Category: people

Alberto W. Vilar, who was a major benefactor of American orchestras and opera houses, “was sent to jail on Thursday. Convicted of 12 counts related to securities fraud on Nov. 19, Mr. Vilar had been free on bail pending his sentencing March 20. But federal prosecutors argued that Mr. Vilar was a flight risk given the prospect of a lengthy prison term and what they called his penchant for lying and stealing.”

Legendary pianist Alfred Brendel’s final stage appearance was greeted with 20 minutes of ovations by an overflow crowd at Vienna’s Musikverein. “Brendel, who has lived in London since 1971, is also a published author of books on music and humorous verse and says he will continue to write after his retirement from the concert stage. He also plans to give lectures, readings and seminars.”

“Sontag does not expend the energy on being charming, or even comprehensible, that most people paradoxically do in their private journals. Her notes are scattered, aphoristic, sharp… What is remarkable here is the ferocious will, the conscious and almost unnatural assembly of a persona that rises above and beyond that of ordinary people.”

“Sam Bottoms, who started his acting career as a teenager in The Last Picture Show and played surfer Lance Johnson in Apocalypse Now, died Tuesday in Los Angeles of brain cancer. He was 53. He was the brother of actors Timothy, Joseph and Ben Bottoms and the husband of producer Laura Bickford. “

He “was active as a composer from the 60’s as well as an active member of the Fluxus-movement. He worked with artists such as Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik as well as with his wife Ursula Reuter Christiansen.”

“The outstanding composer and pianist Cuban Harold Gramatges died on Tuesday at the age of 90 in Havana city… Gramatges, an important pillar of contemporary music in Latin America, remained active until the last of his days.”

David Handel was an unlikely individual to popularize orchestral music in Bolivia – American-born, classically trained, and possessed of almost no knowledge of the country he arrived in back in 1997. “The National Symphony Orchestra he was hired to remake was a shambles — it had no concert hall, generated little public interest and was barely able to muster seven or eight sparsely attended concerts a year and pay its musicians a few dollars per performance.” Today, it’s a whole different story.

“New York Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel and his wife are offering their country estate in Virginia for $50,000 a night during the presidential inauguration. The Rappahannock County estate can accommodate up to 50 guests. The complex includes a spa facility with a large heated swimming pool, a Turkish steam room and a Finnish sauna. Guests also can use a theater room with a commercial-size movie screen, along with a bowling alley and a petting zoo.”

On ending his 60-year career as a concert pianist: “What I will miss, probably, is the adrenalin – its medical benefits… These farewell concerts have turned out to be enlightening. When I have been told, ‘You are leaving a big hole in the lives of so many people,’ I felt glad that I could leave something behind, even if it’s a hole.”

Cellist Valentin Berlinsky, co-founder of the Borodin String Quartet, Russia’s oldest and most admired chamber group, died in Moscow on Monday (Dec. 15) at age 83. He had played with the Borodin ever since its establishment in 1944.