Sophoife

Well, Hunter got up and made the third round of the AO for the first time ever. The boost to her confidence of having reached number one in doubles has been immeasurable.

Oh, I thought it was extremely clear. "...are therefore protected in the United States for a period of 95 years from their initial publication dates. In other territories, the works are protected for the applicable term afforded to copyrighted works; joint works being protected based on the death date of the last surviving co-author. (Please refer to the information below as concerns such relevant dates.)" In addition, a North American music professional would certainly know that Schirmer holds the rights in North America, not Boosey and Hawkes or another such company. Clearly a lot of the BTL commenters are not music professionals judging by their knee-jerk responses.

The comments on the article referred to above are, apart from one or two exceptions, ignorant, ill-informed and reactionary. Only interesting in that they demonstrate the typical BTL commenter doesn't only exist at the Daily Mail 🤣 Only one commenter appears to know that Schirmer's new editions (requested by the Prokofiev estate) only apply to the USA and Canada. The rest haven't read the letter properly.

Oh I answered my own research question. Grand Rights for Australia must be sought through Boosey and Hawkes, given that we're still part of the British Commonwealth.

It's only applicable to the United States, that's fairly clear in the letter quoted by Norman Lebrecht (who does have the occasional panic stations). G. Schirmer holds the North American rights only. In Australia, as Prokofiev died before 1 January 1955, his works entered the public domain on that date. Grand Rights (performance) must be paid for, however. I think it's through Hal Leonard. I'll check my programmes of both ballets when I get home. For the UK and parts of Europe, to quote from the Boosey and Hawkes website: Territory This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski for the UK, British Commonwealth (excluding Canada), Republic of Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Israel.

No idea, because there were quite a few retirements or walkovers in the lead-up tournaments. The Adelaide WTA 500 last week saw both doubles semis with walkovers, and one of the singles as well - call me cynical but Laura Siegemund, who withdrew from both singles and doubles semis, would have seen her AO draw (17th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova) before withdrawing. At the age of 35, if she makes the semis in Melbourne, that's at least 800 WTA points and £522,000. Winning the Adelaide singles would have brought 500 points and £111,591. Doubles? £37,242. She's in form, not injured, and it's her best ever chance. She now plays the number 1 doubles woman, Aussie Storm Hunter (née Sanders), who had to qualify for the main draw. If she wins that, it'll be either Korpatsch or Krejčiková.

Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis just won a match tie-break over Austrian Sebastian Ofner (who's wearing Kokkinakis' 2023 bleached top, dark hair underneath look). Now for Carlos Alcaraz

"said qualifier" was in response to Alison, the unknown who played the top seed (the Serbian whose name I will not say) and gave him a fright. Sillypoo is, yes, Tsitsipas, who I bet was relieved he didn't have a returning, fit Berrettini to face. The Greek-Australian Mark Philippoussis has been seen on a number of occasions in the Tsitsipas player box - they had a coaching/mentor relationship for a while (not sure if that's still the case). Philippoussis' nickname was The Poo. Tsitsipas is known by some as Sillypoo - it works better than Sittypoo. Yes, we're a bit silly ourselves 🤣

I'd never heard of said qualifier until he popped up against the top seed. FAA v Domi is indeed a nightmare first round for both, and what a match it was! A fit Berrettini v Tsitsipas was mouthwatering for us fans - until il povero Matteo had to withdraw. Bet Sillypoo was relieved! (He's had The Poo aka Mark Philippoussis in his box, he can be Sillypoo for the way he sometimes behaves.) I'm personally on the Ben Shelton bandwagon - he's such an impressive young man as well as some tennis player. I'm also sorry to see Faaabio [Fognini] winding down his career: he's always fun to watch, whether playing to his magical ability or losing it completely. He's made the fourth round in Melbourne a number of times, but didnt even enter qualifying this year.

Australian Open has started, following Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Auckland aka the Swing Down Under. I don't count the manufactured United Cup. Have we seen the last of Sir Andy at a Slam?

Alison it started on Sunday 14th but still in first round play. Thanks for the support Emeralds but sadly Rinky ended up losing a match tiebreak after a 6-6 fifth set to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Endearingly, the net embrace shows Rinky to fit neatly under Struff's chin. Last match of the day is Félix Auger-Aliassime v Dominic Thiem and it's 6-3 7-5 6-7 5-7 as they start a fifth set after 4h 17m already on court. Both badly need this win. Actually Alison you could move these last three posts to the tennis fans thread?

No, I really mean it. A day without learning something is a wasted day. And it's after 11pm so I'm particularly grateful. Re-reading what I said, though, I can see where you might think I had taken the sarky approach. Seriously, I'm embarrassed I was so clumsy! PS cheer for young Rinky Hijikata please

Okay, cool, thank you @Emeralds for the explanation. I'm clearly far too lazy and/or iggerant because it didn't even occur to me to look up Oliver Mears or Alex Beard! 🤭 I appreciate you taking the time to inform me BTW it took McAllister a very long time to begin doing character roles as AD and the only one I actually remember was Njegus in The Merry Widow! 🤗

Ruby, I meant shift the entire Lower School to Covent Garden. Permanently.

Back in the day, @invisiblecircus, when both Lower and Upper Schools were at Baron's Court (yes, I know very well the facilities are unsuitable for a modern ballet school), there was just the sort of link/progression you describe as desirable. Perhaps the solution is for the lease in Richmond to be surrendered and the Lower School to be moved, boarders and all, to Covent Garden. Can you imagine the cost in these days 😳 even so, I think it would be a good idea. Staff could teach in both divisions, and the AD's obligation to keep an eye on/be aware of all students would be much easier to fulfil.

None so blind as those who cannot see.

I think it's actually somewhat misleading to include Pappano in this consideration. None of the other three people shown have the capacity in their roles to earn performance fees. It would be interesting to see a list of all those who conduct at the ROH, for ballet and opera, and how much each earns in performance fees from the ROH.

I really like the Palace of Versailles app, as it has all the audio guides as well as maps and further info, and of course being on my own device can be used with my own earbuds, so far more hygienic!! The thing that irritated me most was the tour groups with the leaders calling the group to attention then blocking the view and access of everyone else in the room while basically regurgitating the audio guide. Not well managed by the palace organisation. Timed access is all very well in theory, but when groups with leaders or official palace guides are going through, stagger the rest of us by half an hour or so, so we all get fair and unsweaty/unsmelly access!

I think you'll find, @Roberta, that in any school of whatever size (and believe me, 1,000 students and the head knows every child is not a small school, 350 is a small school), the benefit to all students of having the head take a class is immeasurable. Particularly at a school like RBS or ABS. Sure, the kid got in. Sure, the kid might be A+ in a class of A+ kids. It is the head, with all their knowledge/experience/contacts, seeing that kid that can make all the difference to that kid's future. For example, Marilyn Rowe saw and took an interest in Hannah O'Neill, whose dream was not AusBallet but POB. It was she who coached for YAGP and PdL, knowing that gave Hannah a better chance of being seen by her chosen people. It was her contacts that enabled Hannah to get the right sort of coaching for the POB external entry comp, from which she earned several short-term contracts before getting the big one, the permanent contract. @Ruby Foo I thoroughly endorse your comments. If the head's never there, doesn't know the students, and never takes a class, the school's culture and the students' experience and even outcomes suffer.

If you look at the activities of the outgoing AD/CEO of the RBS (two roles that should not be combined), you will see how very little time was actually spent at the School. For a student at the RBS of seven years' standing to be able to say they never once had class with the outgoing AD ought to be shocking, but somehow is not. I cannot imagine someone spending seven years at RBS or at ABS under Gailene Stock (both schools), Marilyn Rowe, Lisa Pavane, or Dame Margaret Scott and never having had a class taught by them. Of course, if I'm wrong, please correct me (with source).

David McAllister's tenure at AusBallet was from July 2001 to January 2021. Maina Gielgud directed the company from 1983-1996. Lucia Chase founded and directed ABT from 1940-1980. Oliver Smith joined Chase in 1945 and remained until 1980. Kevin McKenzie was AD at ABT from 1992-2022.

I'd probably be one of the few who, when Stella made her Sydney début as Giselle, was able to say I'd also seen Sascha's Albrecht. He took 15-16 months away from ABT in the Noughties and danced as a principal with Het Nationale Ballet. He never danced the role with ABT to my knowledge, and she danced it in the Philippines and then Sydney in 2014 before finally being given her ABT début the following year (she had joined the company in 1996).

Not an issue at American Ballet Theatre at the moment I wouldn't think. Sascha Radetsky is AD of the studio company and Stella Abrera is AD of the JKO School.

Thank you @Emeralds. I'm happy to defer to a Proper Expert in the matter of mixed-sex groups being alumni, but I'll stubbornly continue to use the female form for one or more females 🤭 Someone who definitely qualifies from your last paragraph is Dame D, but I also wonder...would Gary Avis ever be interested in such a role? Lucinda Dunn (RBS US) has just finished as AD at a private ballet school (her own old school) in Sydney...

This is my hill to stand on. Having chosen to get a tiny bit of Latin taught to me at university (it not having been available to me at any of my schools), I do not accept the use of the male singular alumnus for a woman or the male plural alumni for more than one woman. The female singular is alumna and plural is alumnae and I deplore the sloppiness, arrogance and casual sexism of using the male form for females. On the use of the male plural for a mixed-sex group, I ask why not use the female plural for such a group? One of my old schools, a K-12 school for girls, demonstrated breathtaking ignorance by renaming (without consultation) the Old Scholars Association the Alumni Association. When challenged on this, the reason given was that [said nobody ever] the boys who'd attended the school in the infant department might have felt excluded. By a gender-neutral word. Dame Darcey does not hold any teaching qualification but she is Artist Laureate of the Royal Ballet School. On announcing this specially-created title, the RBS publicity machine referred to her as an alumna of the School.