Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist.

Award-winning composer for film and TV -- via Variety. He won the Golden Globe for "The Stunt Man," He did "Hang 'em High," and "Freebie and the Bean." On TV, he created catchy ditties for shows such as "The Outer Limits," "The Rat Patrol," the unintentionally hilarious "Strike Force," and "The Invaders.." He is known for composing the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series The Outer Limits.

Frontiere died Thursday December 21, 2017 in Tesuque, N.M. He was 86. Frontiere was a fixture on the film- and TV-music scene throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s .

WIKIPEDIA

Žermēna Heine-Vāgnere, Soprano, had died age 94

Žermēna Heine-Vāgnere (23 June 1923 – 7 December 2017) was a Soviet operatic soprano. She was born on 23 June 1923 in Riga, to singer Erna Heine. An uncle, Alberts Verners, was a leading baritone for the Latvian National Opera in the 1930s for which Heine-Vāgnere also performed. She studied under singers Hertas Lūses and Marijas Bolotovas. Heine-Vāgnere began her career in 1950 and appeared in Macbeth as Lady Macbeth, Cavalleria rusticana as Santuca, Otello as Desdemona, Eugene Onegin as Tatyana, Der Ring des Nibelungen as Brynhildr, and Lohengrin as Ortrud. Other performances included roles in Alfrēds Kalniņš's Banuta, Salome, and Turandot. She retired in November 1975, having sang in 39 distinct roles. Heine-Vāgnere was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1969 and also received the Order of the Three Stars, third class. She was married to architect Nikolajs Vīgners and died on 7 December 2017, aged 94. (WIKIPEDIA)

Vienna Opera mourns an American singer...William Blankenship

William Leonard Blankenship (7 March 1928 Gatesville, Texas – 2 December 2017 Vienna, Austria) was an American operatic tenor, music pedagogue at the collegiate level, stage and television actor, and stage director. In Europe, Blankenship sang roles at the opera houses in Vienna (Vienna Volksoper & Vienna State Opera), Stuttgart, Hamburg, Braunschweig (1957–1960), Bern (1960), Mannheim, Brunswick, Munich (from 1965), Berne, Klagenfurt (1956 European debut), Bregenz (1972 as Phoebus in The Fairy-Queen by Henry Purcell). In the United States, he sang with the Santa Fe Opera, San Antonio, San Diego (1968), Dallas Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. He has sung in international festivals in Moscow, Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, and Rio de Janeiro. He performed concerts with major orchestras on radio and television. He was the father of Rebecca Blankenship, an American operatic soprano. (Wikipedia) SLIPPED DISC, Vienna Opera link

William Mayer (November 18, 1925 - November 17, 2017)[1]) was an American composer, best known for his prize-winning opera A Death in the Family.

Mayer was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy (née Ehrich) and John C. Mayer. He entered Yale University in 1944, but his college years were interrupted by military service (he served as a counter-intelligence agent in US-occupied Japan). Upon his discharge he re-entered Yale and graduated in 1949, then trained at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music, studying with Roger Sessions and Felix Salzer, and later with Otto Luening, Emanuel Balaban and Izler Solomon. The composer has written three stage works in addition to his prize-winning A Death in the Family, and a variety of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. WIKIPEDIA

Carol Neblett (February 1, 1946 – November 23, 2017) was an American operatic soprano.

In 1979, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Senta in The Flying Dutchman, in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production, opposite José van Dam. She sang with the Met until 1993, in such operas as Tosca, La bohème, Un ballo in maschera (with Carlo Bergonzi), Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Falstaff (with Giuseppe Taddei). Neblett was born in Modesto, California and raised in Redondo Beach. She studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969 she made her operatic debut with the New York City Opera, playing the part of Musetta in Puccini's La bohème. With that company, she continued to sing many leading roles, in Mefistofele (with Norman Treigle), Prince Igor (conducted by Julius Rudel), Faust, Manon, Louise (opposite John Alexander, later Harry Theyard), La traviata, Le coq d'or, Carmen (as Micaëla, with Joy Davidson, staged by Tito Capobianco), The Marriage of Figaro (as the Contessa Almaviva, with Michael Devlin and Susanne Marsee), Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira), L'incoronazione di Poppea (with Alan Titus as Nerone), Ariadne auf Naxos (directed by Sarah Caldwell), and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die tote Stadt (in Frank Corsaro's production). WIKIPEDIA

Izabella Jadwiga Zielińska (née Ostaszewska; 10 December 1910 – 20 November 2017) was a Polish pianist and pedagogue with one of the longest artistic biographies in Poland, starting back in 1935.

Izabella Jadwiga Ostaszewska was born in Klimkówka, Podkarpackie Voivodeship and attended primary school in Sanok and at the Lyceum of the Ursuline Convent in Lvov, graduating in 1929. She took piano lessons from Klaudia Rylska. In 1930 she went to Belgium to continue her education in the Ursulines Institute at Wavre-Notre-Dame, where she studied French and music. WIKIPEDIA

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Silver-Maned Baritone From Siberia, Dies at 55

Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky PAR (Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Хворосто́вский, 16 October 1962 – 22 November 2017) was a Russian operatic baritone. His operatic debut in the West was at the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (1989). In Italy he debuted at La Fenice as Eugene Onegin, a success that sealed his reputation, and made his American operatic debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1993) in La traviata. He subsequently sang at virtually every major opera house, including the Metropolitan Opera (debut 1995), the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Berlin State Opera, La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of the title character in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; The New York Times described him as "born to play the role. Hvorostovsky died on 22 November 2017 in London after a two-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer. WIKIPEDIA

RIP Luis Enriquez Bacalov, Oscar-winning Italian film composer

The Oscar-winning composer known for his work in Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill' and 'Django Unchained' was 84. Luis Enríquez Bacalov (30 August 1933 – 15 November 2017) was an Argentine-born Italian composer of film scores. Early on in his career, he composed scores for Spaghetti Western films. In the early 1970s, he collaborated with Italian progressive rock bands. Bacalov has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Original Score, winning it in 1996 for Il Postino. Bacalov has composed significant works for chorus and orchestra. Before his death he was the artistic director of the Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto, Italy. WIKIPEDIA

Robert De Cormier, Composer And Renowned Music Director, Dies At 95

Robert De Cormier (January 7, 1922 – November 7, 2017) was an American musical conductor, arranger, and director. He arranged music for many singers and groups, including Harry Belafonte and Peter, Paul, and Mary, and worked with Milt Okun. vpr.net

He has directed concerts and recordings for television specials, and was choral director for a television special and recording starring Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, conducted by James Levine. De Cormier was the conductor and leader of The Belafonte Folk Singers during most of its lifetime from 1957 to 1965. He also headed The Robert De Cormier singers, who performed extensively in the mid-1960s and then on and off until the mid-1990s Robert De Cormier was Music Director and Conductor of the New York Choral Society from 1970–1987 and is a Music Director Emeritus. In 1993, De Cormier helped to found the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and remains its director.

WIKIPEDIA

Heather Slade-Lipkin, 26 March 1947 – 16 October 2017,was an English pianist, harpsichordist and teacher.

Heather Slade-Lipkin was born into a musical family from Hoylake, Wirral, and by the age of six had already begun formal piano lessons. She was soon winning many first Prizes at music festivals. She studied under Gordon Green, Clifton Helliwell, Kenneth Gilbert and Huguette Dreyfus. She served as piano lecturer at RNCM and visiting professor of piano at Chetham's School of Music. She won first prizes at the National Piano Competition and the National Harpsichord Competition, and was a finalist in the Paris International Fortepiano Competition. She appeared as a soloist for the CBSO and the BBC.

  WIKIPEDIA

Fedor Ivanovich Glushchenko was a Russian conductor and violinist.

August 15, 1944 – 16 October, 2017 He recorded numerous works of Frédéric Chopin, Giya Kancheli, Ippolitov-Ivanov and Aram Khachaturian which were published by Chandos, Hyperion and Olympia Records among other music labels. He is also a frequent participant of such festivals as Bratislava, Moscow, and Brno Music Festivals and a producer of Prokofiev's ballet called Romeo and Juliet which was performed at the Athens Festival in 1994. He also appeared with numerous well-known Russian musicians such as Daniil Shafran, Grigory Sokolov, Vladimir Spivakov and Maxim Vengerov of Russia as well as Gidon Kremer of Latvia and British Martino Tirimo. Between 1977 and 1987 he performed in various European cities such Russian Moscow and Saint Petersburg as well as German Berlin, Düsseldorf and Nurnberg ending with Dublin, Kraków and Sofia. From 1989 to 1994 he performed with various British orchestras such as both London and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic as well as English Chamber Orchestra and The Hallé orchestra in Manchester. From 1990 to 1991 Glushchenko became Istanbul State Opera conductor with which he performed in such European capitals as Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Copenhagen, as well as Brno, in Italy. By 1997 he took charge of the Arturo Toscanini's orchestra and then became a leader of the RTVE Symphony Orchestra as well. WIKIPEDIA

Vincent La Selva (September 17, 1929 – October 9, 2017) Founder of a People's Opera Troupe, Dies at 88

Vincent La Selva died October 9, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an American conductor. Born in Cleveland, who began performing at the age of 8, and by the age of 12, he was conducting student performances. He received his bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School, where he has served on the faculty since 1969. After his graduation from Juilliard, he served in the United States Army, where he conducted the First Army band at Fort Jay on Governor's Island. His idea of presenting free productions began in 1954, when he founded the Xavier Symphony Society, made up of volunteer performers. Gian-Carlo Menotti was so taken by La Selva's performance of The Saint of Bleecker Street, that Menotti had La Selva perform the piece at New York's City Opera. This led to his being hired to conduct the City Opera's orchestra full-time. WIKIPEDIA

Zuzana Růžičková

Zuzana Růžičková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzuzana ˈruːʒɪt͡ʃkovaː]) (14 January 1927 – 27 September 2017) was an award-winning harpsichordist, whose work garnered acclaim around the world. Born in Czechoslovakia, where she lived her entire life, Růžičková was an interpreter of classical and baroque music. Růžičková was the wife of Czech composer Viktor Kalabis. She was the first harpsichordist to record J. S. Bach's complete works for keyboard. These recordings were made over ten years in the 1960s and 1970s for Erato Records, and were remastered and newly released in 2016 by Warner Records/Erato.As a teenager, Růžičková was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps of Terezin and Auschwitz, and was then transported to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. She was liberated in April 1945 and returned to Plzeň later that year. Růžičková and Kalabis both refused to join the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia which held power from 1948-89 and were consistently harassed as a result. Růžičková performed across the world for 50 years; she made over 100 records; and taught such prominent musicians as Christopher Hogwood, Ketil Haugsand, Jaroslav Tůma, Monika Knoblochová, Vaclav Luks, and Mahan Esfahani. (WIKIPEDIA)

Caesar Giovannini (February 26, 1925 – September 23, 2017) was an American pianist

He was also a band arranger and composer. Born in Chicago Illinois, Giovannini began piano studies as a child. He attended the Alfred Nobel Grammar School in Chicago and the Lane Technical High School. He graduated from the Chicago Conservatory of Music in 1948 with a Bachelor of Music and a master's degree in composition. During World War II he was appointed pianist for the US Navy Band in Washington, DC. From 1949 to 1956 he joined NBC in Chicago and gained fame through appearances on the Dave Garroway and Ransom Sherman shows. During 1956 and 1957 he was music director for the Kukla, Fran and Ollie television show. In 1958 he joined ABC Chicago. His instrumental compositions for Concert Band include Alla Barocco, El Torero, Overture in B-Flat, Overture to a New Era, and Chorale and Capriccio (with orchestrations by Wayne Robinson). From 1961 to 1976, he played piano on many movie soundtracks including The World of Henry Orient (1964), Wait Until Dark (1967), The Fox (1967), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Shaft's Big Score (1972) and Raid on Entebbe (1976). WIKIPEDIA

Opera star...to Hollywood stardom... Anne Jeffreys, Is Dead at 94

Anne Jeffreys became a member of the New York Municipal Opera Company on a scholarship and sang the lead at Carnegie Hall in such things as La bohème, Traviata, and Pagliacci. Her plans for an operatic career were sidelined when she was cast in a staged musical review, Fun for the Money. Her appearance in that revue led to her being cast in her first movie role, in I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Anne Jeffreys (born Anne Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer.

  WIKIPEDIA | New Yok Times Obit

People's Artist of the USSR , Soprano Tsisana Tatishvili dies

23 September 2017, 79-year old famous opera singer, People's Artist of the USSR, Tsisana Tatishvili, died in Georgia, The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi reports. "The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi expresses deep sorrow and condoles to the family of the singer and the whole musical world," the message reads....http://vestnikkavkaza.net BIOGRAPHY

 VIDEO: Tsisana Tatishvili - Vissi d'arte - Tosca - Puccini

Brenda Lewis, Versatile American Soprano, Is Dead at 96

Brenda Lewis (born 2 March 1921, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - died 17 September 2017, Westport , Conn.) was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably created roles in several world premieres by American composers; including the title role in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden in 1965. She also performed with frequency at the Metropolitan Opera from 1952-1965, and was active as a guest artist with notable opera companies both nationally and internationally. Although she is mainly remembered as an exponent of American operas and musicals, she performed a broad repertoire of works and was particularly celebrated for her portrayals of Marie in Wozzeck, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and the title roles of Carmen and Salome; the latter of which she performed for the inauguration of Houston Grand Opera in 1956. Lewis was also a familiar face to Broadway audiences in operettas, operas, and musicals; appearing in eight productions between 1944 and 1964. Her most successful appearance on Broadway was in the role of Birdie Hubbard in the world premiere of Marc Blitzstein's Regina in 1949. She later became closely associated with the title role in that work which she performed and recorded on disc with the NYCO in 1958. After retiring from the stage, she worked as a voice teacher and opera director at the Hartt School of Music. She also directed and produced operas for the New Haven Opera Theater from 1963-1973. (Wikipedia)
 

Conductor Siegfried Köhler is dead

Siegfried Köhler (30 July 1923 – 12 September 2017) was a German conductor and composer of classical music, who worked as general music director of opera houses such as Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Royal Swedish Opera. He conducted premieres of works by Hans Werner Henze and Volker David Kirchner, among others, and revived rarely performed operas. He also composed music for the stage and taught at universities of music in Cologne and Saarbrücken.

WIKIPEDIA

Derek David Bourgeois (16 October 1941–6 September 2017) was an English composer.

Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1941. After receiving his university education at Magdalene College, Cambridge(honours degree and doctorate), Bourgeois spent two years at the Royal College of Music, studying composition with Herbert Howells and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult. From 1971 to 1984, Bourgeois was a lecturer in music at Bristol University, and director of the National Youth Orchestra from 1984 to 1993. In 1980 he began conducting the Sun Life Band (now the Stanshawe Band of Bristol), which was his introduction to brass bands. In 1994 Bourgeois was appointed Director of Music at St Paul's Girls School, London, a position previously held by a number of noted composers, including Gustav Holst and Herbert Howells. After retiring from this post in 2002 he and his wife settled in Mallorca.

WIKIPEDIA

RIP: Pianist Aloys Kontarsky (1931 - 2017)

Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) [right] and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky. They were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputation for performing modern music for two pianists, although they also performed the standard repertoire and they sometimes played separately. They were occasionally joined by their younger brother Bernhard in performances of pieces for three pianos. After suffering a stroke in 1983, Aloys retired from performing. WIKIPEDIA

Patrick Thomas AM MBE (1 June 1932 – 1 August 2017) was an Australian conductor.

For a period of almost 35 years he conducted hundreds of performances across Australia in just about every centre where the various state symphony orchestras ventured, and introduced music to virtually a whole generation of young Australians through his popular and distinctive schools concerts. He held a succession of important posts with four of Australia's major ABC orchestras and the specially created position of ABC Federal Conductor-in-Residence as well as conducting the Australian Opera and the Australian Ballet. He also conducted the ABC's radio chorus, the Adelaide Singers. Overseas, he appeared in 12 countries as Guest Conductor of such orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Polish National Radio and Television Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBC Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Orchestra, and many others in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and South Africa. Other facets of his diverse career included those of concert, radio and television presenter and interviewer....Wikipedia.

Glen Campbell, 'Rhinestone Cowboy' Singer, Dead at 81

Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, television host, and actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including Rhinestone Cowboy, and for hosting a music and comedy variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television, from January 1969 through June 1972. During his 50 years in show business, Campbell released more than 70 albums. He sold 45 million records and accumulated 12 RIAA gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. He placed a total of 80 different songs on either the Billboard Country Chart, Billboard Hot 100, or Adult Contemporary Chart, of which 29 made the top 10 and of which nine reached number one on at least one of those charts. Campbell's hits include his recordings of John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind"; Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", and "Galveston"; Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy"; and Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights". Campbell made history in 1967 by winning four Grammys in the country and pop categories. For "Gentle on My Mind", he received two awards in country and western, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" did the same in pop.

  VIDEO: CBS...

Barbara Cook dead: Broadway actress of "Music Man" dies aged 89

Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s as the lead in the original Broadway musicals Plain and Fancy (1955), Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter. She continued performing mostly in theatre until the mid-1970s, when she began a second career as a cabaret and concert singer. She also made numerous recordings.

  WIKIPEDIA | Independent

VIDEO: Music Man Medley 

Paul Angerer (May 16, 1927 – July 26, 2017) Austrian violist, conductor, composer and radio presenter.

Angerer studied music theory and composition with Friedrich Reidinger and Alfred Uhl, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky. He performed in the viola section of Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande early in his career and was viola soloist with the Wiener Symphoniker from 1953 to 1957. Angerer then began to conduct the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras in Bonn and Ulm. From 1967 to 1972 he was principal conductor of the Salzburg Opera Theater (Salzburger Landestheater) and led the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester from 1971 to 1982. In 1982, Angerer began conducting the Concilium Musicum Wien and held a teaching position at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna from 1982 to 1992. Angerer was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Music in 1953 for his Musik für Viola allein and in 2001, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class. Paul Angerer's compositional style is influenced by that of Paul Hindemith. His works are published by Verlag Doblinger, Universal Edition, C. Haslinger and Editions M. Reift. (Wikipedia)

 VIDEO: A Bouquet of Old Vienna Dances (Paul Angerer conducts Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven/Schubert/Lanner)

Thomas Füri (22 July 1947, Bern, Switzerland – 23 July 2017, Bern) Swiss violinist

Swiss violinist, and a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Basel. He studied with his father Erich Füri and with Max Rostal at the Hochschule für Musik Bern. He completed his studies with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School in New York. From 1973 till 1980 he was leader in Koblenz, Lausanne and Basel. From 1979 till 1993 he led the Camerata Bern. From 1980 till 1991 he taught at the academies in Winterthur and Zürich. In 1985 he joined I Salonisti, appearing in the 1997 film Titanic. In 1993 he was awarded the Musikpreis des Kantons Bern. From 2000 he was a member of the Aria Quartet. Thomas Füri played on a 1761 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.

  OBIT Slipped Disc

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (7 October 1929 in Bologna – 11 July 2017 in Bologna), was an Italian organist, harpsichordist, musicologist and composer.

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini studied organ, piano and composition with Riccardo Nielsen at the Conservatory in Bologna and at the Conservatory in Paris with Marcel Dupré. He graduated at the University of Padua in 1951 with a dissertation on the texts of the sacred cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach; he taught organ at Bologna Conservatory where he also held the post of librarian; he became lecturer and later professor of organ at the Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano. He was appointed to teach music history at the University of Parma and in 1971 he was appointed as Professor and as Director of the Institute of Musicology at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland). He was guest professor at various universities in the U.S.A.; he was widely active as a concert organist in Italy and abroad. Together with Liuwe Tamminga he was appointed as organist at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. Together with Renato Lunelli he founded the journal "L'organo" in 1960, continued together with Oscar Mischiati and still running today. He taught regularly at the summer courses at Haarlem, Netherlands and at the course the "Academy of Organ Music" at Pistoia. WIKIPEDIA | VIDEO Interview
Mostra a cura di Betta Frigieri, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Paggeria di Palazzo Ducale, Sassuolo (27 marzo 2004)

 

Kyla Greenbaum (1922 – 15 June 2017) was a British pianist and composer.

Greenbaum was the pianist on the recording of The Rio Grande by Constant Lambert. In the book Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande, Lambert told Greenbaum "that he preferred her playing to (Hamilton) Harty's, even though a prominent wrong note went uncorrected and was only digitally rectified years later for one of its CD transfers." Greenbaum recorded Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

  WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: The Rio Grande-Satchwell Sitwell-Constant Lambert-Gladys Ripley(1949)

RIP...harpsichordist and conductor, Ludger Rémy. He was 68.

Ludger Rémy (4 February 1949 – 21 June 2017) was a German harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist. In 1994 he founded the orchestra Les Amis de Philippe, named after Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. From 1995 to 1999 he directed the Telemann Chamber Orchestra of Michaelstein. He taught at the Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein. On 23 September 2005 he revived the opera Didone abbandonata of Domenico Sarro to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, successful in 1724, in a shortened concert version, performed at the Schloss Elisabethenburg in Meiningen by Les Amis de Philippe. Between 1995 and 2007 he served as a juror at the International Competition for harpsichord and Fortepiano at the Festival van Vlaanderen in Brugge. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: J.F.Fasch Overture Symphonies, Ludger Rémy
 

US violinist Paul Zukofsky has died aged 73

Paul Zukofsky (October 22, 1943 – June 6, 2017) Violinist and conductor. Best known for his work with contemporary composers such as Phillip Glass and John Cage; his is Einstein's violin on the original recording of Glass's "Einstein on the Beach." Paul Zukofsky was born October 22, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York. His father was the American Objectivist poet Louis Zukofsky and his mother was Celia Thaew Zukofsky. Paul was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage through his father. His mother, Celia, was a Jewish musician and composer. Zukofsky studied violin with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music. He won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1965.
WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Paul Zukofsky & Gilbert Kalish, Performers

The conductor Sir Jeffrey Tate has died

The pianist and conductor Jeffrey Tate has died. He was rehearsing the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy, when he suffered an attack. He was 74 years of age.

Sir Jeffrey Philip Tate CBE (28 April 1943 – 2 June 2017) was an English conductor. Tate's international conducting début was with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1979. In 1985, he was appointed the first principal conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra. He was named to the position of principal conductor of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden effective in September 1986, the first person in the House's history to have that title.[3] He was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1991 to 1995. In 2005, he was appointed music director of the San Carlo Theatre of Naples, and served in the post through 2010.

  WIKIPEDIA

Harpsichordist Elisabeth Chojnacka is dead

The Polish musician, naturalized French, passionaria of contemporary music, died at 77 years. Elisabeth Chojnacka (born Elżbieta Chojnacka; 10 September 1939 – 28 May 2017) was a Polish harpsichordist living in France. She was one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord music.

  WIKIPEDIA VIDEO:

Jiri Belohlavek, Conductor and Leading Interpreter of Czech Music, Dies at 71

Mr. Belohlavek led the Czech Philharmonic and was associated with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, specializing in the music of Dvorak, Janacek and other countrymen. NYTimes Obit Jiří Bělohlávek CBE (Czech pronunciation: [jɪr̝iː bjɛloɦlaːvɛk]; 24 February 1946 – 31 May 2017)[1] was a Czech conductor. He was a leading interpreter of Czech classical music, and became chief composer of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990, a role he would serve on two different occasions during a combined span of seven years (1990-92, 2012-17). He also served a six-year tenure as the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2006-2012.[2] He gained international renown and repute for his performances of the works of Czech composers like Antonin Dvorak and Bohuslav Martinu, and was credited as "the most profound proponent of Czech orchestral music" by critics. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO:

Claudia Hellmann (25 November 1923 – 24 May 2017) was a German contralto with the Stuttgart Opera.

Hellmann frequently performed the contralto part in the recordings of Bach's cantatas, his Christmas Oratorio and his Easter Oratorio with the Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn, the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra and Fritz Werner. She recorded Bach's Magnificat and his Missa in F major with Karl Ristenpart, the Chorale Philippe Caillard, the Saar Radio Chamber Orchestra, Edith Selig, Georg Jelden, Jakob Stämpfli and Maurice André (trumpet) in 1964. In 1963, she recorded the part of Ismene in Orff's Antigonae with Inge Borkh as Antigonae, Keith Engen as Chorführer, Hetty Plümacheras Eurydice, Fritz Uhl as Haemon, and Ernst Haefliger as Tiresias, Ferdinand Leitner conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. She died in Eichwalde. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Bruckner: Mass No.3 In F Minor, WAB 28 - 1. Kyrie · Maria Stader · Claudia Hellmann · Ernst Haefliger · Kim Borg · Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks · Eugen Jochum · Bavarian Radio Chorus...

Barbara Smith Conrad (August 11, 1937 - May 22, 2017)

American operatic mezzo-soprano of international acclaim. In 1957, she became the focus of a racial controversy revolving around her role in a student opera at The University of Texas at Austin. Pressure from the Texas Legislature forced her removal from the cast, and her story received national media coverage. Conrad went on to perform with Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Nacional in Venezuela, and many others.

  WIKIPEDIA                                                   

Russian cellist Natalia Shakhovskaya has died, aged 81

Natalia Shakhovskaya (September 27, 1935 – May 20, 2017) was a Russian cellist. She studied cello at the Gnessin School of Music and later at the Moscow Conservatory under the tutorship of Semyon Kozolupov. She finished her education at the music conservatory with Mstislav Rostropovich. Shakovskaya won some of the most important cello competitions in Russia and abroad, including; the First Prize and Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky competition in 1962. Shakhovskaya pursued an active career as a soloist in recitals and with the best orchestras and conductors worldwide. She taught at the Moscow Conservatory (as Head of the Cello Chair and Director of Double Bass Department) from 1974 to 1995, after Rostropovich relinquished the post upon his departure from Russia.WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: A. Glazunov. Minstrel Song. Spanish Serenade

William Brohn, Who Made Broadway Orchestras Sing, Dies at 84

William David "Bill" Brohn (March 30, 1933 – May 11, 2017) was an American arranger and orchestrator, best known for his scores of musicals such as Miss Saigon, Ragtime and Wicked. He won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Ragtime and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations three times. His work was eclectic, orchestrating many different styles of music. His modern scores are known for their keyboard writing for the orchestra pit, and their balance between acoustic and synthesised sounds. Brohn was one of the few theatre orchestrators to use the E-bow attachment to the electric guitar, which can be heard in his orchestrations for Wicked and Mary Poppins.

 VIDEO: Nick Hutson and Jonathan Cohen sit down to talk to one of musical theatre's most respected orchestrators...

Brain tumour claims US composer, Daniel Brewbaker, 66

The death of Daniel Brewbaker has been reported by friends and family. Daniel, 66, had been suffering for two years from a brain tumour. A composers of great gifts, charm and grace, he was one of the first US composers to be performed in Russia by Valery Gergiev. Based in New York, he spent a long period in Europe working with Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio and Henri Dutilleux.

  Slippeddisc.com

VIDEO: now by Daniel Brewbaker - text by e.e.cummings... Concord SIngers Concert 05/19/2012 Michael Sanflippo, Director Caroline Parody

OBIT Documentary

Lights, Camera, Obits!

NY Times Profile Obit Staff

 How do you put a life into 500 words? Ask the staff obituary writers at the New York Times. OBIT is a first-ever glimpse into the daily rituals, joys and existential angst of the Times obit.

 

Celebrated Grimsby opera singer Norma Procter dies at 89

Norma Procter, who has died aged 89, was a contralto with a rich, creamy voice in the style of Clara Butt and Kathleen Ferrier Norma Procter (15 February 1928, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire – 2 May 2017, Grimsby) was an English contralto who studied with Roy Henderson. She was especially known for her oratorio and recital work, but also performed in opera, with her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1961 as Gluck's Orpheus. She also sang Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia for Britten at the 1958 Aldeburgh Festival. She is particularly known for her recordings of Mahler. The beauty smiling, and sweet beguiling.. (Norma Procter - contralto)

David Pell (February 26, 1925 – May 8, 2017) was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader

Dave Pell (February 26, 1925 – May 8, 2017) was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader born in New York City. He was best known for leading a cool jazz octet in the 1950s. In 1953, he began working with his own ensembles, mostly as an octet: Pell on tenor sax, another saxophone (either a baritone or an alto), trumpet and trombone, guitar, and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section). Among the octet players were Pepper Adams, Benny Carter, Mel Lewis, Red Mitchell, Marty Paich, Art Pepper and, early his career, John Williams. These ensembles recorded in the 1950s for Atlantic, Kapp, Coral, Capitol, and RCA Victor; alongside this, he played as a sideman for Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa. He also produced in the 1950s and 1960s for Tops, Uni and Liberty; among his credits in production were some singles by Gary Lewis & the Playboys. WIKIPEDIA

Dave Pell (ts), Bob Gordon (bs), Don Fagerquist (tp), Ray Sims (tb), Donn Trenner (p,cel), Tony Rizzi (g), Buddy Clark (b), Bill Richmond (ds) Album：" Dave Pell / Jazz & Romantic Places " Recorded：Hollywood, April, 1955

Francis Travis (9 July 1921 – 28 April 2017) was an American-born Swiss orchestral conductor.

Conductor Francis Travis was born in Detroit, Michigan, his advanced musical studies were at the University of Zurich, with a Ph.D. in musicology after writing a dissertation on Giuseppe Verdi. He was a pupil of Hermann Scherchen, later his assistant. He was opera director in Basel for two years, then Trier, Germany, for two years and was regular guest conductor at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. His discography includes works by Joachim Raff, Heinz Holliger with whom he collaborated, and Berlioz and Ravel. He also premiered Swiss and Swedish music. From 1990 to 1995 he lived in Tokyo with many concerts with Japanese orchestras and choruses. He was professor for Orchestral Conducting at Tokyo National University for Music and the Fine Arts. Travis has returned virtually each year to Japan for engagements, including concerts at the Kusatsu Summer Music Festival in 2001 and 2006. Travis later lived in Munich where he died. (from WIKIPEDIA)

  90th Birthday Concert - Francis Travis - Tokyo Geidai Strings - 15 July 2011

Eduard Brunner (14 July 1939 – 27 April 2017) was a classical clarinetist.

Eduard Brunner began his musical education in Basel (Switzerland) where he was born, continuing his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Cahuzac. For thirty years he was the first Clarinet of the Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and later he was Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Saarbrücken (Germany). His concert engagements as soloist and in chamber ensembles took him around the world and he frequently participated in Music Festivals at Lockenhaus, Vienna, Moscow, Warsaw, Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin, amongst others. He also undertook numerous Master Classes in different countries and has an extensive discography of over 250 works for Clarinet. He edited and recorded the complete works of Carl Stamitz and Ludwig Spohr for Clarinet.

  WIKIPEDIA

F. Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Piano / Eduard Brunner & Alice Burla

Agnes Giebel (10 August 1921 – 24 April 2017) was a German classical soprano.

Agnes Giebel was born in Heerlen, in the Netherlands, where she lived the first years of her life. She studied at the Folkwangschule in Essen and made her first public appearance as a singer in 1947. Her career lasted until the 1990s during which she established a wide-ranging discography.

  WIKIPEDIA

Dorothy Dorow (22 August 1930 - 15 April 2017) was an English soprano.

Dorow debuted in London in 1958. She has sung world-premieres of works by such composers as György Ligeti, Hans Werner Henze, Luigi Dallapiccola, Sylvano Bussotti and Luigi Nono. She is also noted for her performances of the vocal works of Igor Stravinsky. Dorow performed internationally including at the Kraków Philharmonic. After several years of living abroad (including the Netherlands) she retired in 1992 to Duloe in Cornwall.

  TELEGRAPH OBIT

British cellist Olga Hegedus has died aged 96

British musician Olga Hegedus, longtime co-principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, died at the age of 96 on 22 April 2017. In 1981, Ms Hegedus was one of a number of selected musicians invited to perform at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

  The STRAD Obit


 VIDEO: J.S. Bach: "Bist du bei mir", BWV 508 · Kiri Te Kanawa · Christopher Bowers-Broadbent · Olga Hegedus 

Russian violinist Grigori Zhislin has died, aged 71

Grigori Yefimovich Zhislin (Russian Григорий Ефимович Жислин; 14 May 1945 in Leningrad – 2 May 2017 in Berlin) was a Russian violinist and pedagogue. He studied with Yuri Yankelevich at the Moscow Conservatory. At the age of 22, he won the First Prize at the Paganini Competition in Genoa and the Silver Medal at the Queen Elizabeth Competition. Zhislin's repertoire contains concertos and recitals of all genres, for violin as well as for viola. As a soloist, Zhislin appeared with the Leningrad/St Petersburg Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, State Symphony Orchestra, RRS (Mailand, Turin), RBC Orchestras (Australian), Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna Symphonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Krakow Philharmonic, Stockholm Radio Orchestra. He played under the conductors Herbert Blomstedt, Aldo Ceccato, Erik Klass, Karl Österreicher, Kirill Kondrashin, Dimitri Kitajenko, Alexander Lasarev, Arvid Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, Woldemar Nelsson, Sauilus Sondeckis, Tadeusz Strugala, Natan Rachlin, Noeme Jarvi, Vladimir Fedosseyev. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: G.F Haendel – Passacaglia / Robert Kabara, Grigori Zhislin, Sinfonietta Cracovia