by Stephanie Manning
HAPPENING TODAY:
Like last week, Monday’s schedule stands empty. But there’s plenty of exciting things coming up, including concerts from the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Nightingale Opera, and the Oberlin Artist Recital Series.
For more details, visit our Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READ:
American opera director Yuval Sharon (pictured) has published his first book, A New Philosophy of Opera, which lays out his vision for innovative productions that challenge opera’s status quo.
From the Wall Street Journal’s review: “‘Rebirth is opera’s true power,’ Mr. Sharon writes, and suggests that the art form is infinitely richer and more welcoming than that tired old image suggests.” Read more here.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Multiple large orchestras have recently announced new bargaining agreements with their musicians, though not without some speed bumps. The New York Philharmonic, for example, will give its players a 30% raise over the next three years.
Over that same time period, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will increase base salaries by 3.5%. However, this progress comes amid a vote of no-confidence against SPCO Managing Director and President Jon Limbacher, and the musicians noted that they voted for this contract to avoid a work stoppage.
The San Antonio Philharmonic also ratified an agreement last week, the details of which have not been made public, shortly before the orchestra was sued by two of its major funders.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Jarrett Hoffman
Several big names share anniversaries on September 23. Those who died on this date include Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-35) and English composer Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006). On the less grim end of the spectrum, pioneering jazz saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-67) shares a birthday with a giant of the flute, Julius Baker (1915-2003), who was born in Cleveland (pictured).
Soon after completing his studies at Eastman and then at Curtis, Baker took up a post as second flute in The Cleveland Orchestra from 1937-41. Short stints as principal flute with the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphonies followed before he found a home for eighteen years in that position with the New York Philharmonic.
His powerful legacy extends from the orchestral side of the field to chamber music — he was a founding member of the Bach Aria Group — and pedagogy. He taught at Curtis, Juilliard, and Carnegie Mellon, and his many famous students include The Cleveland Orchestra’s own Joshua Smith and Mary Kay Fink. Baker’s dedication to teaching continued until the week he died at age 87 in 2003.
Among his many recordings, here’s a video of Baker playing the first movement of Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto with David Nadien on violin, Leonard Bernstein on piano, and the New York Philharmonic.
