Luciano Pavarotti's Mother Buried
MODENA, Italy (AP) - Adele Venturi's funeral ended Sunday with a recorded version of "Ave Maria'' sung by her son, Luciano Pavarotti. The Rev. Mauro Campani praised Venturi for her "industriousness, simplicity, delicacy, prudence and faith.'' The funeral for Venturi, 86, brought the opera star back ...
| Pavarotti makes emotional return to London stage
LONDON - Luciano Pavarotti, the world's most famous tenor, made an emotional return to London's Royal Opera House Friday, dedicating the rare performance to his mother who died in Italy just the day before. While his voice sounded strained at times and his movements were often stiff, this was more about ...
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Qualcomm CEO to give $100 mln to San Diego Symphony
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Irwin Jacobs, the founder and chief executive of wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc. , plans to give $100 million to the San Diego Symphony, making the once-bankrupt orchestra one of the richest in the country, a spokeswoman for the symphony said Friday. The donation, to ...
| 'Chubby' Pavarotti in London, coy on retirement
LONDON (Reuters) - Luciano Pavarotti, the world's most famous tenor, makes a long-awaited return to London's Royal Opera House on Friday amid mounting speculation it could be his swan song at a theater he sees as a spiritual home. With full opera appearances increasingly rare and mobility impaired by ...
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Philharmonic Season to Start With Ode
NEW YORK (AP) - Lorin Maazel will start his first season as the New York Philharmonic's music director with an unfinished ode to Sept. 11 and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The 2002-2003 season, the philharmonic's first under the 71-year-old maestro after 11 with Kurt Masur, will include four other world ...
| German Opera Singer Moedl Dies
BERLIN (AP) - German opera singer Martha Moedl, who rose to international fame with her performances of Wagner in the 1950s and 1960s, has died. She was 89. Moedl died Monday at a hospital in Stuttgart after a long illness, the Bavarian State Opera said. Born March 22, 1912 in the southern city of Nuremberg, ...
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Conductor Masur to Resume Duties
NEW YORK (AP) - When Kurt Masur returns from Germany to resume his duties as music director of the New York Philharmonic after his recent kidney transplant, he'll bring back more than memories of his German relatives. The 74-year-old conductor said his nephew, a German sculptor, donated the kidney. ...
| Masur Recovering From Transplant
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) - Kurt Masur, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, was recovering well after undergoing a kidney transplant in Germany, the hospital said Monday. The 74-year-old conductor suffered no complications during the operation, which was done Nov. 29, the University Clinic ...
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Florida Philharmonic Names Director
MIAMI (AP) - Joseph Silverstein, a concertmaster for more than two decades at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been named acting music director for the Florida Philharmonic. Silverstein, 69, a violinist and conductor, is artistic adviser to 10 orchestras in the United States and Canada, including ...
| Opera Opens With Patriotic Flair
NEW YORK (AP) - "Viva Italia!'' the opera begins - and the chorus seems to repeat it every five minutes. "La Battaglia di Legano,'' among the works being re-examined in the centennial year of Verdi's death, is the most patriotic of the composer's operas and opened the season of Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra ...
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Eschenbach to Head Phila. Orchestra
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Conductor Christoph Eschenbach has signed a contract that will make him the seventh music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Eleven months after agreeing to take over from Wolfgang Sawallisch in September 2003, Eschenbach made it official Thursday, agreeing to what amounts to ...
| Orchestra Cancels Work on Hijacking
BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Symphony, citing the Sept. 11 attacks, has canceled performances of choruses from "The Death of Klinghoffer,'' an opera about the 1984 hijacking of a cruise ship. The 1990 opera by John Adams meditates on the attack on the Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists, who killed ...
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James Levine named new Boston Symphony director
BOSTON (Reuters) -The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) named New York Metropolitan Opera artistic director James Levine its new music director Sunday, making him the first American to hold the post in the renowned orchestra's 120-year history. "It was the unanimous vote of the trustees. The appointment ...
| Toronto orchestra reaches wage deal with musicians
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Symphony Orchestra reached a wage-cut agreement with its musicians on Friday in a bid to avoid bankruptcy. After several days of intense negotiations, the musicians agreed to a substantial salary reduction -- 15 per cent in the first year -- and to a shorter season, but ...
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Bartoli, Hickox Win Gramophone Awards
LONDON (AP) - Cecilia Bartoli was selected artist of the year by Gramophone and conductor Richard Hickox won both the record of the year and orchestral award. The ceremonies were held Friday at Barbican Hall. The annual awards, selected by the magazine's critics, are considered among the most prestigious ...
| Pavarotti Acquitted on Tax Charges
MODENA, Italy (AP) - An Italian court on Friday acquitted opera star Luciano Pavarotti of charges of filing false tax returns. The trial in Pavarotti's hometown started in May but was immediately adjourned to September, when the singer told the court he had always acted in good faith when filing returns ...
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Composer Jay Livingston Dies at 86
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Jay Livingston, whose collaboration with Ray Evans led to such hits as "Silver Bells,'' "Que Sera, Sera'' and "Mona Lisa,'' died Wednesday. He was 86. Livingston, whose songwriting partnership with Evans spanned 64 years, died of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai ...
| Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Near End
NEW YORK (AP) - It seems as if Claudio Abbado took over the Berlin Philharmonic only yesterday. Elected as Herbert von Karajan's successor in October 1989, Abbado is starting his final season as artistic director of one of the world's finest orchestras before handing it over to Sir Simon Rattle next ...
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Billy Joel Says Classical Project Took Eight Years
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two new Billy Joel albums come out Tuesday (October 2)--a two-disc hits set called The Essential Billy Joel and, more notably, Fantasies & Delusions (Music For Solo Piano), his first set of instrumental classical music and his first album of new material since 1993's River Of Dreams. ...
| Classical Music Pays Tribute
NEW YORK (AP) - Soprano Leontyne Price sang "America The Beautiful.'' Cellist Yo-Yo Ma played a poignant and melancholy Bach suite. Pianist James Levine rippled the keys with a mournful rag. New York's classical music community paid tribute Sunday night to the more than 6,000 victims of the Sept. 11 ...
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