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Posted February 26, 2006 at 8:59 AM (MST)
Monday Morning Violin Gossip, Op. 2, No. 9Modigliani SQ wins first prize in Young Concert Artists auditions, mediator named in Louisville, and In Memoriam: violinists Bert Siegel and Barbara Faught, plus our springtime audition roundup.By Darcy Lewis With the vernal equinox just about a month away, the spring audition season is gearing up. It’s time to make plans if you’d like a move to be in your near future! McGill University in Montreal is seeking a professor of violin (senior tenure-track position) beginning in September. Preference will be given to Canadian citizens. Submit a CV, professional statement, CDs and three letters of reference by March 15, 2006 to: Prof. Douglas McNabney, Chair, Dept. of Performance Upcoming Auditions (See orchestras’ websites for full details) Violin Viola Cello Bass Musician News The Modigliani String Quartet won one of four first prizes in the 2006 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in January. They will receive a $5,000 career development grant, debut recitals in the 2006-07 Young Concert Artists Series in New York and Washington, D.C., plus a debut recital in Boston. They will also join the YCA management roster. Quartet members are violinists Phillipe Bernhard and Loïc Rio, violist Laurent Marfaing and cellist Francois Kieffer, all of France. 3/5/06 - The Belcea String Quartet will play an all-Mozart concert in San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, according to San Francisco Classical Voice. The program includes the Hoffmeister, K. 499, probably the least-played of the great Mozart quartets. 3/5/06 – The Da Capo Chamber Players will premiere new works by five Russian composers at Bard College. The program will be repeated on Tuesday, March 7, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. The Da Capo Chamber Players are flutist Patricia Spencer, clarinetist Meighan Stoops, violinist David Bowlin, cellist André Emelianoff, and pianist Blair McMillen. 2/22/06 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the death of Berton “Bert” Siegel, a violinist who played in the Cleveland Orchestra for 30 years until he retired in 1995. He died at a hospital in Sarasota, Fla. at 80, and the cause of death has not been determined. "Siegel joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1965 at the invitation of George Szell, arriving in the violin section along with his wife, Joan. They met in 1955 in the St. Louis Symphony and won spots together in the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1960….Upon retiring from the Cleveland Orchestra, the Siegels remained active musicians. Splitting their time between homes in Cleveland Heights, Florida and Colorado, they performed chamber music in a series in Central City organized by Bert Siegel." 2/22/06 - Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo has announced that he will step aside as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the end of the 2007-08 season after ten years at the helm, reports the Gramophone. Oramo will be granted the title of principal guest conductor beginning with the 2008-09 season. 2/15/06 - Barbara Faught, 84, a violinist who performed with the San Antonio Symphony for nearly 50 years, beginning in 1939 when it was founded, has died, according to the San Antonio Express-News. "Faught was just 18 when she appeared with the symphony at a 'demonstration concert' at the Sunken Garden on June 12, 1939. That concert was so well-received that five months later, on Nov. 24, 1939, the fledgling symphony opened its first season at Municipal Auditorium ... [Faught] also performed with the North Carolina Symphony and the Santa Fe Opera ... She participated in San Antonio's first public school string program and years later, taught the program." Orchestra News With Jacksonville, Florida set to host the NCAA Final Four Tournament this year, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra is getting into the action with its own version of March Madness, reports the ASOL. “Starting this month, with an opening round of 64 classical works, audience members and classical music fans far and wide will be able to cast votes for their all-time favorite works, with selections matched through four rounds of voting. The winners in each round will be narrowed down to four top favorites. The tournament culminates with the Classical Madness Final Concert on April 1, at which the JSO will perform the ‘final four’ matchups and the audience will choose the champion.” 3/6/06 - Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine will lead his “inaugural national tour” with the orchestra in March, stopping in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, and Washington, D.C. The tour begins at Carnegie Hall and wraps up March 11 in Washington, D.C. 2/22/06 - The Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that the Louisville Orchestra and its musicians' committee have agreed upon a mediator to assist in their stalled contract talks. Richard M. Cisek, former president of the Minnesota Orchestra and current executive with Connecticut-based Management Consultants for the Arts, was the headhunter who brought Scott Provancher, the Louisville Orchestra's executive director, to the attention of the orchestra's board in 2004." Provancher says, "Dick surfaced as someone that both sides trusted ... He understood the parties involved and knew the leadership of the board and the community, so there would be less of a learning curve for him." Clarinetist and head of the musicians' committee Tim Zavadil "said yesterday that he expects 'all substantive issues' to be up for discussion. 'We hope all sides are open once we begin the mediation process.' " 2/21/06 – According to the Contra Costa Times, "The California Symphony and its musicians have agreed on a three-year contract that raises the base pay from $105 to $108 for each rehearsal or performance, the symphony announced Friday. The agreement, for the first time, establishes that 80 tenured musicians make up the orchestra for each scheduled 'service,' according to Stacey Street, executive director of the Walnut Creek-based symphony." The paper notes that base pay rises to $116 in the 2007-08 season and that the California Symphony season consists of four programs, each performed twice, and that its annual budget is "about $1.5 million."
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