 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
English cellist Desmond Neysmith won Moves Violinist Mariss Jansons announced in February that he is resigning after 20 years as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic, because of the terrible acoustics and other condition problems with the Oslo Concert House. Jansons declared that after two decades of fruitless complaining about the facility, he’d had enough. He said that he would still conduct the year’s remaining scheduled concerts. San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra announced in March that Nicholas McGegan, its music director for the past 16 years, will step down at the end of the orchestra’s 20th season in spring 2001. He will then assume the title of Music Director Laureate and continue to direct the orchestra in a number of programs during the following seasons. McGegan plans to expand his international commitments; in addition to his many other roles, he was recently named Baroque Series Director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and extended his contract as music director of the International Handel Festival in Göttingen for another three years. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is drawing on quartet players: new principal viola Sophie Renshaw, formerly with the Orford Quartet, and new principal second violin Charles Mutter, currently with the Smith Quartet. Magnus Ericsson is the new concertmaster of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Daniel Bell, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, has been appointed second violinist of the Petersen Quartet, based in Europe. The Allegri Quartet has chosen Fiona McNaught to replace second violinist David Roth, who retired last year after 30 years with the ensemble. And British violinist Susanne Stanzeleit debuted as the new first violinist of the Edinburgh Quartet in January. James Gandre, dean of enrollment and alumni at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, has been appointed dean of the College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago, as of July 1, 2000. "Jim Gandre’s extensive experience at one of the nation’s leading urban schools of music, coupled with his professional experience and fundraising skills, make him an ideal person to lead the College of the Performing Arts," says president Theodore L. Gross. Wins and Awards Fiddler and guitarist Dewey Balfa posthumously received a Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award for 2000. Balfa, born in Louisiana in 1927, played with his brothers Will and Rodney as the Balfa Brothers. Their 1964 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival was the first by a Cajun band and kicked off a widespread revival of Cajun music. The Corpus Christi Young Artists’ Competition was held February 25–27 in Texas. In the College Strings division, first prize went to cellist Daniel Gardner of Akron University, second to violinist Laura Motchalov of Eastman, and third to cellist Tomoko Fujita of Rice University. In the Pre-college Strings, violinist Celeste Golden took first, cellist Xiodan Zheng of Juilliard took second, and harpist Annabelle Taubl won third. The Howard Beebe Award for best solo Bach performance by a string player was taken by violinist Sungmin Yoo of Oberlin, and the Wayne Crouse Award for best performance by a violist went to Hillary Herndon of Eastman. The Third Annual Sphinx Competition finals concert took place in ann Arbor, Michigan, on March 5. The competition is for young black and Latino string players; finalists performed with an all–African-American orchestra made up of players from professional symphonies around the country and conducted by Michael Morgan, conductor of the Oakland East Bay Symphony in California. First prize went to Desmond Neysmith, a 23-year-old cellist originally from London who is currently studying in Akron, Ohio. He was awarded $10,000 and performances with the Detroit, New World, Hartford, and Ann Arbor Symphonies. Second prize ($5,000) went to violist Lena Fankhauser, 23, and third ($3,500) was taken by violinist Kyle Lombard, 24. The Junior Division winner, cellist Jared Snyder, 16, of Elm Grove, Wisconsin, also performed with the competition orchestra. William Eddins, who was recently named resident conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, received the 2000 Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductor Award on March 10. The award is made to exceptionally gifted American conductors and consists of a $50,000 grant and a mentoring program tailored to the awardee’s artistic and professional development. At the Academy Awards in March, the Oscar for Best Original Film Score went to John Corigliano for The Red Violin. The solo music for the film was performed by Joshua Bell. The American Classical Music Hall of Fame, in Cincinnati, Ohio, inducted ten honorees in April. They were conductor Eugene Ormandy, composer/educator Walter Piston, conductor/composer George Szell, composer/pianists Edward Alexander MacDowell and George Walker, pianists Leon Fleisher and Rudolph Serkin, opera singer Beverly Sills, and music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who created a foundation for the support of chamber music at the Library of Congress. The Metropolitan Opera itself was also inducted. Violinist Sues Quartet Three members of the Audubon Quartet dismissed violinist David Ehrlich, who had been with the group since 1984, on February 21, 2000. Ehrlich then made the unusual move of hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit. He received an ex parte hearing in a circuit court, in which the judge issued an injunction stating that the defendants "are restrained and enjoined from performing concerts as the Audubon Quartet without David Ehrlich or otherwise; and defendants are further restrained and enjoined from conducting business as the Audubon Quartet." The remaining members were forced to postpone or cancel their upcoming concerts. However, rather than cancel the concert scheduled to take place only two days later, consisting of a performance of music written by Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp (see "Time Travel," May/June), the three players appeared as the Terezin Trio and performed a set of duos and a Beethoven string trio, and offered a free performance of the canceled program at a future date. In response, the three say, Ehrlich’s lawyer had papers served on them, asking that they be "fined and imprisoned" for allegedly violating the restraining order. Meanwhile, the quartet’s residency at Virginia Tech, and indeed its entire future, is in doubt. Visual Music Looking for a fresh way to raise funds for its music-education projects, the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida came up with a project entitled Music for Your Eyes. Ten well-known local artists were asked to create unique works of art—using violins as their canvases. The instruments were then put on display in local art galleries and at concerts throughout the spring, and raffle tickets were sold at $5 each. Winners were selected in June. The funds raised will go to a new initiative called Harmony Grants, for school music teachers wishing to enrich their existing music programs or create new ones. For more information on the violins or the grants, go to www.jaxsymphony.org. Intro to Improv Cathy Morris, an electric violinist who performs original music, wanted to learn new improvisation techniques but couldn’t find a workshop to attend in the Midwest that focused more on the improvisation than on a particular style. So she put one together herself. The event is slated for the last weekend in October in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, and visiting artists will include violinists Darol Anger and Julie Lyonn Lieberman, cellist David Darling, and bassist Derek Jones. Each clinician will present a concert, a lecture-demonstration, and an open jam where participants will be able to try out the techniques they’ve just witnessed. "This isn’t jazz, country, Celtic, or whatever," Morris explains, "but rather free improv, straight from the heart, where there are no stylistic parameters or right or wrong ways of approaching a tune." For more information, telephone Morris at (317) 238-0721 or e-mail cathymorris@cathymorris.com. Conservatory Relocates The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, will move from its current cramped quarters to a brand-new downtown building twice the size in the summer of 2004. The conservatory has been at its present location since 1956; the new site, purchased for $8.9 million and located at 50–70 Oak Street, will offer expanded performance, rehearsal, teaching, and practice spaces. Says Conservatory President Colin Murdoch, "We are thrilled that the move to the Civic Center will allow us to join the San Francisco Symphony, Opera, and Ballet, as well as the many other cultural, educational, and community organizations located in the performing arts center of San Francisco." Take It from the Top Are you a pre–college-age classical musician who’d like to perform on national radio? From the Top, a new series that hit public radio in January, is "always looking" for talented young soloists and ensembles to perform and be interviewed on the air. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis from young players and singers of classical repertoire—both soloists and ensembles with no more than six members. From the Top is a one-hour program that presents five young performers or ensembles whose individual performances are combined with interviews, preproduced segments, and musical games. The program is taped before a live audience in venues across the country, such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. For more information or an application, write to From the Top, 295 Huntington Ave., Suite 205, Boston, MA 02115; call (617) 437-0707; or go to www.fromthetop.net.
News, from the U.S. or abroad, is always welcome. Please mail to Jessamyn Reeves-Brown, News & Notes, Strings, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979; fax to (415) 485-0831; or e-mail to jessamyn@stringletter.com.
|
