Monday Morning Violin Gossip, Op. 6

By Darcy Lewis

This week I received a cordial note from Vincent Skowronski, a recording artist who teaches violin at Northwestern University and runs the Vincent Skowronski Music Foundation. He reminded me that last month marked the 35th anniversary of his performance as one of seven American violinists in the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970. The judges included David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan and Joseph Szigetti.

6/25/05 – The Toledo Blade reported that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $1.1 million grant to the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, to be paid over the next three years. Of the total amount, $600,000 is to continue current initiatives and $500,000 is a challenge grant to build an endowment for the orchestra's programs. It is the third three-year grant awarded to the symphony by the foundation since 1999.

6/29/05 – According to Deutsche Grammophon, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been named officer in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. This distinction honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the development of culture in France and throughout the world.

7/1/05 - The Calder String Quartet has been named the Juilliard School's graduate string quartet-in-residence beginning in September. Members of the quartet, who are recipients of Lisa Arnhold Fellowships at Juilliard, are violinists Andrew Bulbrook and Benjamin Jacobson, violist Eric Byers and cellist Jonathan Moerschel. As part of their residency, the group will assist the Juilliard String Quartet with their quartet and chamber music instruction.

7/06/05 - The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has balanced its $23 million budget for the second year in a row, bringing in $8.48 million for its annual fund drive and boosting its endowment to $100 million, reports the Dallas Morning News.

7/6/05 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made a $20 million personal donation to the city's arts groups through his preferred vehicle, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, reports the New York Times. One of the city’s leading philanthropists, Bloomberg last year gave a total of about $140 million in donations to more than 800 institutions, according to the paper.

7/6/05 – In addition to its well-publicized appointment of the young Shannon Farrell to principal viola, the St. Louis Symphony has promoted Melissa Brooks-Rubright to associate principal cello. The orchestra also named several section string players. Shawn Weil, second violin, comes from the New World Symphony and subbed in St. Louis last season, as did violist Bryan Florence. David DeRiso and Sarah Hogan have joined the double bass section.

7/7/05 – Among the many London performances to be cancelled following last week’s terrorist bombings was a concert by the winners of the Royal College of Music's Young String Player of the Year competition at Wigmore Hall. Violinist Victoria Goldsmith was to have been a guest artist, reports Playbillarts.com.

7/7/05 - Franz Welser-Möst, the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, will become general music director of Zurich Opera in September, Playbillarts.com reported. “The appointment is a promotion for Welser-Möst, who served as music director of the opera company from 1995 through 2002 and has been principal conductor since. He has agreed to an initial term of five years, through 2011. He will retain his position in Cleveland, where his current contract runs through 2012."

7/8/05 – According to the (Elgin, IL) Daily Herald, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra set an attendance record last season, topping its previous best by 600 tickets. With the ESO adding an eighth subscription program next year, the local--and booming arts—community is facing “a real crisis of venue space in Elgin,” according to Michael Pastreich, executive director of the ESO.

7/8/05 – The Modesto Symphony Orchestra is launching a Young Idol 2005 competition in September. “The talent competition, open to amateur singers under 18, will kick off with public auditions, after which a panel of celebrity judges will select finalists. Each finalist will then record a demo that will be posted online for the public to listen and cast votes. The Young Idol 2005 audience favorite winner will have the chance to sing with the orchestra for all three of its Holiday Candlelight concerts this year and to appear with the orchestra during the 2006-07 season.” Young Idol 2005 is open to U.S residents. More details are available at www.modestosymphony.org/idol.sj.

7/8/05 – According to the ASOL, the Sacramento Philharmonic and Professional Musicians of Central California have reached a new master agreement, to run through 2008. The new contract includes a 9.3 percent increase in base pay for a 2.5-hour service, spread over three years. It also includes new rates for promotional and educational services and integration into the Philharmonic roster of approximately a dozen musicians who previously played only for Sacramento Opera performances.

7/8/05 - CBC Radio has announced that its popular series, The Concerto According to Pinchas, is now available in a boxed CD set. The ten-part series features conversations with Pinchas Zukerman, music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and his demonstrations of musical points on the violin. It also features recordings by Zukerman, Isaac Stern, and Itzhak Perlman, as well as personal stories of time spent with notable musicians. See www.cbcshop.ca or www.cbd.ca/concertos.

7/8/05 – The State of Pennsylvania has allocated the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra $2.25 million to pay its operating expenses, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The orchestra is entering a stage of increased expenses, as its musicians’ contracts specify that the 2005-06 season bring a minimum salary of 95 percent of the minimum salaries of the country’s five top orchestras. The result could be a 21 percent increase in minimum salaries, from $83,182 to $101,084. The salary increases are part of an agreement that goes back to 2003, when musicians agreed to two years of salary reductions in exchange for the raise this coming September. Even with the state funding, the orchestra will operate with a structural deficit of $2.5 million next season.”