Violin News and Gossip, Op. 2, No. 15

April 3, 2006 at 2:24 AM

In what seems like an amazing coincidence, Violinist.com has its second cover girl in just two months. Violinist Caeli Smith is on the cover of the Spring 2006 issue of Teen Strings magazine. Take a peek here

As a former writer for Strings for many years and the mother of a string-playing soon-to-be teen, I was very interested to learn of this promising magazine’s debut. I look forward to hearing comments from those who have already seen it.

Musician News

Happy belated birthday to Mstlislav Rostropovich, who turned 79 last Monday, March 27. He spent his birthday week conducting in San Francisco.

The Interlochen alumni newsletter had an interesting item: Last summer, cellist Josue Gonzalez posted a “missing cello” notice at Interlochen, where he worked. An Interlochen alum, Dr. Linda Kaplan, saw the sign and arranged for instrument importer Michael Bassischis to provide three cellos for Gonzalez to audition. Kaplan flew the cellist to Florida to play them, then Bassischis donated the preferred instrument to Gonzalez, now a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

4/9/06 - And anyone in the Hudson Valley area next Sunday should be sure to attend the free performance given by the Colorado String Quartet at Bard College.

4/5-9/06 – Violinist Ida Kavafian will be soloing with the Interlochen Arts Academy orchestra on its Midwest tour. Stops include Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit.

Orchestra News

Just as orchestra musicians seem to play musical chairs during the spring audition season, so do music directors. This week saw a spate of announcements, though none of the major orchestras currently seeking new music directors (Chicago, Detroit, National, etc.) have made matches yet.

Among the regionals publicizing appointments and renewals this week are:

Long Island Philharmonic, David Wiley – This is a three-year renewal. Wiley has been music director since 2001. The orchestra also announced the hiring of a new executive director, Stephen Belth.

Muncie (IN) Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Rattay – Rattay was also appointed director of orchestras at Ball State University. (Muncie, Ind.) and artistic director of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. The Prague native is currently music director of the William and Mary College Symphony Orchestra (Williamsburg, Va.) and conductor of Maryland's Potomac Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Santa Barbara Symphony, Nir Kabaretti – Kabaretti is also music director of the Raanana Symphonette in his native Israel.

National Ballet of Canada (Toronto), David Briskin – Briskin is leading the New York City Ballet orchestra this season and is a former conductor of the American Ballet Theatre.

New Hampshire's Nashua Symphony Association has announced that Royston Nash will step down as music director at the end of next season.

The financially strapped Toronto Symphony has just received news of a $5 million gift, its largest ever from a single donor. "With a Toronto building spree that includes an opera house, two museum makeovers and two great arts-education institutions, the TSO has been having a rough time wooing donors. After all, it has no building project — just a scarily mounting deficit, currently at $9.5 million," reports the Toronto Star. The donor stipulates that $4 million must go to the endowment, while $1 million will be used to seed a challenge grant.

3/24/06 – From the “American orchestras don’t have it this bad” department: David Handel has been rebuilding the Bolivian National Orchestra, reports The Forward. He has "increased the number of performances to 50 a year from 12, recorded the group for the first time, enlarged the symphony to 65 musicians from 40, raised salaries and increased the yearly budget to $1 million from $100,000. He also has lowered ticket prices for students and raised the number of season ticket holders to 1,000 from none. Finally, he found the group its first-ever home in a one-time vaudeville theater and has taken the symphony to locales where it never had performed." Now if only the bombs would stop going off outside the concert hall... Read the story here
here

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Violin News and Gossip, Op. 2, No. 15

Subscribe

Laurie's Books