Grade 1 Violin

  I only met him once though I knew him well thanks to his distinguished career at the Edinburgh Festival, Covent Garden, English National Opera and Opera North of which he was the founder. Everything he did was with distinction.  He was actually quite approachable for a grandson of George V. and 1st cousin to the queen. Only once did I hear anything to suggest he was 'royal' in nature as well as in fact. I believe that a visitor to his office at the ENO was told by his colleague Edmund Tracey not to disagree with anything he said but to tell Edmund later.  I only met him once. In that meeting we were discussing a contract for the Australian soprano Eileen Hannan. Eileen was there. Harewood asked her 'You're not Irish are you?' Eileen replied that she was not. 'Good, because I hate the Irish,' said Harewood.  I thought that was a bit rich coming from someone in his position. What if I had gone to the newspapers about that? Of course I didn't say anything...

  The man from the backwoods of Saskatchewan, Jon Vickers really did embody the Heldentenor type. All those open spaces, fresh air and physical challenges appeared to be the breeding ground for dramatic singers. So it was not considered strange or exceptional when such a type was added to the Covent Garden company in 1957. At that time British theatre companies could employ guests from the Commonwealth and did so. When we joined the Common Market as it was then, we had to employ European artists leaving Commonwealth ones out in the cold as 'aliens.'  Vickers was a great success from the start. In 1959 he recorded 'Messiah' with Sir Thomas Beecham. The story goes that Vickers was apprehensive of this collaboration and apologetically told him that he wasn't like a normal British tenor at which Beecham said 'Thank God for that.' Indeed, Beecham was so impressed he ruined a great take by exclaiming to Vickers 'You're good!' I saw Vickers in many role...

  Brian McMaster was and is a fantastically knowledgeable surveyor of the cultural scene. He is also a brilliant executive and wonderful human being. He has occupied many of the great offices of the operatic and musical state: first at EMI, then the English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Vancouver Opera and Edinburgh Festival. When starting his 15 years at WNO he took the company to a new level at the forefront of operatic activity almost at a stroke. For a description of the opening production of his era see my post on Harry Kupfer.  The company went from there to performing The Ring at Covent Garden, and to guest appearances at Leipzig, Dresden, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Milan - at La Scala no less. This hasn't been repeated either by the WNO or any other company I can think of. Brian is motivated by Art. He thinks first of what would be the greatest imaginable project and then how to realize it. When the subject of how to pay for it comes up he says 'we'll raise ...

  I thought I had recognised a new income stream in my early years of agenting. Why not bring prominent stage directors into Opera? No one else was doing it. The standard of opera production in those days in the UK was rather uninspiring in the main. People such as John Copley, Michael Geliot and others were not to be compared with Strehler, Visconti or Wieland Wagner. We did have first rate and even great theatre and cinema directors. My first foray in this direction was to tempt Terry Hands into the opera house. At that time, Terry was at the height of  his career. He was co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company with Trevor Nunn and had been the first British director to work at the Comedie Francaise. I was enormously impressed by his cycle of Shakespeare's history plays at the Aldwych.  I no longer remember how it happened but this operatic career took off like a rocket with 'Otello' for the Paris Opera to be conducted by Georg Solti with Placido Domingo singing hi...

Charming man, adorable even, Toru Takemitsu was the leading Japanese composer of his day (1930-1996). He came from a very modest family of which his grandmother had been Spanish, a fact of which he was very proud. He told me that he had not heard any Western music until towards the end of the war when he could pick up broadcasts of American dance music in secret while serving as an extremely young soldier. there was also a gramophone lacking a needle so one had to be improvised from a piece of bamboo. The experience in the army he described as 'extremely bitter.'  After the war Toru worked for the Americans but went down with Tuberculosis for a long time during which he listened to as much Western music as possible. Traditional Japanese music invoked unpleasant memories. At the age of 16, self-taught, he 'began writing music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. Choosing music clarified my identity.' As early...

  It's all so long ago so I don't remember how I met Daniel Revenaugh. He was an American conductor who had come to London to record Busoni's Piano Concerto with the RPO and John Ogden. He was a Busoni freak. I was to become one too but I drew the line at hiring an orchestra and recording his works. Revenaugh invited me to visit him in Jacksonville Florida where he had just been made Chief Conductor of the orchestra there. It must have been in 1969 because he had decided to programme all 9 Beethoven symphonies for the Beethoven year of 1970.  Jill and I went to Jacksonville to follow this lead. What we found there was another world altogether. Revenaugh drove us around in his sporty Mercedes I think it was, explaining that in terms of area, Jacksonville was the largest city in America. He took us to the top floor of one of the few skyscrapers and introduced us to some prominent citizens at a sort of club there. He also introduced us his business manager with the wonderful n...

  Another of my early links to the musical world came though my parents' friendship with Sally and Kenneth Snowman who in turn were friends with the soprano Adele Leigh. In fact Adele had given me Toscanini's recording of Beethoven's 2nd and 4th symphonies for my Bar-mitzvah. I treasured that record. It was of of the first in my collection.  Adele had a noteworthy career singing in the world premiere of Tippett's 'Midsummer Marriage' for example and many other roles at Covent Garden. She had become a member of the company at the age of 19. She was very beautiful and appeared in musicals and variety as well as opera and operetta. Towards the end of her career at Covent Garden I remember seeing her as Oktavian in Rosenkavalier. She had sung Sophie under Erich Kleiber previously. On starting the agency I thought the decent thing to do was to present Adele in a 'Liederabend' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Sadly she was not singing well by then and also the hal...