This Week in Classical Music-Jan. 31, 2010

by: Randy Kinkel

January 31, 2010

Earl Wild

This Week in Classical Music-Jan. 31, 2010

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Earl Wild Dead at 94
•Agreement in Seattle
•57 year Met Vet retires

This Week in Classical Music 1/31/10

It’s This Week in Classical Music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

Pianist Earl Wild has died at age 94 of congestive heart Disease at his home in Palm Springs, California. The Grammy award winning musician had continued to teach until the week before his death. In his career he recorded more than 35 piano concertos and 700 solo pieces. His 57th album, “Living History” was recently released. Wild Started playing at age 3 and studied with teachers who were taught by Ravel, Liszt, Paderewski and Busoni. He was the first pianist to give a solo recital on American TV. He performed with many orchestras and played and wrote music for comedian Sid Caesar and played for six American presidents. In a 2005 interview he attributed his longevity to being active—he said, “when people are alive and able to do something, they should DO something, even if it’s basket weaving, because not to do something is to give up…. so never give up.”

Seattle Symphony Musicians and management have reached agreement on a new contract last week after months of tense negotiations. The 23 month, three-season contract immediately cuts musicians’ pay by 5% until the end of the season, with the current pay scale resuming in 2011. Musicians would also pay a larger share of their health Care insurance. Each of the 84 members of the musicians union would also be required to contribute just over $2,000 to the Symphony’s annual fund. "We are hopeful that this tentative agreement will further the advancement of the symphony in a crucial time," said Tim Hale, violist and chairman of the musicians union…

After an impressive 57 years on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, tenor Charles Anthony is preparing to take his final bow. The 80-year-old Singer born Charles Anthony Caruso was told to change his name by Rudolph Bing, manager of the Met during Anthony’s first season, in 1954. His final role will be that of the emperor in Puccini’s Tornado. According to the Met, Anthony has appeared in 2,927 performances at the Met, more than any solo artist in history. Conductor James Levine said, “He has phenomenal resilience… a beacon of really intelligent bel canto singing,”

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, kbaq.org; be listening each week at this time for another update; and join me every weekday for The Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I’m Randy Kinkel, for this week in classical music on 89-five KBAQ phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.