Monday Morning Violin Gossip, Op. 28

By Darcy Lewis

As promised, it’s a pleasure to be among the first to report the results of Finland’s 9th Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, which concluded Saturday, December 3. First prize and 20,000 Euros went to Alina Pogostkin. Second prize and 15,000 Euros went to Jiafeng Chen. Third prize was split between Hyun-Su Shin and Wei Wen, with each receiving 6,000 Euros. Other finalists, each of whom received 2,000 Euros, were: Jemolaj Albiker, Suyoen Kim, Sini-Maaria Simonen and Yuuki Wong.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company special prize of 2000 euros for the best performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto went to Alina Pogostkin. The city of Järvenpää special prize of 1500 euros for a young talent was awarded to Noé Inui. Finally, the Rastor special prize of 1500 euros for the best performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen's work Lachen Verlernt went to Yuuki Wong.

Congratulations to all!

I heard from Janet Anthony at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisc., asking for help in publicizing their open faculty position in Violin (full-time, tenure-track). Application review opens Jan. 2, 2006, while the position begins Sept. 2006. Application materials (curriculum vitae, copies of representative concert programs, recordings of recent performances, academic transcripts, and three letters of recommendation) should be sent to:

Conservatory of Music
Lawrence University
420 East College Avenue
P. O. Box 599
Appleton, WI 54912-0599
Telephone: (920) 832-6614

Complete information is here

People

Wieniawski specialists Piotr Janowski, violin, and Wolgang Plagge, piano, have released Volume II of their projected complete cycle of the composer’s works. The record company is 2L Records of Norway, www.2L.no

Ontario's Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra has extended the contract of Geoffrey Moull as music director through June 2008. Moull began his tenure with the orchestra in June 2000.

12/9/05 - Violinist Samuel Thompson will perform The Lark Ascending with the Orchard Park (NY) Symphony Orchestra in a concert to benefit musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. Thompson gained international media attention this year by playing for fellow evacuees in the New Orleans Basketball Arena during Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane prevented him from participating in the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition.

12/4-5/05 - The Orion String Quartet will be at the IU Jacobs School of Music, giving two performances and a master class.

11/29/05 – Philanthropist Barbara Jacobs died of cancer at age 79. On Nov. 17, it was announced that she had donated $40.6 million to the Indiana University School of Music. University officials said the music school will be renamed the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in recognition of Barbara and David Jacobs, a former owner of the Cleveland Indians who died in 1992.

11/28/05 – Violinist Stephanie Teply was quoted in a New York Times article assessing the fallout of the news that the Yale School of Music will become tuition-free next year after receiving an anonymous donation of $100 million. The Yale Daily News then ran articles in which students questioned this priority, given humanitarian needs worldwide. Teply, a Yale grad, said, “Has anyone said that Hollywood should also stop making movies because of needs in the world? ... How many moronic action flicks have cost more than $100 million?” Writer Anthony Tommasini opined, “Those raising ethical questions about the gift to the Yale School of Music should first put the dollar amount in perspective. Private and corporate donors in America have to compensate for the government's negligible support of the fine arts. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts gave out grants totaling just over $100 million."

11/15/05 – According to Arts Journal, Gerard Menuhin, son of Yehudi Menuhin, has been ousted from his late father’s music and humanitarian foundation: “The German branch of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation had asked Gerard Menuhin to step down earlier this month, after comments he made to the German Voice, the newspaper of the National Democratic Party, surfaced on the Internet. In the article, Menuhin says it was ‘not healthy’ to hold Germany to the crimes it committed 60 years ago. ‘There are very unemotional reasons to bring an end to these customs,’ Menuhin said. Leaders of the Duesseldorf-based foundation decided to remove Menuhin from office after he ignored the Nov. 2 request to step down, the foundation said.”

Orchestras

12/3-4/05 – The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra played in New Orleans for the first time since last spring in concerts of holiday and patriotic fare. The Times-Picayune reported that "more substantial musical fare is promised for the spring, when the orchestra plans a series of standard concerts and other performances throughout March and in portions of April and May.” Managing director Babs Mollere said that the LPO has had total post-Katrina income of about $750,000, including contributions from the Mellon, Bloomberg and Altria foundations. “That money has paid the musicians' health and instrument insurance, covered basic administrative costs and allowed distribution of two rounds of grants that meant members of the musician-owned orchestra came 'within shouting distance of what they would have earned in a normal fall season,' Mollere said.” The LPO has not had to lay off any staff or musicians.

12/3/05 - The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed in Bloomington, Indiana, its first performance there since 1969.

11/29/05 – South Florida has a new orchestra: the Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia, which played its debut public performance on this date. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, "It was [orchestra General Director Marshall] Turkin's vision to create a high-quality yet financially sound chamber orchestra in the wake of the Florida Philharmonic's demise that planted the seeds for the new ensemble."

11/23/05 – The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and the Chattanooga Musicians' Union have ratified a three-year contract. “The 2005-08 contract addresses short- and long-term financial issues with conservative compensation increases and implementation of a new retirement vehicle, according to the [orchestra]. Norma Anderson, piccolist and member of the orchestra negotiating team, said she believes one of the contract's most significant items is the first-time contributions by the CSO to the American Federation of Musicians' and Employers' Pension Fund on behalf of all musicians. She also sees as a positive the agreement on conservative pay increases over the three-year term of the contract and progress in addressing the cost of travel incurred by orchestra members who live outside the immediate Chattanooga area.”

11/22/05 – According to the Globe & Mail (Canada), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra "lost $2.19-million last year, boosting its accumulated deficit to a dizzying $9.47-million. That's more than half the orchestra's annual budget, and over $2-million more than the debt the TSO carried when it nearly went bankrupt four years ago.” Attendance has risen to a respectable 85 percent of capacity.

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