John Eliot Gardiner - the pros and cons...

[oddoneout]

There's also this https://slippedisc.com/2023/08/exclu...nger-incident/ if you would prefer to avoid the Mail.

[ahinton]

Slap that bass?...

[Alison]

Oh dear me.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The story is also in The Times and Telegraph. Not necessarily a career ender as the Clarkson saga
showed. But JC got away with because of his perceived ability to draw in big TV audiences. I’m not much of a JEG fan - I don’t like his over fast tempi and I don’t think much of his phrase shaping. I wonder why he lost his temper in such a spectacular fashion. I’ve seen a few outbursts in my time in journalism-I thought classical music was supposed to soothe the savage breast ?

[RichardB]

There's also this https://slippedisc.com/2023/08/exclu...nger-incident/ if you would prefer to avoid the Mail.

Some of us would also prefer to avoid Lebrecht!

[Bryn]

Some of us would also prefer to avoid Lebrecht!

And the Daily 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts' Mail.

[Parry1912]

Slap that bass?...

[gurnemanz]

Lebrecht is reporting that JEG has cancelled current tour and dropped out of Prom.

https://slippedisc.com/2023/08/just-in-sir-john-eliot-gardiner-drops-out-of-bbc-proms/

[Ein Heldenleben]

Lebrecht is reporting that JEG has cancelled current tour and dropped out of Prom.

https://slippedisc.com/2023/08/just-...-of-bbc-proms/

I see that the singer concerned has expressed the wish that it goes ahead which is pretty generous of him given the circs. The sad upshot is that if it doesn’t a lot of singers and musicians are going to be out of pocket as I don’t think insurers pay out in these sort of circumstances - certainly in filming contracts they don’t.

We can confirm that an incident took place after Tuesday’s performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir at La Côte-Saint-André.

Bass William Thomas is looking forward to continuing the tour with performances in Salzburg, Versailles, Berlin and at the BBC Proms, and will not be making a statement at this time.

All musicians deserve the right to practise their art in an environment free from abuse or physical harm.

Askonas Holt

[richardfinegold]

As usual, when a celebrity commits a faux pas, they get to blame it on a medical condition, or an adverse result of a medication. This conveniently ignores the fact that millions of people get through their daily lives with the same condition or while taking the same medication.
A few years ago I was taking medication for back pain which made me very irritable. However I always had this voice inside me saying that Istill needed to be at least civil.
The real issue is the cult of celebrity and power, in which people who have ascended to the top of the heap feel they do not have to follow the rules of human discourse, and their apologists.
The concert should have gone on with whomever the understudy conductor was. There would have been no better way to make a statement that the rights of others are not subservient to the whims of a spoiled brat. And JEG should exit concert life, ( stage left or right) after half a century of being an ass. There must be several other competent musicians who deserve a chance

[Ein Heldenleben]

As usual, when a celebrity commits a faux pas, they get to blame it on a medical condition, or an adverse result of a medication. This conveniently ignores the fact that millions of people get through their daily lives with the same condition or while taking the same medication.
A few years ago I was taking medication for back pain which made me very irritable. However I always had this voice inside me saying that Istill needed to be at least civil.
The real issue is the cult of celebrity and power, in which people who have ascended to the top of the heap feel they do not have to follow the rules of human discourse, and their apologists.
The concert should have gone on with whomever the understudy conductor was. There would have been no better way to make a statement that the rights of others are not subservient to the whims of a spoiled brat. And JEG should exit concert life, ( stage left or right) after half a century of being an ass. There must be several other competent musicians who deserve a chance

Through my expert knowledge of the Chicago legal scene - derived entirely from viewing The Good Wife on Channel Four - am I right in thinking that had all this happened there the writs would already be flying around ?

[LHC]

As usual, when a celebrity commits a faux pas, they get to blame it on a medical condition, or an adverse result of a medication. This conveniently ignores the fact that millions of people get through their daily lives with the same condition or while taking the same medication.
A few years ago I was taking medication for back pain which made me very irritable. However I always had this voice inside me saying that Istill needed to be at least civil.
The real issue is the cult of celebrity and power, in which people who have ascended to the top of the heap feel they do not have to follow the rules of human discourse, and their apologists.
The concert should have gone on with whomever the understudy conductor was. There would have been no better way to make a statement that the rights of others are not subservient to the whims of a spoiled brat. And JEG should exit concert life, ( stage left or right) after half a century of being an ass. There must be several other competent musicians who deserve a chance

The 'medication' excuse might carry a bit more credibility if JEG's actions were in any way out of character. As he has a history of arrogant and bullying behaviour and this isn't the first time he's punched a musician the medication appears to have caused him to act in the same way that he has done for years.

[Barbirollians]

Well said and it seems some pretty eminent musicians have recounted more stories like this on Twitter last night.

[Ein Heldenleben]

On a positive note the Proms performance is going ahead with his dep Sousa conducting. I bet that’s a break he never thought he’d get and he thoroughly deserves it.

Proms Twitter feed

“Sir John Eliot Gardiner has decided to withdraw from the performance of The Trojans at this year’s BBC Proms.

We are grateful that Dinis Sousa will step in to conduct the performance on 3 September.“

[smittims]

In my experience the 'medical condition' excuse is more often played by sports celebrities than musicians, to excuse the simple fact that they lost.