AFTRA and recording companies reach Health Care Agreement
Representatives from the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have reached a tentative agreement with major recording companies, which, when ratified, will provide access to the union’s health insurance plan for all AFTRA-covered royalty artists who are under exclusive contract to a recording company. The companies represented include BMG, EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner music Group.
Further information may be obtained from AFTRA at 212/863-4260.
Tenor Franco Corelli dies
Famed Italian tenor Franco Corelli passed away Oct. 29 at the age of 82. Known since his debut in 1951 for his ringing high notes and handsome stage presence, he sang major roles at all the major opera houses in Europe and the United States.
He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961 and sang 368 performances there during 24 seasons. Carlo Bergonzi, his major competition at the time said, “We have lost one of the greatest tenors in the world.”
www.repubblica.it/
Too Many Choristers, Mr. Wagner!
The Zurich Opera sometimes uses extra choristers from Germany. Naturally, the Swiss company has to obtain work permits for them. That has never been a problem in the past, but the last time the company needed the choristers, their permits had not arrived by the time rehearsals began.
An opera company secretary called the government office and was asked why all these permits for foreign workers were needed. Somewhat annoyed she replied, “You’ll have to ask Richard Wagner why he wrote operas with big choruses.” The government employee then asked where he could get with Mr. Wagner.
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/opera-l.html
Frosts Warm University of Miami with Huge Gift
The music school of the University of Miami has received a $33 million gift from Dr. Philip and Patricia Frost, after whom the school is now named. The money will enable the school to enhance its current programs, which include 10 bachelors and 36 graduate degrees.
Areas of study include music: composition, business, education, engineering and therapy, as well as the performance of various genres and musicology.
University president Donna Shalala said that the gift would allow the school to attract the best and the brightest students and faculty from around the globe.
NEA Gets an Increase in Funds
As of this writing the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are expected to approve the 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill, which increases the National Endowment for the Arts by nearly $7 million. That would bring the total up to $125.5 million—still less than $1 per American.
Much of the new money is expected to be spent on “Challenge America,” a program designed to bring the arts to less affluent communities in all 50 states, which have been poorly served in the past.
Neeme Järvi to take over New Jersey Symphony
The New Jersey Symphony announced Oct. 27 that Neeme Järvi will succeed Zdenek Macal as music director, beginning with the 2005-2006 season. The announcement ends a two-year search and allows the orchestra’s executives to concentrate on dealing with its $5.7 million deficit.
Järvi says he is “returning home” because he lived in New Jersey when he first immigrated to the United States from Estonia in 1980. He has been music director of the Detroit Symphony for 15 years and is credited with making it into a world-class ensemble.
www.nj.com/news/ledger
A Renaissance Man Tries his Hand at Conducting
Jacques Attali is an essayist, a novelist, an economist, an amateur musician and a former advisor to France’s President Mitterand. The conductor of the symphony orchestra of Grenoble University invited Attali to lead the group in three performances during December, but rehearsals were so disastrous that 10 players resigned on the spot.
They complained that despite all his accomplishments he could not maintain a beat and was not capable of giving the right cues. Many players said that they would prefer that such opportunities to conduct be given to young professionals who could truly profit from them.
http://news.independent.co.uk
Let There Be Light
“When Richard Wagner organized a concert to celebrate the laying of the cornerstone of the Bayreuth Festival Theater in 1872, he needed additional light for the orchestra. The city’s synagogue had just the fixture he needed and he asked the religious institution’s council if they would let him borrow it. They did, it provided good light and the letter of permission is still in existence,”
— David Conway in the British scholarly journal, WAGNER, November, 2003.
www.smerus.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Libeskind quits Covent Garden Ring
Daniel Libeskind, who won the competition to redesign the site that once held New York’s Twin Towers, was to do the scenery for the new Wagner Ring of the Nibelungen at London’s Covent Garden. Because of lack of agreement with director Keith Warner, he has withdrawn from the project and will be replaced by Stefanos Lazaridis.
Libeskind, who is best known for Berlin’s Jewish Museum, said that the decision was reached amicably and that there was no bad blood between him and the other members of the team.
www.guardian.co.uk
Would you Vote for an Arts Tax?
A group called “Citizens for the St. Louis Symphony Ballot Proposal” is asking for a ballot measure that would enable it to receive public funds from property taxes in the same manner as the five cultural institutions that are part of the Metropolitan Zoo-Museum District.
The measure is expected to be on the November, 2004 ballot and asks for a 4-cent tax on each $100 of assessed valuation, or $7.10 per year for an average home.
www.stltoday.com
‘Ridi, Pagliaccio!’ Don’t Let Them See You Cry!,
Conductor Madeline Schatz, who formerly led the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, is suing eight University of Alaska faculty members who played under her leadership, for defamation of character and emotional distress.
The players sent a memo to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, who appoints the conductor, saying that she was showing signs of emotional instability while on the podium. Although she admits to having had a problem with depression, she feels that the memo was unjustified and resulted in her being unjustly removed from her position.
www.news-miner.com
