Arranger Tries to Prove His Work Was Used in China
Peter Breiner arranged more than 200 national anthems for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, according to the Listening Post. Breiner offered his work to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee through his publisher, Naxos Rights International, but was told that the Chinese would make their own arrangements. Upon listening to the anthems during various Beijing medal ceremonies, however, Breiner was sure he heard his own rather distinctive work.
Breiner checked recordings of both the 2004 and 2008 arrangements and found them to be the same. When he asked for an explanation from Beijing, spokesperson Sun Weide said: “All anthems and songs used at the Beijing games were orchestrated by Chinese musicians.” There is not very much that Breiner can do other than try to sue the Beijing Committee in a Chinese court.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/composer-says-b.html
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/21/AR2008082103668.html
Bagpipes Mistaken for a Lethal Weapon
Scottish amateur piper Andrew Aitken arrived in Beijing on the day that the Olympic games opened. His mission: to take part in a charity walk along the Great Wall for his country’s National Deaf Children’s Society, reports the BBC.
Before meeting with other participants, Aitken took his bagpipes out on an ordinary street to practice. Aitken played some traditional Scottish tunes, to the delight of many passersby. Soon, however, a police car drove up and accused the hapless Scot of brandishing a weapon in the vicinity of a power station. Luckily, a bilingual tour guide nearby explained that the bagpipes are a musical instrument. Authorities eventually allowed Aitken to join his charity walk. His group raised 3,000 British pounds for the society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Steven White Joins the Met Conducting Staff
Maestro Steven White, artistic director of Opera Roanoke, has joined the Metropolitan Opera’s musical staff as an assistant conductor, Opera Roanoke reports. White’s first task will be to work on the forthcoming new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s La sonnambula with Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, and primary conductor Evelino Pido.
White described his new position as an opportunity to learn a great deal. The maestro is married to soprano Elizabeth Futral but he notes that the Met offer came through his agent, Neil Funkhouser.
www.roanoke.com/insideout/arts/index/wb/173252
www.operaroanoke.org
Half-Sisters to Head Bayreuth Festival
The Richard Wagner Festival of Bayreuth, Germany, has announced that two daughters of the current director, 89-year-old Wolfgang Wagner, will head the festival beginning in 2009. Katharina Wagner, 30, directed her first Bayreuth production, a very controversial Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, last year. Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 63, is a consultant for the festival at Aix-en-Provence in France. Famed Wagner conductor Christian Thielemann will join the two women as artistic advisor.
www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/news/18/details_44.htm
Sydney Symphony Admits to Finger Synching
Australia’s Sydney Symphony did not play the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games live, says a British newspaper, the Telegraph. The report says the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra mimed its way through seven minutes of re-corded music.
After reports of the deception surfaced, Sydney Symphony Managing Director Libby Christie admitted that the musicians were just going through the motions to prerecorded music to avoid embarrassment in case anyone made a mistake. She also assured the reporter that the Sydney Symphony played all but that small segment of the music.
www.telegraph.co.uk
Dallas Opera Opts for a Creative Programmer
The new general director of the Dallas Opera is George Steel, 41, the former executive director of Columbia University’s 688-seat Miller Theater, says a Dallas Opera press release. While at that New York school Steel presented offerings that ran the gamut from jazz to new music, and from Baroque to classic opera.
The Dallas Search Committee wanted someone who is at home with “the fiscal and the artistic demands of creating great opera in the new millennium.” Dallas Opera will move into its new home, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, in 2009. Steel is the founder of the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Gotham City Orchestra, which he also conducts.
www.dallasopera.org/news/news_release.php
