Category: people

Conductor Sergiu Commisiona was music director of the Baltimore Symphony beginning in 1968. “Without Comissiona’s long, eventful tenure – he served until 1985, when he was named conductor laureate – I doubt many people beyond the Baltimore Beltway would know there was an orchestra in the city, let alone such an important one.”

A little over a year ago, tenor Ben Heppner had to shorten two recitals when he experiences vocal problems. “Ever since, the burly Canadian tenor has had to contend not just with demands of the music at hand, but with the public memory of those unfortunate, exceptional evenings. Two wretched nights in a 17-year international career is not much, but it’s enough to sharpen everyone’s ears for the next sign of trouble.”

Detroit’s most famous classical music benefactor wasn’t a big fan of music, and rarely attended concerts at the glittering performing arts complex that bears his name. Max Fisher’s generosity was a gift not so much to an orchestra as to a city he loved, and desperately wanted to see brought back. Fisher died this past week, leaving behind a rich legacy of philanthropy born of an abiding sense of duty.

They don’t play instruments, paint landscapes, or take bows, but those wealthy men and women who sped their evenings in formalwear, going from cocktail party to reception to gala, are an integral part of any city’s cultural scene. In tony Boston, the glitterati have traditionally formed a very exclusive club, but things are changing. “Gone are the closed ranks of the Boston Brahmin, when your place in the Social Register was a question of pedigree. Today, membership in the club is more dependent on how much you can do — and give — for worthy causes. And, with the pool of local corporate benefactors shrinking through mergers and out-of-town ownership, the donations from this club are becoming more critical to a wide array of the city’s social services and the arts.”

“Sergiu Comissiona, the elegant Romanian-born conductor who transformed the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from a little-known ensemble into a nationally respected orchestra, taking it to Carnegie Hall and Europe and winning for it the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, was found dead yesterday in his Oklahoma City hotel room. Maestro Comissiona apparently died of a heart attack, hours before he was to serve as guest conductor for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.”

“Patience Agbabi, a bisexual, radical-feminist performance artist with cropped hair and tattoos, has been called ‘the PVC poet’ by the British media because of the lesbian, sadomasochistic and drug themes featured in her poetry. (PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is used to make the shiny black material that is commonly worn by dominatrixes.) Ms. Agbabi earned this label during her recent, unusual assignment: writer in residence at Eton College, one of the oldest boarding schools in Britain, and almost certainly its grandest.”

Atlanta Symphony music director Robert Spano is one of the few truly successful American conductors left in the classical music world, and throughout his career, he has seemed to disregard all the hurdles traditionally placed in the way of stick-wavers of U.S. descent. Now firmly ensconced (and quite popular) in Atlanta, he is on something of a career high, forging partnerships with some of the top living composers in the world, and preparing to stand at the helm of Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle next summer. His success has not gone unnoticed, either, among top U.S. orchestras who anticipate music director vacancies in the not-too-distant future.

A veteran tenor with Chicago Lyric Opera has been found dead in his apartment. Detectives were investigating the apparent stabbing of Richard Markley, 45, who lived alone. His Lyric co-workers found his body about 11 a.m. Sunday, police said.

“His greatest period of creativity certainly commences with Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, written in 1972. The Great Shark Hunt, published in 1979, contains his last work of any merit. The 11 books Thompson published in the next 25 years were a patchwork of half-finished columns and poorly researched articles, the occasional flashes of brilliant prose serving only to illuminate his lack of coherent thought and the ever-dimming light of his genius. As he retreated from the front line of journalism, he became a freak show on the corner of American pop culture. The books kept getting smaller. The print kept getting bigger.”

“Warsaw authorities charged two teenagers Friday in the stabbing death of surrealist painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. One suspect is the son of a longtime friend and aide to the painter. Beksinski, 75, considered one of Poland’s leading contemporary artists, was found stabbed to death Monday at his Warsaw home. He was best known for his abstract renditions of skeletons, monster-like creatures and other apocalyptic images evoking death and decay.”