NEWS

English National Opera ban 'darling'
In a policy document called 'Dignity at Work' which outlines workplace protocol, ENO has banned the use of the traditional theatre greeting 'darling' amongst its staff, although it goes against the grain in a city where many people commonly address complete strangers in a similar manner.

It is impossible to ban a word, but the context in which it is used is crucial. "Whilst it may be acceptable between friends, it would be thought of very differently if the term is used by a senior colleague and accompanied by a wink. This is simply guidance for employees - we are protecting ourselves and them," said spokesman Anthony McNeill. "We live in a litigious society."

£10 a go at the Garden
The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden is to offer 100 seats in the stalls and stalls circle at £10 each on Monday nights. The tickets will by allocated by a lottery an hour and a half before the start of the programme.

The promotion is part of a sponsorship deal in association with Travelex, a foreign exchnge service company, and aims to make opera accessible to anyone who wishes to attend. Cheaper seats are still available with a restricted view for as little as £4.

Change in payment terms
From 1st April Chandos.net has altered its price for single full price CD’s to UK Sterling £12.99 plus £1.00 postage and packing per order anywhere in the world, so the price that you see is the price that you pay. All other Chandos labels and box sets will reflect this change also.

We hope that it will make ordering much more straightforward and transparent.

London Coliseum, reopens after a £41m restoration
The Home of English National Opera, the seat of opera sung in English, has finally reopened after cancelling its production of John Adams' Nixon in China due to late completion of the works. The 2,358 seat auditorium has been returned to its original Edwardian splendour, while a 40% increase in public space includes a rooftop bar - the Sky Bar, named after its biggest corporate sponsor!

The season opens on 27 February with Wagner's Rhinegold. The landmark building is topped by an updated version of the globe which will now rotate and beam fibre-optic light. One essential change has been the doubling in capacity of ladies toilets, hopefully spelling the end of the notoriously long queues during intervals.

The inaugural event was a guest-only affair, including many of those who have worked on the restoration project and featured a semi-staged scene from Nixon and, apparently, plenty of free champagne.

Master of the Queen's Music
The newly appointed Master of the Queen's Music is Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The appointment was announced on March 7th and will last for ten years. Sir Peter, 69, said he will follow the lead of Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, in using his appointment to bring his art to a wider public. Although he will not be expected to produce pieces for specific national or royal events, he said: 'I will be very surprised if they are not pleased to have a major event like the Queen's birthday marked by a suitable text which at the same time raises the profile of serious music.'

Tipped as very high on the shortlist of likely successors to Sir Malcolm Williamson as Master of the Queen's Music - an appointment that lay vacant after nearly a year - is Chandos composer Michael Berkeley. His credentials include a fine public reputation, a good high profile and music that is both serious and beguiling. (Click here for a listing of his works on Chandos)

After a difficult time with the reclusive Malcolm Williamson, Buckingham Palace took care to pick a responsive and responsible candidate. Also tipped to be on the list are John Rutter, Colin Matthews, Judith Weir and John Woolrich.

Tower Records Files for Bankruptcy
On February 10 Tower Records filed for bankruptcy protection, turning to the courts to wipe out millions in debts that have strangled the famous music retailer. Hit hard by heavy discounting, digital piracy and other competitors, the company filed for bankruptcy in Wilmington, Delaware, where it is registered.

The subsequent granting of protection allows the company to continue operation of its 93 stores (although some may close), and will give the company the fresh start it's been seeking since it was first on the brink of bankruptcy almost three years ago.

Tower said the bankruptcy filing was a 'pre-packaged' case in which the vast majority of its creditors have already agreed in principle to a restructuring plan that would erase $80 million in bond debt and give bondholders the lion's share of Tower's ownership.

Beethoven to the resuce
Classical music has come to the rescue of residents who felt besieged by large groups of youngsters congregating outside their high-rise flats. The youths loitering around tower blocks near Glasgow in Scotland fled after classical music was piped, round-the-clock, into the entrance lobbies.

They found it so "un-cool" they decided to beat a hasty retreat, leaving the residents in peace.

Wozzeck in Top 20 of 2003
Chandos' Opera in English recording of Alban Berg's disturbing opera Wozzeck has been chosen by BBC Music Magazine as one of their top 20 CDs of last year.

This is no mean acheivment in a market place that has around 3-4000 releases a year.

Martyn Brabbins takes over Cheltenham
The conductor Martyn Brabbins, one of Britain's most versatile and leading young conductors, will become the new artistic director of the Cheltenham Festival, currently under the artistic direction of Michael Berkeley.

He is a great advocate of British music a fact reflected in his recordings on Chandos with the BBC Philharmonic.

SA-CD makes greater inroads
Chandos released its first SACDs in March of this year and now already has seventeen in the catalogue, with more planned. The market is most certainly expanding and taking note of consumer power. The hardware manufacturer Pioneer has just released a combined DVD and SACD player at the remarkable and significant price of only £250.

The majors are now supporting the format strongly with magazine inserts now hitting the news-stands.

'Sir' Vernon Handley
Does Vernon Handley, one of the greatest and seemingly under-rated conductors of British music deserve just recognition? Gramophone has launched a 'Nod for Tod' campaign. To resgister your support click here to visit the Gramophone website.

Also visit our Reviews page to see the unstinting praise his new Bax symphonies cycle has garnered.

Paul Daniel to Leave ENO
The English National Opera's music director, Paul Daniel, is to step down in spring 2005 after eight years in the post. The company has endured a difficult time over the last eighteen months; from the brink of financial ruin, a striking chorus and the resignation of a general director to the appointment of a new artistic director, Seán Doran.

'He [Seán Doran] needs a long time to turn the company round. It's time for new blood' said Paul Daniel. ENO enjoyed an encouraging end to the autumn season - boasting successful box-office figures, an injection of Arts Council cash and a surprise donation from the South African property and retail magnate Donald Gordon of £10 million.

Doran paid tribute to Daniel's skills: 'Paul is a great colleague and a team player, but it is highly appropriate for him and the company to finish with the Ring and on such a high note. He has seen through an extraordinary period, and has been critical in holding the company together.'

£20m donation to UK arts
Both the Royal Opera House and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff have been given a no-strings-attached donation of £10 Million each over the next five years. The South African property and retail magnate Donald Gordon has made the gift to mark his forthcoming retirement and the granting of dual British-South African citizenship.

The Royal Opera House will use the money to finance new productions and the Wales Millennium Centre will use it to make up the final £8m it has been struggling to raise.

Opera in three languages?
Government bodies in the UK are now insisting on sign-language translators on stage at the Royal Opera House. The visual language of the opera can make the action and storyline easy to follow, particularly with the inclusion of English 'surtitles' on screens above the stage. But under the Disability Rights Commission Act of 1999, arts institutions must provide a number of signed performances - despite never having received a letter of complaint from a deaf opera-goer.

A spokesman for the Royal Opera House, which controversially received £78.5 million of Lottery money to refit its Covent Garden auditorium in 1997, said that it simply had no choice. 'It is part and parcel of life today,' he said. 'We receive public money and part of that is the condition that we do this.'

Welsh National Opera to Move
Welsh National Opera is to move to a new home in the Wales Millenium Centre which is being built in Cardiff Bay. It joins eight other cultural organistations including BBC National Orchestra of Wales (as reported last month) who already plan to move there.

The 1900 seat auditorium has been designed by Percy Thomas, the same architects who designed Birmingham's successful Symphony Hall.