Catching up on a few stories:

Bass-Baritone Bryn Terfel has broken his ankle in three places, and is cancelling a number of performances.  Details here.

The Boston Symphony has cancelled its planned East Asia tour for February due to concerns over coronavirus.  A local story can be read here.

​Pianist-Conductor Vladimir Ashkenzy has announced his immediate retirement. He is 82. You can read more here.

Renowned hornist Barry Tuckwell passed away on January 18 at the age of 88 of heart disease.  The New York Times has more here.

Sexual harrassment has been--and perhaps continues to be--a problem at many conservatories.

A new, well-researched article in The Atlantic discusses the problem.  You can find it here.

The Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina will be holding its annual Summer Festival and Institute with pre-season events beginning as early as May 30.  Their new Parker Concert Hall (pictured) will also be opening this season.  What follows is from a press release:

BMC Artistic Director and alumnus Keith Lockhart, Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops and Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, will oversee an inspiring festival program of 100 performances and events—many free to the public—in a wide variety of styles and genres. The 2020 season highlights include symphony, chamber, and opera masterpieces by Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, and Strauss, among many others. World-renowned classical virtuosi--Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, The Shanghai Quartet, and Ray Chen—will be featured among an equally legendary BMC Presents line-up of non-classical artists including Judy Collins, Béla Fleck, and Bryan Sutton.

BMC will take part in the worldwide celebration of Beethoven@250, honoring the great composer with a season-long “Festival Within A Festival” and exploration of his masterworks. Families will enjoy exciting special performances such as the explosive Fourth of July Patriotic Pops, and encourage a new generation of classical music fans with Disney in Concert: The Lion King (Live Action) on the big screen with live orchestra. 


PRE-SEASON: MAY 30 - JUNE 18
The 2020 Season gets going early this year with acclaimed acoustic guitarist Bryan Sutton, who will host the inaugural Blue Ridge Guitar Camp at BMC, May 27 - 30, culminating with a North Carolina Guitar Celebration concert on May 30 (produced in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions). Pre-Season continues on June 11 with an Evening of Classical Guitar, a tribute to the First Lady of Jazz with Jane Monheit Sings Ella on June 12, and the rich, lively sounds of Jazz@Brevard on June 18. 

OPENING WEEKEND, FRIDAY, JUNE 26 - TUESDAY, JUNE 30
Opening weekend at BMC always includes a grand and expansive series of world-class music! On Friday, June 26, Artistic Director Keith Lockhart officially launches the Beethoven@250 Festival when he takes center stage at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium (WPA) for a spectacular All-Beethoven Celebration, featuring the joyful Symphony No. 7 and the return of renowned pianist Garrick Ohlsson for the 4th Piano Concerto. 

Saturdays at BMC never disappoint, and June 27 promises an all-star opener to the 2020 BMC Presents series of non-classical music. Save the date now for what is sure to be an unmissable event with a soon to be announced guest artist. 

Resident Conductor Ken Lam will lead one of classical music’s most beloved works, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concert No. 1, featuring the superb talents of pianist Anna Tsybuleva on Sunday, June 28. And to cap off an extraordinary first weekend, the BMC Orchestra will join iconic, Grammy®-Award winning singer-songwriter Judy Collins for a brand new symphonic arrangement of her landmark 1967 record, Wildflowers.

BEETHOVEN @ 250: A SEASON-LONG "FESTIVAL WITHIN A FESTIVAL”
In 2020, BMC is thrilled to be part of a global celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a season-long exploration of masterworks created or influenced by the master composer. Audiences will experience a “Festival Within A Festival” like no other, as BMC pays tribute to Beethoven’s legacy with symphony, chamber, piano, and even opera with Season Finale: Fidelio in Concert on August 9—the powerful and inspiring concert version of Beethoven’s singular opera, featuring conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing and hundreds of artists on the WPA stage. 

LIGHTS UP ON A NEW VENUE: PARKER CONCERT HALL
This summer, BMC audiences will be the first to attend special classical and contemporary piano and chamber concerts at the beautiful new Parker Concert Hall. This intimate lakeside venue, named for lead sponsors Drs. Tom and Joanne Parker, officially opens its doors with a grand opening VIP gala featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson on June 23. Throughout the season, Parker Concert Hall will feature extraordinary performances by BMC Faculty and special guests including Johannes Moser and The Shanghai Quartet, as they conclude their exquisite Beethoven Cycle. And on July 28, Steep Canyon Rangers’ Woody Platt and singer-songwriter Shannon Whitworth will appear together in a very special BMC Presents concert (produced in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions). 

The $6 million, 400-seat Parker Concert Hall represents the first-ever year-round venue on the Music Center campus. Beginning in Fall 2020, patrons can look forward to a special series of BMC concerts throughout the year. 

GYPSIES, STRINGS & LION KINGS: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
BMC’s gorgeous, scenic venues play host to a wide variety of extraordinary programming throughout the summer. Symphonic fans will find much to delight in a season rich in masterworks, including Beethoven Symphonies 3, 5, and 7, Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Dvořák’s New World Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Suite from Sleeping Beauty, Mahler Symphony No. 7, and much more. 

Two perennial audience favorites return to BMC's Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium in 2020: the rousing Fourth of July concert with live cannon, Pendergrast Patriotic Pops, and a very special night at the movies featuring Walt Disney Studios’ thrilling, 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King, with live symphony performing Hans Zimmer’s stunning score. 

Throughout much of its 84-year history, opera has been an integral part of BMC programming. This summer, opera lovers will enjoy a dazzling selection of three fully staged operas — Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, and Leigh-Wasserman’s Man of La Mancha — plus a recital of Opera’s Greatest Hits and a very special Evening of Cole Porter. All operas are staged in the Scott Concert Hall at the Porter Center (on the Brevard College campus) and complemented by English supertitles above the stage.

Additional non-classical guest artists (to be announced in the coming weeks) will take the stage at the Music Center throughout the season as part of the popular BMC Presents series. This year, BMC is thrilled to welcome back Béla Fleck, who headlines his third Blue Ridge Banjo Camp Concert on August 17 (produced in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions). 

​More information and details can be found here.

Tuomas Hiltunen, General Director of Fort Worth Opera since 2017, has resigned. Reports are that he and the board of directors had differing visions of where to take the company at this time.

Fort Worth Opera released this statement:

FORT WORTH, TX — Fort Worth Opera’s Board of Trustees announced today that they have accepted the submitted resignation of General Director Tuomas Hiltunen. Mr. Hiltunen joined Fort Worth Opera in July of 2017. During his tenure, he established security and growth by streamlining expenditures, reducing administrative costs and overhead, and maintaining a balanced operating budget.

“Fort Worth Opera is grateful for Tuomas’ leadership over the past two seasons and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Nelson E. Claytor, Ph.D., Chair of the Board of Trustees. “As we move forward, our top priority is, and always has been, ensuring that the financial health of the company is secure for decades to come.”

Building upon his prior experience in the world of theater, Mr. Hiltunen was instrumental in establishing Fort Worth Opera’s Relaxed Performances program, which created a welcoming opera environment for audience members with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and learning disabilities. Presented in tandem with Fort Worth Opera’s Children’s Opera Theatre program, these modified performances offered a friendly, calming, and supportive environment for children with sensory differences to enjoy opera with their families. The company will continue to work with the Fort Worth ISD and local organizations throughout Tarrant County as this inspiring program evolves.

Preparations for Fort Worth Opera’s thrilling 2020 Festival (April 17 – May 3) are well underway. This season features star-studded performances of Puccini’s romantic masterpiece La Bohème, a riotous Roaring Twenties comedy, Revenge of the Bat (Die Fledermaus), and the world premiere of swashbuckling adventure Zorro. The company is eager to announce the 2021 line-up for its exhilarating 75th anniversary season in the months ahead. Fort Worth Opera looks towards a bright future as it proudly forges ahead as the oldest continually operating opera company in the state of Texas.
Until a successor is appointed, Nelson E. Claytor, Ph.D., has assumed the role and duties of Acting General Director. www.fwopera.org.

The winners are:

BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONWINNER
Higdon: Harp Concerto
Yolanda Kondonassis, Ward Stare & The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUMWINNER
The Poetry Of Places
Nadia Shpachenko

BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUMWINNER
Songplay
Joyce DiDonato

BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLOWINNER
Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite
Nicola Benedetti

BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCEWINNER
Shaw: Orange
Attacca Quartet

BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCEWINNER
Duruflé: Complete Choral Works
Robert Simpson

BEST OPERA RECORDINGWINNER
Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Gil Rose, John Brancy, Krista River, Andrew Craig Brown, Edwin Vega & Gabriel Preisser

BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCEWINNER
Norman: Sustain
Gustavo Dudamel

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICALWINNER
Blanton Alspaugh

BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICALWINNER
Riley: Sun Rings
Kronos Quartet

​

In August 2019, Deborah Dugan assumed leadership of the Recording Academy which oversees the Grammy awards as the first woman ever to lead it.  She replaced Neil Portnow who was replaced after 17 years, in part due to controversial comments he made.  Dugan had led the Red charity which was started in 2006 by Bono. By all accounts, Dugan was charismatic and committed to change.

As of last week, after only five months on the job, Dugan was placed on administrative leave, allegedly due to complaints by a staffer who accused Dugan of bullying behavior, and creating a toxic work environment.  

Dugan says being placed on leave was retaliation for her own sexual harrassment complaint against Joel Katz, general counsel for the Academy.  Her complaint was outlined in a December 22, 2019 e-mail to the Academy's head of human resources, and also outlined many other issues within the organization, including a kind of boys' club atmosphere and various conflicts of interest.

Since being placed on leave, Dugan has not been silent, instead going public with many of her allegations.  She has now filed a 44-page complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

More details can be found in this article in Rolling Stone.

From the Top, the public radio show that highlights the talents of young classical musicians from around the country, has named a new permanent host.  The new host will be Peter Dugan, who has been serving as one of a series of rotating guest hosts.

The program has relied on guest hosts since ending it's relationship with Chrostopher O'Riley in mid-2018.

​You can read the official announcement here.

If you didn't get to see the story about Rachel Barton Pine and her foundation on CBS, you can watch the video here.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine will appear on CBS news tonight. She and the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation will be the subject of the feature which will focus on the Music by Black Composers project.  Rachel has recorded two disks of music by black composers, and one of the goals of the foundation is to publish music from black composers around the world.

The feature is scheduled to air during the last 7 minutes of tonight's newscast, which airs between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

You can learn more about the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation here.