Sad news: Julian Lloyd Webber must end his performing career

A statement from Julian's press agent informs us:

Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber announced today that he has been forced to stop playing due to a herniated disc in his neck which has reduced the power in his right arm.  His final performance as a cellist will be on 2 May at the Forum Theatre, Malvern with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Lloyd Webber said: “I am devastated. There were so many exciting plans that cannot now come to fruition. I have had an immensely fulfilling career and feel privileged to have worked with so many great musicians and orchestras but now I have to move on.

I have no intention of enduring a forced retirement though. I would like to use the knowledge I have gained through my life as a musician and an educator to give back as much as I can to the music profession which has given me so much over the years.

I have just completed two new recordings which will be released later this year but after 2 May my cello will fall silent.  I now need time to reflect and to consider this sudden and distressing life-changing situation and there will be no further comment at this time".

Meet Music Of Our Time - Sounds of War, Instruments of Peace

OK, there's self-interest here - next week, on Friday 9 May, they are doing my Messiaen play. I'm more than thrilled that the founder of MOOT, Brighton-based musician Norman Jacobs [pictured below with literary companion], wanted to include the play and the Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time in his varied, exciting and intriguing festival on the Brighton Fringe. Do please come to St Nicholas's Church, Brighton, on 9 May to see A Walk Through the End of Time performed by Dame Harriet Walter and Guy Paul and the Messiaen played by the Ether Quartet. Book for all MOOT events here.

JD: Norman, please tell us about MOOT. How did you start the series and what are your aims with the programming in general?

NJ: The idea came to me one New Year’s Eve after thinking that although so many good musicians live in Brighton there was no one facilitating innovative contemporary music events on a regular basis.

Several musician friends I spoke to said that they had had enough of ‘background’ gigs and only wanted to play foreground music. After a few months of just playing records (starting with Berio’s ‘Sinfonia’!) and having a reasonable sized number of attendees our very first concert took place: Travels with my Theremin with Sarah Angliss We managed to get and audience AND pay the musicians. MOOT – music of our time had come of age.

JD: For this year’s series, themed around war, you've got a wonderful variety of events - how did you arrive at this? Point us towards a few highlights?
 

NJ: Music’s role during times of war is multifarious: a tool to lift morale at home and in the field, as a form of protest, witness, remembrance or documentary.

I hope that the series will provide audience with a view of music at the start of the First World War, specifically on the music and lives of soldier-composers, pacifists and women – three very important parts of British society of that time which continue to have resonance in our lives and thinking today.

For me the highlights are A Walk Through the End of Time (Messiaen and a play with the brilliant Harriet Walter and Guy Paul!) [thank you!! JD] , the Heath Quartet and Nigel Cliffe in A Letter from Private Joe with music by Roxanna Panufnik, and the Post War Orchestra (weapons transformed into musical instruments). I am also looking forward to hearing music across ten concerts by our featured composer Frank Bridge, the Brighton-born composer and pacifist.

JD: Is Brighton a good spot for a series like this? How does it work in terms of support, funding, interfacing with the festival, etc?
 

NJ: I seem to spend a third of my year completing funding forms. Thankfully, the effort was not wasted as we have been successful in receiving funding from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, Sussex Community Foundation, Brighton & Hove City Council and half a dozen other organisations. If only it were easier so I could spend more time on the creative side of concert planning, which is what I enjoy most in what I do.

JD: What are your plans and hopes for MOOT in the future? 
 

NJ: In September, the legendary American pianist Ursula Oppens is visiting the UK and she has agreed to play inBrighton a programme of Ravel and American modern masterpieces. Definitely one not to miss!

Next year marks Pierre Boulez’s 90^th birthday. As one of our patrons we will definitely include his music. I also want to include more music by women composers in next year’s series. Watch this space.
 

20 Great Pianists - a personal choice...

Sinfini Music recently unleashed me on a 20 Great Pianists feature. I had to choose from all alive and all dead-but-recorded, so it was kind of tough... The result is a very personal selection. So, bearing in mind that I have a bit of a thing for historical recordings, please don't take it personally if your favourites (or you yourself) are not included! Even a Top 40 wouldn't have been enough. It's online here, complete with extracts of recommended recordings.

Incidentally, the order in which the pianists appear is NOT a 1-to-20 ranking. It's done purely according to date of birth. The oldest is first and he just happens to be Rachmaninov.

I am now going into hiding.

How TO get coverage...or at least try to...

As I pointed out to the lady who tweeted yesterday asking for a follow-up blogpost on how TO get coverage for your concert, there ain't no guarantee of nothin' in this crazy world. All your valiant efforts may amount to no more than a hill of beans. But you can try. Here are ten ways to increase your chances.

1. Be Jonas Kaufmann.

2. Be 8.

3. Be 90.

4. Be deported.

5. Say something horrid about women conductors.

6. Squeeze into minimal dress. Apply hair peroxide and crimson lipstick. Book expensive photographer with good airbrush. Book very expensive publicist. (NB this is intended as a strategy for women, but may arguably be more effective still if you're a bloke.)

7. Perform with a pop star.

8. Convince everyone you've achieved 300m Youtube hits all by yourself.

9. Lose your £50m Stradivarius. Issue SOS. Give free concert for kind people who rescue it.

10. Die. (Not recommended.)

[Author's note: this post is presented in a different font. This is to indicate IRONY.]

Ten more ways NOT to get coverage

Every now and then I realise if I had back the hours I've spent answering messages from publicists that should never have been sent to me, I could probably have written a whole new book instead. At this point, I usually produce a blogpost about how NOT to get coverage for your concert. Here is another one.










1. Person Gives Concert! What an exciting topic!

2. You promise a really good story to one newspaper. Then another wants it. You take it away from the first and give it to the second instead. Then they let you down. You try the first one again.

3. You fail to read anything published in your target's newspaper about music, fail to notice that interviews don't happen unless they are with megastars or someone who has one hell of an amazing history, then write in demanding an interview for your lovely unknown artist who lives a peaceful life in a Surrey village.

4. You don't get a response from your first message. You write again. Now you get a terse "no" or an annoyed few sentences, and you're really upset and you write saying you "understand completely". Next time, you do the whole thing all over again.

5. You write to a UK journalist over the age of 22 saying you're "reaching out" to them.

6. You e-greet for the first time a UK journalist over the age of 22 with the word "Hey".

7. You declare that your artist is "one of the xxxxxest of his/her generation". Then you wonder why no one finds this interesting.

8. You write in with a brilliant story. The event in question takes place in two days' time.

9. You write to a professional journalist asking them to do an interview for their blog, which is unsupported by pay or pension: i.e., you ask them to spend their free time giving you free publicity, even when there is already a note in the sidebar of their blog pointing out that this is what you are doing.

10. You send the same message on Twitter to lots of different people, each one beginning with the addressee's tweet name - e.g. "@jessicaduchen cover Person giving Concert in Place" - and expect this somehow to be effective.

To Be Continued.............