Orchestras on Tour: Names Strike a False Note

But they are not always what they seem.

The Dublin Philharmonic that played two years ago in nearly 50 towns? Mostly Bulgarians. The Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra that toured the United States last year? Largely freelancers. The “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra, which is scheduled for a major American tour next year? Even the man advertised as its principal guest conductor said he had never heard of it.

A close look at these groups shows a pattern of creative marketing — even truth shading — concerning credentials and identities. At the least, audiences often do not know what they are getting, even though visa regulations require the groups to be “recognized internationally as outstanding” and to have had three-quarters of the same players for at least a year. Many of these groups are in fact pickup ensembles or have little reputation, even in their home countries.

A major force in bringing in these orchestras is Columbia Artists Management Inc., one of the oldest and most prestigious classical music agencies. Its clients have included Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz and Herbert von Karajan.

The Columbia Artists executive behind many such tours is a senior vice president, Andrew S. Grossman, who acts as the tour producer. Mr. Grossman, 62, is an influential figure in the classical music business, as well as a lightning rod for strong emotions.

Former colleagues, competitors and contractors call him a shrewd businessman, both brilliant and capable of great charm, who can ride his employees hard. These people also pointed to what appears to be a pattern of misleading publicity photos, altered program biographies and last-minute substitutions.

Mr. Grossman did not respond to requests for comment. In a telephone interview, Ronald A. Wilford, Columbia’s chairman, denied that misrepresentations had occurred, saying that the agency relied on the orchestras it brings in for information about their musicians. He defended Mr. Grossman, calling him a tough man in a hard business.

“He knows how to do it better than everyone,” Mr. Wilford said.

“We haven’t been dishonest that I’m aware of,” he said. Orchestras typically have shifting personnel in a world of musicians who easily cross borders, he added.

“It’s a little bit of a na?ve position to take that there couldn’t be international players in an orchestra,” he said. “All of this is quite silly. We bring institutions that are fully formed.”

But more important, the agency argued, the orchestras provide live classical music at affordable cost to small cities and towns spurned by the major orchestras. “We go to these communities that very much want this and are also struggling with the economic realities,” said Tim Fox, the president of Columbia Artists Management. “It should be a celebration.”

The local concert presenters like the cachet of foreign names and the small price tags, which are on average less than half of the fees of major international orchestras, like the Vienna Philharmonic or the London Symphony. Those fees can top $100,000 a concert.

And it is true that an orchestra’s makeup is not necessarily a comment on quality. The “Dubliners” received good reviews from critics and presenters two years ago, although the Moscow orchestra, as heard last year at a performance in the Bronx, would have had trouble matching up to a midlevel conservatory orchestra.

Eric Amada, a former Columbia employee who now runs Arts Management Associates, a booking agency and sometime rival, said, “Most of these presenters are completely fooled,” and so, by extension, are their audiences. “It’s just like, ‘Teflon Andrew.’?”

While smaller, lesser-known foreign orchestras can make important contributions to local cultural life, they also bring surprises.

Michael Schwirtz provided reporting from Moscow, and Kathryn Shattuck provided research assistance from New York.

 

Israeli Strike on Iran Would Be ‘Stupid,’ Ex-Spy Chief Says

The intelligence official, Meir Dagan, who retired in early January after eight years as director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, made the remarks at a conference here on Friday. His assessment contradicts the policy of the country’s political leaders, who have long argued in favor of a credible military option against Iran’s nuclear program.

The defense minister, Ehud Barak, criticized Mr. Dagan after his comments were widely publicized in the Israeli news media on Sunday.

Mr. Barak, saying that Mr. Dagan deserved credit for his contributions to state security, contended that he was “not wise to share his thoughts, legitimate as they may be,” with the general public.

“In the end of the day, these issues and decisions belong by their nature to the political echelon,” Mr. Barak said, adding that he was not sure that Mr. Dagan’s assessment was correct.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israeli, American and European officials believe that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons.

Independent analysts said that such a public stand by a respected figure like Mr. Dagan would complicate any plans the government might have to attack Iran.

Mr. Dagan, speaking for the first time in public since his retirement, was addressing a conference of senior public servants. His remarks were confirmed by a person who attended the conference, which was held at Belgium House, the faculty club of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mr. Dagan is known to have long opposed military action against Iran, but he had never said so publicly. Mr. Dagan, who also said Friday that Iran must not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons, has advocated covert means of setting back the Iranian program.

Israel considers the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

Speaking last week at a ceremony marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to “unequivocally condemn those who call for the obliteration of the Jewish state.”

“Iran is even arming itself with nuclear weapons to realize that goal, and until now the world has not stopped it,” he said. “The threat to our existence, to our future, is not theoretical. It cannot be swept under the carpet; it cannot be reduced. It faces us and all humanity, and it must be thwarted.”

It is not the first time that Mr. Dagan has courted controversy where Iran is concerned since he left office. In January, he told a group of Israeli reporters that he believed Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon before 2015, a year or more later than other Israeli estimates.

His revised assessment was based on obstacles that Iran has faced, including technical difficulties and covert actions against its nuclear program by intelligence agencies, according to Israeli news reports.

Some Israeli officials reacted furiously, worried that Mr. Dagan’s comments could reduce pressure on Iran.

But other Israelis, including two other former leaders of Mossad, said it was important for Mr. Dagan to be able to express his opinion. One official, who spoke at the time on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s delicacy, said, “It has never been about when exactly they will get the device.”

The real challenge over the next 12 to 18 months, the official said, is to prevent Iran from reaching the threshold of nuclear weapons capability. An unexpected technological breakthrough in Iran is possible, he said.

Arguing that this was a time for more diplomatic pressure, not less, the official said that Mr. Dagan’s 2015 assessment might have been partly intended to quiet the drums of war, but that it was nevertheless “really unfortunate.”

 

Bombs Strike Two Buses Carrying Navy Workers in Karachi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two bombs exploded on Tuesday next to two buses transporting employees of the Pakistan Navy in the southern port city of Karachi, killing at least four people, according to a senior Pakistani naval official. At least 56 other people were wounded.

A junior naval officer, one civilian doctor and two other naval civilian employees were killed in the early morning rush-hour attacks that targeted two buses, said Commodore Irfan ul Haq. He said it was too early to say why the naval buses were targeted.

No one claimed responsibility immediately, but Taliban insurgents and militant groups affiliated with the organization have repeatedly targeted civilians and military installations across the country. Karachi is the country’s largest city and considered the financial and commercial capital.

The first blast occurred in an upscale neighborhood, DHA Phase II, at 7:20 a.m. on Tuesday, police officials said.

The bomb was planted on a motorcycle that was idling by a main road and exploded as the naval bus passed, police said. The blast killed the junior naval officer and the doctor, injured 37 other passengers, destroyed the bus and shattered the window panes of nearby houses.

Minutes later, a second blast went off in Baldia Town, a relatively impoverished neighborhood in Karachi. The remote-controlled bomb was hidden in rubble alongside a road, according to police. This second blast killed the two other civilian naval employees and injured 19 others.

The blasts came just days after Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief, claimed to have broken the back of militants in the country. The army chief had made the claim on Saturday while addressing a ceremony of cadets at the Kakul military academy in the country’s north.

“It is a powerful message by the militants,” said Omar R. Quraishi, opinion pages editor of The Express Tribune, a Karachi-based, English-language daily newspaper. “The message is that we may be on the run, but we can strike at will and choose targets of our choosing.”

Analysts said that the commuter buses used by officers and staff of the navy were a relatively easy target as they travel on main thoroughfares with little or no security. Military installations, on the other hand, have become relatively difficult to attack because of stringent security measures.

 

Pakistanis End Strike to Protest US Drone Attacks

。 VOA News ?April 24, 2011

Supporters of a Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e- Islami arrive to join a rally against the U.S. drone strikes in Pakistani tribal areas, in Peshawar, April 23, 2011

Thousands of Pakistanis opposed to U.S. drone strikes on militants in the country's northwest have ended their two-day blockade of a key supply route for U.S.-led NATO troops fighting Taliban insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan.

The call for the blockade, which began Saturday on the outskirts of Peshawar, came from the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party led by former cricket star Imran Khan. ?

Khan demanded Sunday that the attacks end or there would be more demonstrations in various parts of the country aimed at blocking NATO supplies, including in the capital, Islamabad.

NATO ships much of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan, but local militants often attack the convoys.

U.S. drone strikes against militants based in Pakistan's tribal belt have been a source of friction between the two countries. U.S. officials do not acknowledge the missile strikes, which are deeply unpopular among the local population.

The Pakistani government publicly condemns the drone strikes as undermining its sovereignty, but regional experts say Islamabad privately coordinates with the U.S. government on selecting targets.

24-04-2011 whiteraven (USA)

Yes, end all drone attacks and the production and use of drones on this planet for death and destruction. All these high tech weapons of destruction should be banned. How many useful things could be done with all the money wasted on these? And for what? The monopolies of the filthy greedy world trade banking system...these are the guys that call the shots that Obama sucks up to.

24-04-2011 whiteraven (USA)

Yes, end all drone attacks and the production and use of drones on this planet for death and destruction. All these high tech weapons of destruction should be banned. How many useful things could be done with all the money wasted on these? And for what? The monopolies of the filthy greedy world trade banking system...these are the guys that call the shots that Obama sucks up to.

25-04-2011 joel (usa)

its about time to get new ways or route in supplying the NATO troops, you cannot be :hostage" to those insane pakistanis, they had always been that way, India knows better about them!

25-04-2011 amar (pakistan)

it is impossbile to win war by killing innocent tribal citizens living in remote and rural areas.as much money america is spending for killing these people,if these funds have been used for prosperity of that people,amrican would have been loved and respected everywhere rather than being cursed.

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Deadly Drone Strike by U.S. May Fuel Anger in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An American drone attack killed 23 people in North Waziristan on Friday, Pakistani military officials said, in a strike against militants that appeared to signify unyielding pressure by the United States on Pakistan’s military amid increasing opposition to such strikes.

The strike came a day after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, met with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and asked that Pakistan do more to fight militants who use North Waziristan as a base from which to attack United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The assault was the second show of the United States’ determination to continue drone attacks since the head of Pakistan’s spy agency, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, met this month in Washington with Director Leon E. Panetta of the Central Intelligence Agency to request a halt to the strikes.

Friday’s attack could further fuel anti-drone sentiment among the Pakistani public. A government official in North Waziristan told Pakistani reporters that five children and four women were among the 23 who were killed.

The attack singled out forces of a militant commander, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose loyalists cross the border into Afghanistan to fight American and NATO soldiers, the government official said.

Mr. Bahadur operates under a peace accord with the Pakistani Army that ensures that militants under his control do not attack Pakistani soldiers but concentrate only on allied soldiers.

Those killed Friday were gathered in Spinwam, an area close to Mir Ali in North Waziristan that had become a hub for militants in the past several months, the official said.

In the increasing public war of nerves between the American and Pakistani armies, Pakistan’s government is allowing a planned anti-NATO protest to go ahead in Peshawar this weekend. A political leader, Imran Khan, has called on protesters to stage a sit-in on Saturday to block trucks carrying NATO supplies for the war in Afghanistan. The trucks travel through Peshawar from the seaport of Karachi to Torkham, the gateway to Afghanistan.

The drone strike on Friday came after Admiral Mullen delivered an unusually harsh message during his visit here, saying publicly that Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, directly supported and abetted the Haqqani network of militants in North Waziristan. The network’s militants are responsible for many of the American casualties in Afghanistan, American commanders say.

The United States has long held that the Haqqani network was supported by the Pakistani spy agency, but it rarely says so publicly.

In a separate episode, between the Pakistani military and the Taliban, 16 soldiers from the Pakistani Frontier Corps were killed Thursday when their checkpoint was overrun by 150 militants near the Afghanistan border, a Pakistani security official said.

The battle continued for close to 12 hours at Kharkai in the northern district of Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, formerly North-West Frontier Province. Two officers sent to reinforce the troops were killed in an ambush, the official said.

The attack by the militants on Pakistani soldiers came as the army embarked on a renewed assault in Mohmand, part of the tribal areas that have proved difficult for the Pakistani Army to hold.

In a report to Congress this month, the Obama administration complained that the Pakistani Army had “no clear path” toward defeating the insurgency inside Pakistan, and cited the failed efforts to eradicate the militants from Mohmand as an illustration. The army “was failing for the third time in two years” to clear militants from Mohmand, the report said.

The 150 militants who carried out the attack on Thursday appeared to have fled the army assault to Afghanistan and then re-entered Pakistan to strike at the soldiers.

General Kayani, the chief of the Pakistani military, visited Mohmand on Thursday for the second stage of a new assault focused on the Suran, a narrow valley on the border with Afghanistan.

In the last few months, American and NATO forces on the other side of the border of Mohmand have helped Pakistan to attack militants as they escaped into Afghanistan, the Pakistani security official said. But the Pakistani militants who attacked in Dir on Thursday appeared to have escaped before the assault on the Suran began and were allowed to re-enter Pakistan by elements in the Afghan Army who were assisting them, the official said.

Jane Perlez reported from Islamabad, and Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan.