmonic said that the players — the principal oboist, Liang Wang, and the associate principal trumpet, Matthew Muckey — would not appear as the orchestra deals with the fallout from a New York magazine article published on Friday. In the article Cara Kizer, a former Philharmonic horn player, came forward for the first time to publicly discuss an encounter that occurred when she was on tour with the Philharmonic in Vail, Colo., in 2010. She told the Vail Police Department then that she had been sexually assaulted after spending the evening with the two players and was given a drink she came to believe was drugged, according to police records. No charges were filed against the men and both have denied wrongdoing; their lawyers said they expect to return to the ensemble soon.
Persons: Liang Wang, Matthew Muckey —, Cara Kizer Organizations: New York Philharmonic, Philharmonic, New, Vail Police Department Locations: New York, Vail , Colo
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which has been led for decades by conducting titans including Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Muti, announced Tuesday that its next music director would be Klaus Mäkelä, a 28-year-old Finnish conductor whose charisma and clarity have fueled his rapid rise in classical music. When he begins a five-year contract in 2027 at 31, Mäkelä will be the youngest maestro in the ensemble’s 133-year history, and one of the youngest ever to lead a top orchestra in the United States. Mäkelä, who will become music director designate immediately, said in an interview that he did not think his age was relevant, noting that he had been conducting for more than half his life, beginning when he was 12. “I don’t think about it,” he said. “Music doesn’t really have any age.”Mäkelä, who will also take over as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 2027, said he was joining the Chicago Symphony because it has “that intensity — that same sound from the past.”
Persons: Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Klaus Mäkelä, Mäkelä, , , ” Mäkelä Organizations: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Locations: United States, Amsterdam
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced growing challenges to power on Sunday as thousands gathered outside Parliament to call for early elections in what were shaping up to be one of the largest demonstrations against the government in Israel since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. Some protesters carried signs calling for Mr. Netanyahu’s “immediate removal.” Others wielded posters calling for elections, saying “those who destroyed can’t be the ones to fix.”The protest came a day after thousands took to the streets of Tel Aviv, waving flags and carrying pictures of the Israeli hostages with signs reading “Hostage deal now.”
Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s, can’t, Locations: Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv
When Leonard Bernstein was named music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, his appointment was hailed as a breakthrough for orchestra conductors from the United States. For decades, American maestros had been cast aside in classical music, seen as inferior to Europeans. But Bernstein’s rise, recently glamorized in the Oscar-nominated “Maestro,” showed that conductors from the United States could compete with their finest counterparts across the Atlantic. Commentators predicted a golden age for American conductors at the top American orchestras. Four of the 25 largest ensembles in the United States have an American at the podium, and at the nation’s biggest, most prestigious orchestras, American music directors are entirely absent.
Persons: Leonard Bernstein, maestros, Oscar, “ Maestro, Organizations: New York Philharmonic, D.C, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Locations: United States, Atlanta , Baltimore, Boston , New York, San Francisco, Seattle, St, Louis, Washington, American
The conductor Jaap van Zweden does not leave his position as the New York Philharmonic’s music director until later this summer. In January, van Zweden officially began a five-year term as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director. And on Tuesday, he announced another new job: He will become music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, a French radio orchestra in Paris, for a five-year term starting in 2026. Van Zweden, 63, succeeds Mikko Franck, who will step down next year after a decade on the podium. Van Zweden will take over as music director designate next year, the orchestra said in a news release, leading several weeks of concerts and a European tour.
Persons: Jaap van Zweden, van Zweden, Van Zweden, Mikko Franck Organizations: York, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s, Orchestre, Radio France, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Locations: New York, French, Paris, Amsterdam
Near the end of “Blind Injustice,” an opera about six people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes and later freed, the exonerees reflect on the time they have spent behind bars. “What makes a person strong enough to endure injustice?” they sing. The work, which was commissioned by Cincinnati Opera and premiered there in 2019, explores the effects of wrongful convictions on the prisoners and their families, and the help to overturn their convictions that they received from the Ohio Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. One man who was sent to death row describes spending 39 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder. A bus driver falsely accused of sexual abuse describes the pain of being separated from her four children.
Persons: , Scott Davenport Richards, David Cote Organizations: Montclair State University, Cincinnati Opera, Ohio Innocence, University of Cincinnati College of Law Locations: Ohio
San Francisco Ballet has a vibrant new artistic director: the celebrated Spanish dancer Tamara Rojo. Now San Francisco Ballet has received a groundbreaking gift: It announced on Thursday that it had secured a $60 million contribution from an anonymous donor, the largest in the company’s 91-year history and one of the biggest ever to an American dance company. “It was, for me, an enormous surprise,” Rojo, who joined the company in 2022, said in an interview. “The impact is immeasurable.”The vast majority of the gift, $50 million, will be used to bolster the company’s endowment, currently valued at about $108 million, and to help finance the creation and acquisition of new works. The remaining $10 million will be used to help cover operating costs in Rojo’s first few seasons.
Persons: Tamara Rojo, ” Rojo Organizations: San Francisco Ballet Locations: Spanish, American, Rojo’s
When the Wiener Festwochen, a prestigious festival that brings leading international artists to Vienna, announced this spring’s lineup, the backlash was swift and fierce. The festival had planned to make the Russian invasion of Ukraine a focus of its programming, juxtaposing an appearance by the Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv with a concert by the maestro Teodor Currentzis, who has faced scrutiny over his connections to Russia. Critics, including Lyniv, had argued that the pairing was insensitive and ignored the suffering of Ukrainians. Now, after weeks of pressure, the festival has abandoned its plan, saying that it would cancel the appearance by Currentzis while moving forward with the one by Lyniv. “The decision was clear and there was no alternative,” Milo Rau, the festival’s artistic director, said in an interview on Tuesday.
Persons: Wiener, Oksana Lyniv, Teodor Currentzis, Currentzis, Milo Rau Locations: Vienna, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russia
Seiji Ozawa: 8 Essential Recordings
  + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: 1 min
He also left behind an extensive and varied discography: recordings of warhorses like Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he led for 29 years, as well as of more obscure pieces, such as Henri Dutilleux’s “The Shadows of Time.” While his live performances sometimes drew mixed reactions from critics, many of his recordings — from Boston, Berlin, Japan and elsewhere — are considered standards. “Even at my age, you change,” Ozawa, then in his 70s, told the author Haruki Murakami. “And practical experience keeps you changing. This may be one of the distinguishing features of the conductor’s profession: The work itself changes you.”
Persons: Henri Dutilleux’s “, ” Ozawa, Haruki Murakami, Organizations: Boston Symphony Orchestra Locations: Boston, Berlin, Japan
Henry Timms, who guided Lincoln Center through the turmoil of the pandemic and helped complete the $550 million renovation of David Geffen Hall, will step down as its leader this summer after five years, he announced on Wednesday. Timms will become chief executive of the Brunswick Group, a global public relations firm. He said he had always intended to stay at Lincoln Center for five to seven years, and that the Brunswick Group, which advises top companies and cultural groups, had approached him about a position there at the end of last year. “I feel proud of what we’ve done,” he said in an interview in his office above the Lincoln Center campus. “But I also always believe that change is a good thing.”Steven R. Swartz, the chairman of Lincoln Center’s board, said in an interview that Timms had been a “transformational leader” who had helped drive innovation and played a critical role in accelerating the renovation of Geffen Hall, home to the New York Philharmonic, during the pandemic.
Persons: Henry Timms, David Geffen Hall, Timms, , , Steven R, Swartz, Lincoln Organizations: Lincoln Center, Wednesday, Brunswick Group, Geffen Hall, New York Philharmonic
Last summer, Lincoln Center bid farewell to the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, a fixture of the city’s cultural scene since 1973, saying it was time to reimagine the ensemble for a modern and more inclusive age. On Monday, the center offered a preview of its plans. The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, as the ensemble is now called, will convene in July for its first season under the rising conductor Jonathon Heyward, as part of the center’s Summer for the City festival. Heyward said in an interview that he wanted to maintain the orchestra’s innovative spirit. “We’re just continuing in a way that is very much in line with a previous legacy of the orchestra.”
Persons: Jonathon Heyward, Heyward, “ It’s, “ We’re, Organizations: Lincoln Center, Orchestra
The move came after the Met took $30 million from its endowment fund last season to help cover operating expenses amid weak ticket sales and a cash shortfall. Nonprofits usually try to avoid drawing down their endowments, which are meant to grow over time while producing investment income. The Met’s endowment fund is now worth about $255 million, down from $309 million in July. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”The company pointed to several signs that it may be turning the corner. And as the Met presents more contemporary opera, it is attracting younger audiences: The average age of single-ticket buyers for in-person performances has fallen to 44 from 50 before the pandemic.
Persons: we’re, , Peter Gelb Organizations: Metropolitan Opera
In 2019, Yu, worried that the stories of Jewish refugees in his hometown were being forgotten, came up with the idea for the piece. He approached the New York Philharmonic, which has had a partnership with the Shanghai Symphony since 2014, about commissioning the work together. Yu said he never expected the oratorio to premiere in wartime but hoped that its message would still resonate. Yu has long known Zigman, who has composed more than 60 Hollywood scores, including “The Notebook,” and he and Thibaudet suggested the idea for a tango concerto. “Our project is really about bridging cultures and humanity and love, hope, loss and tragedy,” Zigman said.
Persons: Yu, , Jean, Yves Thibaudet, Thibaudet, ” Zigman Organizations: New York Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, Shanghai, Hollywood Locations: Asia, Europe, Nanjing
For decades, the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, was an all-male bastion. Often described as the first woman to become a permanent member of the Philharmonic, O’Brien was part of a pioneering group of female artists who opened doors for other women. O’Brien, who retired from the Philharmonic in 2021 after a 55-year career, has resisted speaking publicly about her life in music, preferring to stay in the background. But a new documentary short, “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” directed by her niece, the filmmaker Molly O’Brien, looks at her struggles and achievements. (The film premiered last week at DOC NYC, a festival that celebrates documentary film.)
Persons: Orin O’Brien, O’Brien, , Molly O’Brien Organizations: New York Philharmonic, Philharmonic, Orchestra Locations: United States
The Metropolitan Opera announced Monday that it had commissioned a new opera about Russia’s abduction and deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children, the latest action by the company to show support for war-torn Ukraine. The work, which will be written by the Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets, with a libretto by the American playwright George Brant, tells the story of a mother who makes a long and perilous trip to rescue her daughter, who is being held at a camp inside Crimea. While the characters in the opera are fictional, the story is based on real-life accounts by Ukrainian mothers who have described making the harrowing 3,000-mile journey from Ukraine into Russian-occupied territory, and back again, to recover their children from the custody of the Russian authorities. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, said the aim was to “support Ukraine culturally in its fight for freedom.”
Persons: Maxim Kolomiiets, George Brant, Peter Gelb, Organizations: Metropolitan Opera Locations: Ukraine, Ukrainian, American, Crimea, Russian
The Chinese singer stands on a balcony inside a bombed-out theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the site of a deadly attack last year by Russian forces. Looking at the camera, she sings an excerpt from the Soviet-era patriotic song “Katyusha” and lifts her arms triumphantly into the air. The video of the singer, Wang Fang, a 38-year-old performer of patriotic songs and Chinese opera, has circulated widely online in recent days, fueling outrage in Ukraine and abroad. She appeared in Mariupol last week as part of a visit by a small group of Chinese media and cultural figures. “To turn the theater into a tourist destination and to sing on the bones of the dead is incredible cynicism and disrespect for the memory of the dead civilians.”
Persons: Wang Fang, Vadym Boychenko, Organizations: Locations: Ukrainian, Mariupol, Russian, Ukraine
City Ballet also expanded its presence on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, taking users behind the scenes of productions like “The Nutcracker” and posting interviews with dancers about their lives outside of ballet. Taylor, a finance leader and the partner of former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who, in 2021, became the first woman to serve as board chair in City Ballet’s history, worked to galvanize donors. When a potential board member expressed concern about joining “my grandmother’s dance company,” Taylor assured her that City Ballet was not beholden to the past, noting premieres by Peck and others. Donations rose significantly; the spring gala this year, which was attended by Bloomberg, took in $3.5 million, breaking records. As the financial picture improved, City Ballet worked to make its culture more collaborative and inclusive.
Persons: Taylor, Michael R, ” Taylor, Peck, “ Balanchine Organizations: Koch, City Ballet, Facebook, New, New York City, Bloomberg, Ballet Locations: New York
On a muggy July night at an amphitheater in suburban Kentucky, the conductor and composer Teddy Abrams — sporting black jeans, camouflage sneakers and a bouncy mop of golden curls — took the podium and began to evangelize. It was the final stop on the Louisville Orchestra’s summer tour across Kentucky, and Abrams, the ensemble’s 36-year-old music director, paused to speak to the crowd of roughly 900 in Bardstown, 40 miles or so south of Louisville, about his mission. “This is your Louisville Orchestra, everyone,” he said. We’ve made a lot of the music that the world loves, invented entire genres right here in our state. That’s what this is all about — sharing the incredible music-making that takes places in Kentucky.”
Persons: Teddy Abrams, , Abrams, snacking, Leonard Bernstein, , , We’ve Organizations: Louisville, Louisville Orchestra Locations: Kentucky, Bardstown, Louisville, Bourbon
The incident occurred Tuesday night after a concert performance of the first two acts of Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens” at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André in southeastern France. “I deeply regret the incident which occurred at the Festival Berlioz at La Côte-Saint-André on Tuesday evening and apologize unreservedly for losing my temper immediately after the performance,” Gardiner said in the statement. “I make no excuses for my behavior and have apologized personally to Will Thomas, for whom I have the greatest respect. I do so again, and to the other artists, for the distress that this has caused.”“I know that physical violence is never acceptable and that musicians should always feel safe,” he added. “I ask for your patience and understanding as I take time to reflect on my actions.”
Persons: John Eliot Gardiner, Gardiner, William Thomas, Monteverdi, Les, , , Berlioz, La, unreservedly, ” Gardiner, Will Thomas Organizations: Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Locations: France, La Côte
The appearance by the conductor John Eliot Gardiner leading the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in southeastern France this week was supposed to be a celebration: the start of a tour across Europe by one of classical music’s most revered maestros and his esteemed ensembles. Instead, Gardiner, 80, provoked an outcry when, on Tuesday evening, he was accused of hitting a singer in the face backstage after a concert performance of the first two acts of Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens” at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André. Gardiner struck the singer, William Thomas, a bass, because he had headed the wrong way off the podium at the concert, according to a person who was granted anonymity to describe the incident because the person was not authorized to discuss it publicly. Thomas, a rising bass from England who was performing the role of Priam, did not appear to be seriously injured and was set to perform again on Wednesday evening. His representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Persons: John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi, Gardiner, Les, , William Thomas, Thomas, Priam Organizations: Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Locations: France, Europe, La Côte, England
The opera star David Daniels, one of the world’s leading countertenors, pleaded guilty on Friday in Houston to sexually assaulting a young singer who had attended one of his performances there in 2010. The plea deal was announced just as the trial of Mr. Daniels, 57, and his husband, Scott Walters, 40, was about to begin. Mr. Daniels pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony. He avoided a more serious charge of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, which carries harsher penalties. Mr. Walters, who was facing the same charges, pleaded guilty under similar terms.
Persons: David Daniels, Daniels, Scott Walters, Samuel Schultz, . Walters, Matt Hennessy, Walters, Judge Reagan Clark Organizations: Court Locations: Houston, Georgia, Harris County
The opera star David Daniels, one of the world’s leading countertenors, is expected to go on trial in Houston this week over charges that he sexually assaulted a young singer after a performance there in 2010. Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters have denied the accusations, saying they had consensual sex with Mr. Schultz. Mr. Daniels is one of the most prominent classical stars to face criminal charges during the national #MeToo reckoning. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin in Houston on Friday morning. Mr. Daniels, 57, and Mr. Walters, 40, each face one felony count of aggravated sexual assault.
Persons: David Daniels, Daniels, Scott Walters, Samuel Schultz, Walters, Schultz, Mr Organizations: Attorney’s, University of Michigan Locations: Houston, Harris County, Texas
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