BACKRoyal Opera House to sell Hockney portrait to raise funds
The painting of Sir David Webster will be auctioned at Christie’s this month and is expected to fetch up to £18m.
Current chief executive Alex Beard said it was “tough call” to sell the picture, but there was no alternative if the organisation was to survive.
“We have to face the situation we are in… and get through this,” he said.
The London venue, home of international opera and the Royal Ballet, is the UK’s biggest arts employer. It says it has lost £3 in every £5 of its income since the national lockdown forced it to close its doors in March.
The sale of the Hockney portrait is part of a four-pronged plan to help the venue balance the books. There will also be significant redundancies and a fundraising appeal for public donations.
Alexander Neef : “La maison est debout et se relève”
L’arrivée anticipée d’Alexander Neef à la tête de l’Opéra de Paris oblige l’institution lyrique à accélérer son processus de transition pour se relever de sa situation catastrophique.
C’est une question vaste et épineuse que nous posons au nouveau directeur: comment réinventer l’opéra de demain ?Nommé officiellement le 24 juillet 2019, après un suspens long de 18 mois, sur les 11 postulants, Alexander Neef a été choisi par Emmanuel Macron pour prendre ses fonctions de directeur de l’Opéra de Paris à partir d’août 2021.
Toutefois le 11 juin dernier, Stéphanie Lissner qui dirigeait l’institution depuis 2014, annonça au Monde son départ anticipé à la fin de l’année arguant que “l’opéra est à genoux”.
Alexander Neef, qui était en poste à la Canadian Opera Company de Toronto, n’avait alors plus d’autres choix que de quitter prématurément le Canada. La Ministre de la Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, lui demanda de prendre ses fonctions encore plus tôt, dès le 1er septembre afin de mettre en place les projets permettant de redresser l’institution lyrique dans les plus brefs délais.
Alexander Neef: “The house is up and rising again”
The early arrival of Alexander Neef, head of the Paris Opera has forced the opera house to accelerate its transition process in order to recover from its catastrophic situation. The vast and thorny question we ask the new director: how will you reinvent the opera of tomorrow?
Officially appointed on 24 July 2019, after an 18-month long suspense, out of 11 applicants, Alexander Neef was chosen by Emmanuel Macron to take up his post as Director of the Paris Opera from August 2021.
However, on June 11th, Stéphane Lissner, who had been directing the institution since 2014, announced to the world her early departure at the end of the year, arguing that “the opera is on its knees”.
Alexander Neef, who was based at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, then had no choice but to leave Canada prematurely. The Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, asked him to take up his duties even earlier, on September 1, in order to put in place the projects to turn the operatic institution around as soon as possible.
Bariton Konstantin Ingenpass erfolgreich beim Wettbewerb für Liedkunst Stuttgart
Die Hugo-Wolf-Akademie hat die Gewinner ihres Wettbewerbs für Liedkunst bekannt gegeben. Der erste Preis ging an das deutsch-koreanische Duo Bariton Konstantin Ingenpass und Hyun-hwa Park am Klavier.
Ihr Preisgeld beträgt 15.000 Euro. Den zweiten Preis gewannen Sopranistin Malgorzata Roclawska aus Polen und Pianistin Olga Wien aus der Ukraine (10.000 Euro). Wien erhielt außerdem den Sonderpreis für eine besondere pianistische Leistung in Höhe von 1.000 Euro.
Der mit 7.000 Euro dotiert dritte Preis ging an die deutsche Mezzosopranistin Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein und die israelische Pianistin Maria Yulin. Anerkennungspreise in Höhe von je 1.500 Euro gingen an Tenor Ronan Caillet aus Frankreich und Malte Schäfer aus Deutschland sowie Bariton Yuriy Hadzetskyy und Alina Shevchenko, beide aus der Ukraine. Insgesamt belaufen sich die Preisgelder des Wettbewerbs auf 36.000 Euro.
Baritone Konstantin Ingenpass success at the competition for song art Stuttgart
The Hugo Wolf Academy has announced the winners of its competition for song art. The first prize went to the German-Korean duo baritone Konstantin Ingenpass and Hyun-Hwa Park on piano. Their prize money is 15,000 euros.
Second prize was won by soprano Malgorzata Roclawska from Poland and pianist Olga Wien from Ukraine (10,000 euros). Vienna also received the special prize for a pianistic achievement in the amount of 1,000 euros.
The third prize of 7,000 euros went to the German mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein and the Israeli pianist Maria Yulin. Recognition prizes of 1,500 euros each went to tenor Ronan Caillet from France and Malte Schäfer from Germany as well as baritone Yuriy Hadzetskyy and Alina Shevchenko, both from Ukraine. The total prize money for the competition amounts to 36,000 euros.
The NYT top 10 Classical Concerts to Stream in October
With many opera houses and concert halls, particularly in the United States, still closed by the coronavirus pandemic for months to come, the musical action has moved online. That’s been the case since March, of course — but as fall is upon us, artists and institutions are creating digital presentations with more care and intention.
There’s a flood of offerings out there. Here is a selection of 10 highlights coming in October. (Times listed are Eastern.)
