BACH TO THE FUTURE: Lara St. John will give an old master a new twist.

The High Road

"I've always loved Bach," says violinist Lara St. John during a phone interview from a small German town just a few miles from J.S. Bach's birthplace. "When I was five, I would request what I used to call 'the sing-y bits.' I think my parents owned a recording of one cantata—probably the St. John Passion, because of the name. But I always loved to hear the choruses . . .

"He was the king of all music, as far as I'm concerned."

St. John, 29, has spent her life preaching the gospel of J.S. Bach. Her acclaimed 1996 recording debut, Bach Works for Violin Solo, on the tiny Well-Tempered label, featured Partita No. 2 in D Minor and Sonata No. 3 in C Major. Last year's glorious recording of Bach violin concertos also drew rave reviews.

So it should come as no surprise that Bach will figure prominently on her next CD, which will give St. John her largest audience to date. Or that St. John—who posed nude on the cover of her debut disc, except for a strategically placed violin, and who has been known to raise a few eyebrows with provocative statements—probably soon will find herself again at the center of controversy. In April, Sony Classical announced that it had signed St. John to an exclusive contract that will place her on a luminous roster along with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. Her first Sony release, recorded this summer and scheduled for a fall release, is an innovative reworking of Bach with British composer/producer Magnus Fiennes (brother of film stars Ralph and Joseph) and arranger Brian Gascoigne (who has worked with everyone from Bond to Ute Lemper). Guest artists will include Indian tabla virtuoso Trilok Gurtu.

"Hopefully, what it will do is make people whistle these tunes on the street and in the subway," says St. John, acknowledging that the arranger has taken take some artistic license, "and that will be so cool, if it happens.

"I've spent my life trying to get this stuff out there—it's my credo, really," she adds, saying that she has no intention of trivializing the master. "I've always been a bit of a maverick, so I figure, let's try this and see what happens."

—Greg Cahill

Masur Moves On

Kurt Masur has left the New York Philharmonic after 11 years as music director amid an outpouring of gratitude and appreciation, culminating in the NY Phil's board's naming him music director emeritus, the only person other than Leonard Bernstein to receive an honorary title from the symphony. Coming from the administration that in 1998 reportedly revoked his contract extension without informing him beforehand, the move is at best ironic. The musicians and the audience, however, expressed a genuine sense of loss—at goodbye concerts in late May, palpable waves of warmth emanated from both sides of the footlights. Masur, though admittedly hurt and bitter, says, "What I shall remember most is the love and energy [the audience] has given us . . . and the pride I have felt in working with . . . this orchestra [that] I love so much."

Over the years, orchestra and conductor seem to have advanced each other's artistic growth, reaching a triumphant peak in the last three programs in May.

Masur, 74, is moving on to become music director of the Orchestre National de France.

The orchestra's next maestro is Lorin Maazel, director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich and renowned for his versatility. His first season's programs will combine the traditional with the adventurous. Guest artists will include new talents and old friends, among them Kurt Masur. Maazel will conduct his first Philharmonic concert on September 18, a gala event with an all-Beethoven program. The first subscription concerts take place on September 19, 20, 21, and 24, featuring the Beethoven Ninth and the premiere of John Adams' "On the Transmigration of Souls," for orchestra and chorus, commissioned by the NY Phil in honor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

—Edith Eisler

'Lucky' Number

Bluegrass fiddler Alison Krauss, who walked away with an armful of Grammy Awards earlier this year (including Album of the Year for the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack and Best Country Song for "The Lucky One") hit a milestone with those wins. The 13-time Grammy-winning Krauss has become the all-time top female country artist for Grammy Awards, just two shy of Aretha Franklin, the all-time female leader. Jazz artist and producer Quincy Jones is the all-time leading Grammy winner with 27 (composer and conductor Pierre Boulez has 24).

String Shuffle

Two string quartets have announced personnel changes: the Tokyo String Quartet is replacing first violinist Mikhail Kopelman and the American String Quartet is replacing cellist David Geber. The Tokyo Quartet, founded in 1969 by four Japanese players, has become increasingly international—only two of its current members are Japanese. An English cellist, Clyde Greensmith, joined the group in 1999; Kopelman, a Ukranian, became its first violinist in 1996, succeeding Canadian Peter Oundjian, who withdrew after 15 years because of a strained left hand. Kopelman, former leader of the Borodin Quartet, brought an entirely different style to the group and admits that fitting in was very difficult at first, though he clearly came into his own when Russian works were added to its repertoire. However, the players came to feel that the dissimilarities were too fundamental to permit true homogeneity and decided to separate—amicably. Taking Kopelman's place is another Canadian: Martin Beaver, founding member of the Toronto String Quartet and Triskelion, and professor at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory.

The American QuartetÕs situation is simpler. Founded in 1974, it has been in residence at the Manhattan School of Music since 1984. Geber, its cellist and a founding member, is also chairman of the string department at Manhattan where he has accepted a full-time position. His successor is Margo Tatgenhorst, acting assistant principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony and cellist of the Divertimento String Trio (with violinist Soovin Kim and violist Michael Tree).

—Edith Eisler

When the Music's Over

The San Jose Symphony, the oldest orchestra in the West, gave its farewell performance on June 8 after fiscal problems forced the organization to close its doors. The 123-year-old deficit-plagued symphony will remain shut down for up to 18 months. Symphony officials say they won't resume operation until the organization accumulates at least a year's worth of operational funds. Music director Leonid Grin bemoaned the closing as "a dark page in the history of San Jose," which is the largest U.S. city without a symphony.

Burke's Law

Celtic fiddler Kevin Burke has been awarded a 2002 National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment of the Arts, given for artistic excellence. Born in London to Irish parents from County Sligo, Burke began playing at age eight. He was a member of the seminal Irish traditional music group the Bothy Band in the 1970s, and has gone on to become one of the world's most respected fiddlers of any genre. He has a number of albums to his name, both as a solo artist and with such renowned groups as Patrick Street and the Celtic Fiddle Festival. He currently records on the Green Linnet label. Since 1979, Burke has made his home in Portland, Oregon. The award includes a $10,000 grant.

Nashville Cats

Grammy-winning violinist, fiddler, and composer Mark O'Connor returned to his roots over the Fourth of July holiday for a three-day concert event in Nashville recorded for an upcoming live album on his own OMAC label. O'Connor, whose works have topped the crossover classical charts of late, was joined by bluegrass double bassist Bryan Sutton of Ricky Skagg's Kentucky Thunder band, and mandolinist Chris Thile of Nickel Creek. The concerts marked O'Connor's 30th year as a performer and included several tunes from his fiddle contest years as a 12-year-old national champion.

Musical Chairs

W. Harold Laster, dean of the Aspen Music School, will retire from his position in November. His successor will be Joan O. Gordon, who currently serves as assistant dean and manager of student services at the school. . . . Shmuel Ashkenasi, the famed first violinist of the Vermeer Quartet, has joined the Music Conservatory faculty at Chicago's Roosevelt University. Also new to the conservatory faculty are Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman and violinist Stefan Hersh. . . . Miyo Curnow, Jennifer Haas, and Elina Kalendareva have joined the Philadelphia Orchestra violin sections. . . . Violinist Frank Almond has been appointed concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. . . . The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has named Mario Venzago as music director. Avery Fisher Grants Awarded New England Conservatory Prep School violinist Stefan Jackiw, 16, and cellist Mark Kosower, a senior at Roxbury Latin School in Boston, are among the recipients of the coveted 2002 Avery Fisher Artist Program career grants. The award comes with a $15,000 stipend. Past recipients include cellist Hai-Ye Ni, violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and violinist Soovin Kim. . . . Mariss Jansons will step down as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the conclusion of the 2003-04 season. . . . Lucas Richman, Pittsburgh Symphony assistant conductor since 1998, has been appointed resident conductor. Daniel Meyer, formerly of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, will assume the position of assistant conductor of the PSO. . . . The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has appointed Sarah Ioannides as assistant conductor. Other CSO appointments include Eric Bates as second assistant concertmaster and Anna Reider as first section violinist. Cheryl Benedict has joined the CSO second violin section.

Passings

Scottish-born fiddler Gwen Sale, 31, died May 8 after being struck by a negligent driver on a Chicago street. Sale, the wife of Irish folk guitarist Dennis Cahill, was a former featured fiddler with "Lord of the Dance," an active participant at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a prominent figure on Chicago's traditional music scene. She is survived by her husband and two sons from a previous marriage. A fund for children's arts programs has been set up in her name. Contributions can be sent to the Gwen Sale Memorial Fund, Art Institute of Chicago, Dept. of Museum Education, 111 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60613.

Cellist Arturo Bonucci died May 2 in a scuba-diving accident in the waters near Sicily. Bonucci, who recorded several CDs on the Dynamic label, was a cello professor at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Viennese violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, a child prodigy who rose to become one of the 20th century's best-known violinists, died on May 18 at age 86. At age 17, he became the concertmaster of the Viennese Symphony Orchestra. Schneiderhan later founded the Festival Strings of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Noel Da Costa, a founding member of the Society of Black Composers, died April 29. He was 72.

Violinist Guila Bustabo, 86, who performed under such conductors as Herbert von Karajan and Wilhelm Furtwängler, died April 27 of natural causes. After World War II, Bustabo was arrested in Paris and accused of being a Nazi collaborator due to her affiliation with Nazi-sanctioned musical associations. The charges later were dropped.

Blames Bond

Baritone Thomas Allen—one of Britain's top opera singers—had a few choice words for Bond, one of the string world's best-selling acts. In his comments to the Independent of London before his keynote speech at the annual dinner of the Royal Philharmonic Society, Allen complained that performers like Bond have contributed mightily to the "dumbing down" of the art form. "The record business is in decline and seeking a way to sustain itself," he quipped. "So it is producing all these gimmicks—the wet T-shirts and pubescence—and we're looking at a diminution of quality." Bond—a female string-playing foursome that mixes classical, salsa, flamenco, and electronica with a healthy splash of bare midriffs—is one of the top-selling crossover classical acts in the world, plugging watches on stateside TV commercials, and hosting a website that bluntly declares that the mission of these "sexy, sassy lasses" is world domination. Evidently, Bond caught Allen's eye when the blustering baritone flipped through a British Airways in-flight magazine and saw an image of the girls emerging from the sea in an ad. "And there are these Gregorian Babes going round in cheap Janet Reger knock-offs," he scoffed. "It's pathetic." While you can argue that it ain't art, the "Gregorian Babes" may have had the last laugh—two years after its release, Bond's first and only CD is still riding the Billboard charts, thanks to renewed interest after Olympic skaters choreographed their dance routines to the group's hit single "Victory."

—G.C.