TOGETHER WITH

February 20, 2023

Jane Fonda attended the Vienna Opera Ball with Austrian tycoon Richard Lugner last week. The Hollywood icon admitted she was only there because he had paid her to be on his arm for the evening. Despite her admission, she appeared to have a blast.

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In today's email: 

• The big idea: The King’s Singers get cancelled due to “lifestyle concerns”
• Cyberattack: Hackers cripple Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center
• Auction: Ultra rare Guarneri Violin up for sale
• Alert: Have you seen this violin?
• Cartoon of the week
• Around the web: Critic gets assaulted with dog excrement, Berlin Phil makes history with first-ever female concertmaster, how to survive a kangaroo fight, plus more curious internet finds.

CLASSICAL CHARTS

THE BIG IDEA

The King's Singers Cancelled Over 'Lifestyle' Concerns

Homophobia has reared its head in the classical music world via Florida. Sadly, it’s not the punchline of a joke.

Pensacola Christian College in Florida cancelled an appearance last weekend by the renowned choral group The King’s Singers, “upon learning that one of the artists openly maintained a lifestyle that contradicts Scripture”. Their statement of February 13 was posted to Twitter.

The King’s Singers respond

“We are deeply saddened that our concert at Pensacola Christian College was cancelled at two hours’ notice on Saturday, February 11th,” it begins.

They note that the institution, which the Singer’s have performed at more than once in the past, and recognize as a fundamentalist Christian college, mentioned the “lifestyle” of one of the ensemble’s members as the reason.

“Our belief is that music can build a common language that allows people with different views and perspectives to come together.”

The full text is available from their Twitter feed.

In a sad sort of irony..

…the program for their current tour is titled Finding Harmony, which spotlights music that has helped people through times of oppression and adversity.

P.S.

Imagine the response of the Pensacola Christian College in Florida when they discover that George Frideric Handel, the composer of “Messiah” — was a gay male.

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With additional reporting by Michael Vincent.

SPONSORED

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THE LATEST

(Wiebke Huester, a German dance critic, is speaking out after a ballet director smeared dog feces in her face because she'd written a negative review of his work. (Wiebke Huester/Facebook)) 

Ballet director assaults dance critic with dog excrement. In a bizarre incident last week, a German music critic, Wiebke Huester, was subject to a literal smear campaign when ballet director Marco Goecke of the Hannover State Opera rubbed dog excrement on her face after taking offence to a review she wrote. The police opened an investigation, and Goecke was fired from his role. The incident follows Huester's negative review of Goecke’s Ballet, “Hello Earth”, where she described it as being “alternately driven mad and killed by boredom". | New York Times

Berlin Phil makes history with first-ever female concertmaster. Vineta Sareika-Völkner has become the first woman to ever hold this position in this acclaimed orchestra. Her impressive background includes training at Paris Conservatoire National with Gérard Poulet and Belgian Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Augustin Dumay; she has also performed soloist roles for a variety of orchestras over her career.  From 2012 to 2021, Sareika-Völkner was the first violinist for the  Artemis Quartet and plays on a 1683 Antonio Stradivari loaned by Ruggieri Foundation. | Classic FM

Andrew Lloyd Webber to write an anthem for Charles III’s coronation. Andrew Lloyd Webber has reportedly written an anthem for King Charles III's coronation by adapting a piece of church music. The ceremony will also include works by composers from the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and foreign countries. These pieces range from classical to sacred to modern genres, including film and musical theatre. In keeping with tradition, Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” which has been played at every coronation since 1727, will also be played. | Associated Press

CYBERATTACK

Kimmel Center Concert Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Photo: Carol M. Highsmith/Creative Commons/Wikipedia)

Hackers Cripple Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center have been affected by a cyberattack that has hobbled their ticketing systems for over a week.

What we know

Organization officials have not confirmed if this was a ransomware attack, only that they are being disrupted.

The FBI has offered assistance in investigating the incident, but they have assured that no customer credit card information or donor data has been compromised.

This attack is unprecedented in the arts center’s 21-year history. Arts center leaders are working with cybersecurity experts to restore the full functionality of their websites soon.  

Targeting the arts

The MET Opera was targeted in a cyberattack that shut them down for over a week in early December.

According to Slippedisc, the MET was targeted with another bot attack last week that took their site down for several hours.

There are also reports that Vienna Opera may have been cyberattacked last week after their website was taken offline.

Why is this happening?

In an interview with the FBI spokesperson Carrie Adamowski with the Philadelphia Enquirer, she said they are unaware of any trends targeting arts organizations. 

She added that criminals probe nonstop, looking for vulnerabilities in networks holding personal or financial data of employees/customers, which can be monetized or posted online.

Hard facts 

• According to Check Point Research, cyberattacks worldwide increased by 38% from 2021-2022.

• A recent IBM report states manufacturing, finance and insurance sectors were most hit by similar incidents globally.

AUCTION

Side, front and back views of the nearly 300-year-old violin known as the 'Baltic': Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù of c. 1731. To be offered at auction March 15-16, 2023, at Tarisio New York.

Ultra Rare Guarneri violin up for sale

A Guarneri violin dating from 1731 is expected to fetch up to $10 million USD at an auction planned for March 2023. It will be sold via the Tarisio Auction House, a web-based auction house specializing in stringed instruments and bows.

There are about 150 remaining violins by the Italian master known as Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù of Cremona, Italy. Many artists, including Paganini, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Jascha Heifetz, have preferred Guarnari violins for their sound. The Guarneri sound, in comparison with a Stradivarius, for example, produces deeper, darker tones.

The violin up for auction is known as The Baltic.

“The ‘Baltic’...

…is more than an exceptional instrument; it is a singular work of art,” Carlos Tomé, director and head of sales at Tarisio, said in a statement. “Given the limited quantity of violins produced by del Gesù, the upcoming sale marks the first time in over 30 years that an instrument of this type has come to public sale.”

History

• The violin was made by hand in 1731 by master luthier Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in exceptional quality maple wood, and remains in excellent condition nearly three centuries after its construction.

• Bartolomeo Giuseppe “del Gesù” Guarneri was born in 1698, and died in 1744. His brother Pietro also became a luthier, and established himself in Venice. Giuseppe, often called “del Gesù” to distinguish him from his father of the same name, was 32 years old at the time that he crafted The Baltic. He came from a family of luthiers that included both his father and uncle.

• After his father’s retirement, Giuseppe began to carve his own path, breaking with his family’s traditions in some cases to create his own unique process. The Baltic has a shorter body, comparatively speaking, and broader wings. The sound holes have a distinct shape. The Baltic is one of the first violins to display his innovative signature style. The violins he produced during the 1730s are considered among the greatest masterpieces of the luthier’s art.

Have $10M lying around? 

Interested parties can view the violin at Tarisio’s New York galleries from Feb. 22 to March 16, the final date of the online auction. The catalogue, and a video of artists playing The Baltic in performance, can be viewed here.

Going deeper

The instrument was most recently owned by Sau-Wing Lam, who purchased the instrument in 1979. It was kept privately by his family after his death in 1988.

Previous owners include classical musician Dorotha Powers in the 1950s. According to provenance notes by Tarisio, Powers traded two Stradivari for The Baltic in her purchase of the instrument from the Wurlitzer Company.

Lam was a Chinese businessman born in Shanghai. He later moved to New York in 1948, and worked his way to president of the Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation, Inc. conglomerate. He was also an amateur violinist and violist, and began to collect instruments in the 1960s. His wife Jean was an amateur pianist, and the couple were known for their financial support and sponsorship of student musicians, as well as loaning instruments from their collection.

Chinese cellist Jian Wang attended the Yale School of Music with their support, and went on to become the first-ever Chinese musician to sign an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. For the last four decades, Wang has played a cello loaned to him by the Lam family.

“Sau-Wing Lam was one of the great unsung heroes of the music world,” Wang said in a statement through Tarisio. “Through his vital support of musicians and his careful stewardship of the musical instruments he collected, he established a remarkable legacy that is ready to be shared and passed on to the next generation.”

ALERT

Have you seen this violin?

The Violin Society of America has sent out a stolen alert for a Kurt Gutter violin and Stamped Tourte bow.

The violin was stolen Monday, February 23, 2023, in Brooklyn, New York 

Violin: 

• Stradivari gold period model with French interpretation

• European Spruce Soundboard

• European Maple back

• Ebony fingerboard 

• Hand-varnished terpene with golden ground under reddish upper coats

Bow:

• Stamped Tourte (Germany) (54gm) 

• Stick: Pernambuco

• Head: Carved following Tourte.

• Frog: Ebony with silver metalwork

If you have any information, please contact T. Matthew at 507-250-1727.

The report number is 2023-071-766 at the Central Brooklyn Precinct number 71, which can be contacted at 718-735-0511.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) premieres 1816.

🔍 Rabbit Hole: Visit Wikenigma — a new wiki coving only gaps in human knowledge, such as what killed Mozart and the mystery of earworms.

📸 Art: Visit an online exhibit of photos submitted by Smithsonian community members here.

🦘Life lessons: How to defend yourself against a kangaroo attack.

CARTOON OF THE WEEK

Cartoon: Eugen Chan

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Today's email was brought to you by Anya "Guarneri" Wassenberg and Michael "never pay a ransom" Vincent.

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