Maestro Masur Marks 80th Birthday
Topic: NEWS performers
For over three decades, Kurt Masur was both one of the world's best classical-music conductors and the most prominent one from communist East Germany. But perhaps his finest hour came on the political stage in 1989. Masur was born on July 18, 1927 in what is now the city of Brzeg in Poland. The son of an engineer, he taught himself piano as a young child and quickly specialized in conducting -- despite suffering from a nervous stutter.

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Topic: CLASSICAL VIDEOs
VIDEO LINK: Concert performers drown out man in audience using cell phone

LAST RITES: Tenor Jerry Hadley
Topic: NEWS performers
 

LATEST: Celebrated tenor JERRY HADLEY has received the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church and his life support has been removed. The singer was admitted to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York last week (10Jul07) for a gunshot wound to the head which police say was self-inflicted. He has been on a life support machine in hospital ever since. Hadley suffered apparent self-inflicted brain damage after shooting himself in the head with an air rifle at his house in Clinton Corners, New York, according to The New York Times. Hadley won three Grammy Awards and appeared on recordings including Candide, Show Boat and Symphonic Sondheim: Sweeney Todd (at Carnegie Hall). Sources claim financial issues led to Hadley attempting suicide.

Topic: NEWS performers

The 55-year-old singer shot himself with an air rifle last Tuesday at his Clinton Corners home, several miles outside Poughkeepsie, according to state police. State troopers found him unconscious on his bedroom floor and he was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie.

Hadley had been on life support since his arrival at the hospital. Family friend and spokeswoman Celia Novo said he was taken off the systems Monday.

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Topic: SITEseeing
So, you think the classical recording business is dead in the water? Think again. Web-based options are helping to fill the void created by the shuttering of retail shops that once devoted extensive shelf space to classical music. ...MORE...

Doctors evaluating if tenor JERRY HADLEY should remain on life support
Topic: NEWS performers

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - A medical ethics panel was reviewing the case of noted tenor Jerry Hadley, who remained in "extremely grave" condition Friday with a gunshot wound, a family spokeswoman said.

The 55-year-old singer shot himself in the head with an air rifle Tuesday at his home several miles outside Poughkeepsie, according to state police.

Medical staff evaluated him Thursday to determine whether he should remain on life support. Family friend and spokeswoman Celia Novo said Friday that a medical ethics panel at the hospital was reviewing the case and would report to the family. She did not know when that would happen.

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Jerry Hadlery condition....
Now Playing: update
Topic: NEWS Industry

PLAYBILLarts writer Matthew Westphal reports: Tenor Jerry Hadley's Condition Apparently Hopeless After Suicide Attempt

Topic: MILESTONESJun-Dec07
Pianist Natalia Karp, whose life was spared during the Holocaust because of her musical talent, died on 9 July 2007, The Daily Telegraph of London reports. Born in Krakow, Poland to wealthy parents, Karp showed promise as a musician early on and decided at age 13 to pursue a career as a pianist. Guided by her grandfather, a gifted cantor, she went to Berlin three years later to study with Artur Schnabel. At 18, Karp performed Chopin's First Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic; rather than pursuing her nascent career in the city, however, she returned to Poland to be with her ailing mother.

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Topic: NEW CDs
A tribute to America's first great classical violinist, played by one of her musical descendants, on this week's Billboard classical chart. Making its debut at no. 12 is American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell, performed by violinist Rachel Barton Pine with pianist Matthew Hagle. Powell (1867-1920) was once renowned for her virtuosity on both sides of the Atlantic — conductor Leonard Slatkin has described her as "the female Fritz Kreisler" (and Barton Pine prefers to think of Kreisler as the male Maud Powell) — and was a star of both the concert stage and the 78 RPM recording. This new CD is a collection of turn-of-the-20th-century miniatures for violin and piano which Powell made staples of her touring repertoire; many of them are arrangements she made herself.

Power of the Proms: How the world's greatest classical music festival is changing
Now Playing: A West End star, a Soweto ensemble and Nitin Sawhney are appearing at the 2007 Proms.
Topic: NEWS Industry
The queue outside the Royal Albert Hall meanders down the stone stairs into Prince Consort Road, past the Royal College of Music and the ice-cream vans. People of all varieties perch on the parapets; some are first-timers, others turn up every day, every summer. Anoraks muddle together with posh frocks; golf umbrellas rub spokes with Woolworths' finest. The doors open, and there's a civilised stampede as the Promenaders surge in to bag the best spots. The central ethos of the Proms, which open tonight, is the same as ever: cheap tickets for standing places to hear great music-making. The result is a celebratory atmosphere in which a flood of enthusiastic takers each pay less than the price of a one-day travelcard on the Tube.

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