Photos of the MET: Jonathan Tichler/Metropolitan Opera


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The Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802, American Federation of Musicians

Interview with JOHN FISHER,


former Director of Music Administration


on "Classic Talk with Bing and Dennis"



Watch HERE

Carol: Gildo, if I am not mistaken you win the prize for the longest tenure of an assistant conductor at the Met. Is that right?


Gildo: Well yes, I think probably that’s right. I started at the old Met in 1963 at 39th and Broadway and then moved to the new house along with everyone else. I guess it was a total of 55 years, 39 of them full time. I did retire a few times but always came back!


C: Tell me, how did you get the job? I know you started in Chicago where you grew up but how did you get the job atthe Met?... continue reading

Featuring former and current Metropolitan Opera Music Staff members

Interview with GILDO DI NUNZIO

by Carol Isaac

IN MEMORIAM

Joel Revzen, 1945 - 2020

Interview with JANE KLAVITER and ROBERT MORRISON

by Carol Isaac

From Peter Gelb


Dear Company Members,


With great sadness, I’m writing about the tragic loss of Joel Revzen, beloved and respected member of the Met Music Staff since 1999, who passed away yesterday from complications relating to Covid-19. Joel had bravely been fighting for his life for more than two months, faithfully watched over by his wife, Cindy, who never gave up hoping for his recovery. At the Met, Joel was a warm and generous influence at all times, contributing significantly to the Met’s artistic process. While necessarily exacting, Joel’s professional manner was soft spoken, encouraging and compassionate — much admired and appreciated qualities for those of us who worked closely with himin the sometimes combustible atmosphere of intense rehearsals... continue reading

CI: Jane, where did you grow up and go to school? Do you come from a musical family, are there other siblings or family members who became musicians?


JK: I grew up in Illinois. In high school I studied piano at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, then privately with Rudolph Ganz for a short period of time. I attended University of Illinois where my piano teachers were Stanley Fletcher, Soulima Stravinsky and Malcolm Bilson... continue reading

BEETHOVEN 1770 - 2020



NATALIA KATYUKOVA PERFORMING BEETHOVEN

We have arrived at the highly anticipated week of 2020 - Beethoven's 250th Birthday! This is happening very differently than any of us could have anticipated, yet the essential truth remains, we are all better people because of his life and artistry. How can one person make such a difference in our lives? It is possible, he showed us the way.


Here is a beautiful offering from a valued member of our music staff, Natalia Katyukova. As we listen to him in 2020 and head into 2021, we can bring his spirit of listening mindfully to one another. Wouldn't that be the best way to celebrate his birthday?



We would also like to celebrate Pierre Vallet, whose recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 was named as a “Best of Beethoven” 2020 selection on Apple Music.





Happy Holidays everyone!

Interview with DENNIS GIAUQUE

by Carol Isaac

Dennis Giauque

CI: Dennis, what a pleasure it is for me to connect with you again! I remember so well how you welcomed me to the Met and to your studio C-13, which I was then lucky to share with you for many years. Can you tell me about your childhood and how music played a part of your first stage of life? Were there other musicians in your family?


DG: I’m happy to connect with you and share some thoughts and moments from my past. Yes, studio C-13 was our cozy, convivial little corner, complete with a Nespresso coffee machine! ... continue reading

Interview with JOAN DORNEMANN

by Hemdi Kfir

Joan Dornemann

Hemdi: What brought you to music?


Joan: I was born in Boston, to a mix of cultures: Italian, Irish, German, and Eastern European. I grew up on Long Island, in a Jewish-Christian home. I did not really know that there was a difference between the two. I still don’t. In school everyone was encouraged to play an instrument, and I was offered the violin. But I went with my uncle to Carnegie Hall to see Arthur Rubinstein and he was having such a glorious time playing this big instrument that I went home and told my mother I wanted a piano. The milkman knew where there was one for sale. It wasn't good-looking, but it was a good piano, a concert grand that I have to this day. My mother paid $300 for it; that was a lot of money then, about two weeks’ worth of meals... continue reading

Interview with CRAIG RUTENBERG

by Marie-France Lefebvre

MFL: Was music in your house from early childhood?


CR: Yes, there was music in two ways: both in the household and in the house next door. In the house next door lived my great uncle - Fritzi Kniehl - who was a pianist. He gave me my first piano lessons. But many years before that, about fifty years before I was born, he had been a pianist in a bar in New Haven, Connecticut. Among the people he played for were Rudy Vallee, the great crooner, and Rosa and Carmen Ponzillo, who came from nearby. His sister, who was my maternal grandmother, had died three years before I was born; but all of her - 78s - were left behind. In her collection were Flagstad, Swarthout and Björling among others. So, there was music in my house that way, even though neither of my parents were musical... continue reading