WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats have questioned whether President Donald Trump's nominee for a top EPA position is violating the law by working at the agency before being confirmed, and they are demanding more details about his duties.
Michael Dourson, Trump's pick to become the country's top regulator of toxic chemicals, is serving at the Environmental Protection Agency as a special adviser, even though the Senate has yet to vote on his nomination.
"Your appointment creates the appearance, and perhaps the effect, of circumventing the Senate's constitutional advice and consent responsibility for the position to which you have been nominated," 10 Democrats wrote in a letter to Dourson, warning that it would be "unlawful" for him to assume the duties of the position to which he's been nominated.
If Dourson is exercising the authority of that Senate-confirmed position, going beyond an advisory role at the agency, he could be at odds with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act. Senate Democrats have expressed similar concerns about Susan Bodine, Trump's pick to lead EPA enforcement, and some experts raised questions about other Trump nominees working for the administration while awaiting confirmation.
The EPA denies that there's anything improper about Dourson's work at the agency, pointing out that many previous administrations have done the same. In his current role as a senior adviser, Dourson is not "performing the duties" of the position he has been nominated for, "which is what occurred in previous administrations," said EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox.
In March, the Supreme Court ruled that the Obama administration had violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act by having an official serve as acting counsel at the National Labor Relations Board while awaiting Senate confirmation.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to vote on whether to send Dourson's nomination to the full Senate on Wednesday morning. The Republican leadership delayed the vote, originally scheduled for last week, shortly after the news broke about Dourson's current role at the agency and days before The New York Times published an exposé on another EPA official, Nancy Beck, a former executive for the chemical industry who has collaborated on research with Dourson.
Senate Democrats and public health advocates have vehemently opposed Dourson's nomination given his deep ties to the chemical industries that he would be charged with regulating at the EPA.
Spearheaded by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the Democrats' letter demanded more information from Dourson about his current duties at the EPA. They also asked whether he is still abiding by the ethics agreement that he had signed during the confirmation process. Dourson spent decades conducting industry-funded research, prompting Democrats to question whether he'd recuse himself from issues related to those companies.
The EPA said that it has "briefed Dr. Dourson about his ethics issues," giving him advice that is akin to the agreement that he previously signed, according to EPA senior counsel Justina Fugh.


COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY, PARKER ARTS, CULTURAL, AND SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION. For over 40 years Greg has been actively involved in the arts and education in the Denver area. During the 70\'s, he worked as a professional musician playing guitar in a number of rock-n-roll bands, jazz bands, and folks bands throughout Colorado. Concurrently he attended Metropolitan State College, the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Denver where he earned his BS degree (biology and chemistry) and his MA degree (science education). After college, Greg worked for 30 years as a teacher, a high school principal, and school district central office administrator in Denver Public Schools, the Aurora Public Schools, and the Douglas County Public Schools. Since retiring from K-12 education in 2005, Greg has been employed at Metropolitan State University of Denver as the Director of the Alternative Teaching Program. Greg joined the Parker Arts, Science, and Cultural Commission in 2012 to help support Parker\'s efforts to bring art, culture and life long learning opportunities to the Parker community.


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Doc helps HIV positives give birth to a negative
Jun 24, 2008 11:25 AM IST India	India
Guntur (Andhra Pradesh): Four-year-old Prashanthi is nothing short of a miracle baby for her parents, both of whom are HIV positive. And Prashanthi is a miracke baby for she has tested negative for the virus.
Her father, Sathyanarayana, who is a contract labourer, says, "Before she was born, I used to think there was no point in living. Now that we have a child, there's hope for the future."
And the man who's responsible for this miracle is Dr Vasanth Kumar, a gynaecologist in Guntur's Government Hospital.
Over the last five years, Dr Kumar has worked with close to 300 HIV positive couples to show them that they too can have children who don't carry the dreaded virus. The doctor administers a dose of a drug called Nevirapine Prophylaxis to an HIV positive mother at the time of delivery and to the child immediately afterwards. The treatment lays a lot of emphasis on prenatal care, and neonatal treatment for the baby.
"There's a myth and a misconception that HIV positive couples cannot have children. It's wrong. They too can have children," says Dr Kumar.
Dr Kumar has also set up a focus group of HIV positive couples, which meets regularly and educates couples about proper medical care.
One such HIV positive whose wife has been able to deliver babies under Dr Kumar's expert care, Lateef says, "We eat and sleep happily now. Our children are fine. The doctor advises us and takes care of us and our children."
In Guntur at least, negative can most certainly be positive news.
(With inputs from Vishwanath Pilla in Guntur)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home > Culture > Music > The K-Pop Song You Should Play On Repeat, Based On Your Zodiac Sign
The K-Pop Song You Should Play On Repeat, Based On Your Zodiac Sign
By Eshita Srinivas, Oct 2 2022 12:16 pm
Which K-pop song should you listen to on repeat? We've found the best one for you, based on your zodiac sign.
K-pop has a little something for everyone. There's a potential tune out there that complements not just every mood and occasion, but also the time you were born. Whether you're new to the vibrancy of K-pop or have your favourite group's fanchant committed to memory, the cosmos have a song recommendation for your zodiac sign.
Catchy hooks, well-choreographed sequences, and high production values underscore most hit K-pop tracks. They're also at the heart of the success of all things Korean around the world. And, amidst the hundreds of tracks across YouTube and Spotify, you'd be hard-pressed to find one that doesn't get your feet tapping. That said, discovering the perfect song that would go straight to your favourites list can involve hours of streaming.
Korean pop music is known for genre-bending, drawing influences from hip-hop, electronic dance, rock, jazz, and funk. Each idol (or idol group) tends to have their own unique concept and musical directions, which in turn influence its songs. Naturally, a look into your star sign, which reflects your personality traits and interests, might lead you to the track that best describes you. We've curated a list of absolute bangers that complement each zodiac sign.
[Feature image: Courtesy BlackPink/Youtube; Hero image: Courtesy EXO/YouTube]
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The K-pop song that best complements each zodiac sign
Aries: Bang Bang Bang by Big Bang
This fire sign leads the zodiac contingent and is known to be courageous, adventurous, and fashionable. It's only fitting that their perfect track be equally bold and boisterous.
Big Bang, one of the most iconic K-pop groups in history, set the internet ablaze in 2015 with Bang Bang Bang, a song that marked their return with, pun intended, a bang. The lyrics are bold and frenzied, mirroring the heart-thumping amalgamation of trap, electronic, and hip-hop elements in the track. This song is the life of any party, much like Aries themselves.
Taurus: Home by BTS
The homebodies of the zodiac, Taurus are stable and grounded. The ideal song for this sign would bring them comfort.
Home by BTS, the biggest K-pop group at the moment, is a heartwarming pop, R&B, and electronic track that captures the essence of warmth that home brings. Dedicated to the group's fans, the song talks about how the singers turn to their fanbase when they're tired and lonely, taking refuge in the love they're showered with. Delightful vocals and comforting melodies complete the track, offering Taurus a safe space when they need it.
Gemini: Russian Roulette by Red Velvet
The competitive, charming Gemini is known to take risks and often change their minds. A track that reflects their duality would appeal to them.
Russian Roulette by Red Velvet is a synth-pop, dance-pop track that reflects the two sides of the group. The "red," refers to bright, upbeat sensibilities while "velvet," denotes dark themes. This particular song has the girl group taking risks in love, playing a game of cat and mouse to win over someone's heart. The lyrics are dark and mysterious, while the song itself is peppy. This is a quirky track, one that the easily-bored Gemini would be intrigued by.
Cancer: Feel Special by Twice
Sensitive, romantic, and affectionate, Cancer enjoys domesticity and doesn't do too well with conflict. This zodiac sign's ideal K-pop song would have to reflect their desire to love and be loved.
Twice, one of the most popular K-pop girl groups, sings about feeling safe and comforted in their popular electronic dance track Feel Special. The song is believed to be one of the group's most meaningful. The lyrics chart the transformation from feeling unworthy and anxious to reassured and certain, due to a loved one. Catchy, peppy tunes and fun dance sequences in this feel-good song will put a smile on Cancer's face.
Leo: I Am The Best by 2NE1
Hard-headed and confident Leos enjoy being in the spotlight. Their perfect track would have to be a nod to this zodiac's royal reputation.
I Am The Best by 2NE1, as the name suggests, is all about self-confidence and is an iconic track that's withstood the test of time. The lyrics are empowering, set against a series of genres like electro house, electronic dance, and hip hop. The girl group, along with Big Bang, is also considered to be the royalty of the K-pop world. The singers in the song know their worth, just like Leos themselves.
Virgo: BBIBBI by IU
The perfectionist, hard-workers of the zodiac, Virgos are known to like transparency. Their ideal track would reflect their straightforward sensibilities.
BBIBBI by IU is a laid back, R&B track that confronts the singer's haters and critics. The lyrics are both straightforward and introspective, asking people to refrain from gossip and drawing clear boundaries as to what's permissible and what isn't. IU also talks about keeping to herself and focusing on her craft in the track. Intelligent Virgos will enjoy her witty wordplay and motto of working hard without being mistreated.
Libra: Really Really by Winner
This charming zodiac sign is known to be romantic, value relationships, and seek balance. Their ideal song would reflect just how much Libras wear their hearts on their sleeve.
Really Really by Winner is perhaps one of the most well-known songs in the K-pop industry. The tropical house, electronic-dance track is a feel-good song about wooing a crush and confessing your feelings to them. The boy group pulls out all the stops with charming lyrics, groovy dance moves, and classy suits. The song, just as popular as this zodiac sign, is the perfect karaoke track, which social-butterfly Libras would often head to with friends.
Scorpio: Love Shot by EXO
Arguably one of the most romantic signs of the zodiac, Scorpios are known for their emotional intensity. Their ideal track would have to delve into introspective themes and reflect their passionate sensibilities.
Love Shot by EXO is an electronic, dance-pop song with an addictive chorus, distinctive bass, and certain ballad-like aspects. The song talks about desiring a magnetic connection and rediscovering the meaning of true love in a dreary world through heart-wrenching, intense lyrics. There are layers to the track and the music video that Scorpios would enjoy unravelling. Besides, considering all the dark themes EXO often explores, there's no group this water sign would relate better to.
Sagittarius: GoGoBebe by Mamamoo
Witty and adventurous Sagittarius is known to be the optimist of the zodiac. Their ideal track would reflect their free-spirited nature.
GoGoBebe is a peppy, electronic pop track by girl group Mamamoo, known best for their empowering lyrics and jaw-dropping vocals. The feel-good song talks about loving yourself, with the singers urging listeners to put on their best dress, let their inhibitions go, and have fun. Comforting lyrics like "it's okay to not be fine," meet clever hooks in this catchy track all while keeping with the group's usual theme of women empowerment. Sagittarius would enjoy grooving to this one as they get dressed for the next event they've been invited to.
Capricorn: How You Like That? by BlackPink
This earth sign is known to be hardworking and determined. Their ideal song would reflect their grit and no-nonsense attitude.
BlackPink is perhaps the most popular K-pop girl group in the world at the moment. Their music is as gritty as it is bold. How You Like That is no different. The track merges several genres, including house, trap, electronic pop, and hip hop, with the lyrics reflecting on letting go of a toxic relationship and emerging from a dark phase through perseverance. The lyrics are empowering, with that distinctive BlackPink girl boss vibe. The singers end the motivating K-pop track with the certainty of rising to the top and if there's any zodiac sign that knows how to work their way out of rock bottom, it's Capricorn.
Aquarius: Gangnam Style by PSY
Known to be quirky and individualistic, Aquarius is known to be the cool kids of the zodiac sign. Their ideal song would reflect their unintentional trendsetting tendencies.
Gangnam Style by PSY is arguably the track that introduced the world to K-pop and is regarded highly in the industry. The quirky, dance-pop, electronic dance song talks about the Gangnam district of Seoul, which is known to be classy and the hub of all things hip. The song shot to international fame for its catchy tunes and distinctive choreography and continues to be quite the banger. Aquarius would relate to the track's unintentional rise to success. Besides, the song is just as popular as this air sign.
Pisces: Fly Away With Me by NCT 127
This water sign is known to be affectionate, imaginative, and romantic. Pisces' ideal track would reflect the sign's tendency to daydream.
Fly Away With Me by NCT 127 is a ballad-like electronic pop song that has the singers dreaming about their romantic partners. The lyrics have a wistful quality to them and refer to being irrevocably in love. This K-pop song got a breezy, laid back vibe to it that would be an instant addition to this zodiac's chill playlist.
The article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India.
2NE1 Big Bang Blackpink BTS EXO IU K-pop Mamamoo NCT 127 PSY Red Velvet Winner Zodiac Sign
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Watercolour showing the ruins of Saltwood Castle in Kent. This is an ancient fortified site, on a steep hill, which used to be surrounded by marshland. There were Roman and Saxon forts here before the medieval castle. However Saltwood is most famous for being at the centre of the 12th century dispute between Thomas Becket and Henry II. Becket claimed the castle was the property of the Archbishops of Canterbury but Henry, who had already quarrelled with Becket over several issues, was reluctant to hand over a stronghold to a potential enemy. It was here in 1170 that the four of the King's knights William de Tracey, Reginald Fitzures, Hugh de Morville and Richard Le Breton met to plan Becket's assassination.


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Tag: Parsifal
Piotr Beczala: Searching For New Impulses In The Music
In opera
Photo: Julia Wesely
Memories of past cultural experiences have become sharper over the course of the lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. I've been taking stock of those experiences through the past five months or so, recalling, with a mix of delight, sadness, and wistfulness, some of the most magical moments. In light of the activities being reported at this year's Salzburg Festival (a reduced if arguably more potent version began August 1st and runs to the end of the month), I recalled my own experience at the starry fest in 2016, where, among other events, I attended a presentation of Faust featuring tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role. Having experienced the opera numerous times live and via recordings, I was struck at the Polish singer's responsiveness to both the music and to his co-stars, notably bass Ildar Abdrazakov's menacing Mephistopheles; it was as if Beczala had stepped into the score himself, and was carefully, keenly analyzing every small detail, altering his pitch and tone, the shape of his vowels and consonants, his breaths and pauses and even sighs, around Gounod's score and the Wiener Philharmoniker's performance of it under maestro Alejo Pérez.
This musical sensitivity and attention to detail, and to drama, have expressed themselves throughout Beczala's illustrious career, which has included turns in the well-known and well-loved (Bizet's Carmen; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; Puccini's La bohéme), French opera (Faust; Werther; Romeo), dramatic (Maurizio in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur; Vaudémont in Iolanta; Lensky in Eugene Onegin; Der Prinz in Rusalka), as well as purposeful dips into both bel canto (Bellini's La Sonnambula; Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor) and verismo (Tosca's Cavaradossi, des Grieux in Manon), generous helpings of Verdi (Un ballo in maschera, Luisa Miller, La traviata, Rigoletto), a taste of Wagner (Lohengrin), and delightful dashes of operetta (Die fledermaus, Das Land des Lächelns). Beczala has performed in all the major international houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and Opéra national de Paris, to name a few. In 2014 he won the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award for Singer of the Year; in 2015, an Opera News Award; in 2019, was awarded Austria's Kammersänger title during a run of Tosca in Vienna. In addition to French, Italian, German, and Russian repertoire, Beczala has also performed in his native Polish; he sang the pivotal role of Jontek in Stanislaw Moniuszko's 1847 opera Halka, first at the Wiener Staatsoper late last year, and subsequently in his native Poland (at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw in February) in a production by Mariusz Trelinski. As Opera News writer Henry Stewart noted of Beczala's performance of the aria "Straszny Dwór" (The Haunted Manor, again by Moniuszko) on his 2010 album Slavic Opera Arias (Orfeo), "(i)n eight minutes, Beczala makes a case not only for rescuing this epic aria, or even the whole opera, but for paying more attention to Polish music in general." Beczala just did this on his recent album of songs by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz and Stanislaw Moniuszko with pianist Helmut Deutsch, Pieśni (Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina) a beautiful collection of 26 short pieces recorded in Warsaw in 2018.
Photo: Johannes Ifkovits
Such wide variety feels natural for someone who has taken a slow, steady, and altogether smart approach to repertoire expansion. As he told Presto Classical's Katherine Cooper earlier this year, "(m)y earlier career was much more about Mozart than Donizetti, Bellini or Rossini, but this kind of balance between bel canto singing and developing into the dramatic repertoire is so crucial. You have to guard against any signs of stress or loss of flexibility in your voice, because Wagner and verismo in particular can be very dangerous if you start singing too much of it too soon." This deliberate pacing has paid off handsomely, and the time is nigh for a project showcasing such artistic intelligence. Vincerò! (Pentatone), released in May, features Beczala performing with conductor Marco Boemi and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valencia. Called "a winner of an album" by Gramophone at its release. Beczala's vocal flexibility, silvery tones, exquisite dramatic timing, and textured line readings on full display through lush arias taken from his current repertoire (Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, Adriana Lecouvreur) and likely future one(s); there are tasty verismo sounds (Mascagni, Leoncavallo) and a lot of Puccini, including the aforementioned Cavaradossi and Rinuccio respectively, here luminously joined by "Orgia, Chimera Dall'occhio Vitreo" from the composer's first opera, Edgar, along with selections from Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, La fanciulla del West. The album closes with (as the title references) the famous aria "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot. Throughout the selections, Beczala never resorts to crooning, blasting, or forced dramatics; he truly sings the music in a way that elucidates the meaning of the text without losing the poetry of the sound in either linguistic or sonic senses. This is a singer who listens to every single thing going on around him, and here he's beautifully supported – complemented – by Boemi and orchestra. Beczala's reading of the famous tenor aria from Turandot, for instance, highlights his smart musical instincts; it's passion and precision come together in a knowing show of tonal texture and control. In a word: marvelous.
Indeed, as much as Vincerò! is a riveting display of Beczala's meticulous musical approach and watchful brand of vocalism, it is also, as I noted, something of a preview of future roles: Calaf, for instance, is on Beczala's future performance schedule. The tenor and I spoke back in July, just prior to his appearance at the opening night of the Budapesti Nyári Fesztivál on Margaret Island (Margitsziget)'s outdoor stage. So much was still uncertain in the music world, and little has changed since then, but what with the Salzburg Festival presentation this year (albeit in altered form) and the resumption of concerts across much of continental Europe, with all the requisite safety measures in place, it's safe to say there is some form of cultural-musical life trickling into being after a long and sometimes painful absence. Beczala performed in Salzburg recently, in a presentation of Mahler's Das Lied von Erde with mezzo-soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner and the ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien under the baton of Kent Nagano; the presentation will be broadcast on radio station Ö1 on August 20th at 7.30pm CET. That very evening (August 20th) sees Beczala perform live at the Grafenegg Festival, in a concert featuring the music of Mascagni, Giordano, Leoncavallo, and Puccini, together with the Tonkunstler Orchestra under the direction of conductor Sascha Goetzel; that particular appearance will be broadcast on Austrian television on August 30th. This month has, it turns out, been a happily busy one for the tenor (he began August performing at both the opening and closing evenings of a special edition of the Lech Classic Festival in Austria, before going on to Salzburg), and the autumn may well prove just as busy: in September Beczala will be giving two concerts from Spain with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and will also be giving a gala concert from the Wiener Konzerthaus, and October sees him performing in Warsaw, as the title role in Werther.
So, despite audiences being denied the opportunity to experience his Radamès (in Aida) this year at either the Festival de Peralada in Spain or at The Met respectively, there is plenty to look forward to, and for now, Beczala, together with wife Kasia, are riding out the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic as positively as possible: by baking, studying, and, rather happily as it turns out, singing for live audiences.
Faust at the Salzburg Festival. Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Your baking posts on instagram remind me of things my own relatives make. It's interesting how many artists in the opera world enjoy being in the kitchen.
Well, we spend so much time between performances doing nothing. You can study and practise all the time but you have to do something normal – you can play golf or sports but it's really a good thing to spend some hours cooking, baking, trying recipes. We also do it sometimes with friends, singer friends –cooking is a good way to spend time together.
There's also the aspect of what you make you can't actually see and touch, whereas when you work with food it's a directly sensual experience.
That's absolutely right – I remember when I did Magic Flute performances, and I was always jealous of Papageno getting the chicken in the last act. The whole house smelled like barbequed chicken, and who got it? The baritone, of course.
Yes, but you tenors get to sing things like "Nessun Dorma"…
Exactly – I'm okay with that!
Throughout this pandemic time it seems like many classical artists have learned things tangible and not, things they're bringing back to live performance as some kind of normal returns in Europe. Is this your experience too?
We still, unfortunately, are nowhere near normal at the moment – some opera houses and concert halls are starting to go back but it really doesn't look fine for me. Singing… I have no problem to sing for ten people, but for empty or almost-empty concert halls and houses, it's a really difficult thing. And… well, we have to survive this time. I spoke with so many colleagues of mine, and really, we have to just stay calm, not go crazy. In my case, I was two months having vacations, and we stayed here in Poland for a couple of weeks, and I was already working last week in Vienna doing a TV project, and I'm going to Zurich. You know, some concerts that were cancelled are now back on schedule, but it's still far away from normality. And that's my problem, we don't know what will happen in the fall, we don't know… I know actually I will go do an opera in November, but until then there will may be concerts and performances but … the situation is very dynamic. It changes every day and every week.
That's hard to adjust to especially when you have things lined up for years in advance.
My schedule is full until 2024-2025, and this is now only … It's fantastic to have wonderful productions in your schedule, but there's the old wisdom, and it always rings true, that your schedule is right when you've actually done all the performances, not when you put it on the paper. Now I see this situation, and well, who knows what will happen? Everybody asks me, but I'm a singer! I am really extremely happy that summer concerts are back along with a few activities, but it's really very far from normal.
Part of your own "normal" is performing operetta; I spoke to Barrie Kosky years ago about staging it, and I'm curious as a singer what operetta brings you creatively.
When I started 28 years ago I'd already sung operetta, in the house in Linz and later in Zurich and Vienna. Operetta was always present in the program – not many, but the big hits like Merry Widow and Fledermaus and I always enjoyed it a lot. I love all these tenors of the past, from the 1950s-60s-70s or before, and operetta was really a big part of their repertoire – Fritz Wunderlich and Nikolai Gedda and many very fantastic tenors. It's just part of my repertoire. I did a concert with Thielemann on New Year's Eve in Dresden and I recorded a tribute to Tauber for Deutsche Grammophon (in 2013) – you know, it's always a good thing for a tenor to have this part of his repertoire in the voice, because it's a very good combination of some nice vocal lines, some elegance in singing, some distance to yourself, because operetta you can't take really seriously. It's serious music, but you have to blink a little with one eye when you do this music.
It does require a lot of vocal flexibility…
That's what I mean, it's not one style. You sing Puccini or Verdi or Wagner, it's something very stable, everything moving in one direction; operetta is more of a pretty, nice, younger sister of opera. Of course there are exceptions, like The Land of Smiles (Das Land des Lächelns), which I did in Zurich a couple years ago; it's really a tragic story like opera, but basically it's about love, not going very deep into the sensibility of the people on the stage. It's entertainment but entertainment on a very high level, and on a high level vocally as well.
So you can do operetta and verismo and Lohengrin – that flexibility feels rather rare in this age of the specialist, don't you think?
It's a good question. Really, I'm doing this because I like it; I know exactly the differences between verismo, Verdi, French opera, Wagner, and operetta – the funny thing is, operetta is not very far from Wagner…
Really!
Of course! But these aren't my words Thielemann convinced me to sing Lohengrin, and he said that after a couple of concerts we did in Dresden, he said, well, I have to think about Lohengrin as really not being very far from Lehár's The Land of Smiles – of course the language is the same. More or less, it's the same time of composition, the end of the 19th century, and well… when you take both seriously, you can say, it's not very far away, but all these styles are pretty different. I also sing Slavic music, and it's also a part of my repertoire, but it depends very much on the language. Last year I did Halka in Vienna.
I have friends who saw you in that – it's quite special to stage a Polish opera.
Yes, it was a rare opportunity to sing in my own language, and in an opera at that, because my operatic language is French or Italian or German. It's a good combination, but the key is to see the differences and to try and not sing everything in the same way. It's like cooking: when you do everything in the same way, everything tastes the same. You can't recognize whether it's meat or fish or dessert.
I saw you live in Salzburg in Faust and noted how careful your sensitivity was to not only the words but the way they relate to the score– and that sensitivity was just as palpable in your album with Helmut Deutsch of Polish songs.
Recording that album was a fantastic experience – Helmut and I have a lot of plans for the future. It's a very funny story. We met through my former vocal coach, in-person in Vienna, and then I got the idea to ask him for some concerts. It was such a positive development. Helmut of course is one of the best interpreters of Schumann and Schubert – the big German repertoire – but in his soul and his heart, he is very Slavic. When we started work on the Karlowicz/Moniuszko album, he loved it. For me it was so important to have so many good people around me, people who I can work with, even for something that is not very popular. Nobody did Karlowicz songs before – well, maybe there was something in Poland, but in the international arena, it's' not really normal – but now everybody knows. I'm really happy about that.
I only got to know Halka when you were in it – increasing awareness of composers who aren't part of the mainstream opera rep seems more important than ever.
That was the idea, to bring Halka to the international opera world. In Vienna the Theatre an Der Wien is a very important house, and it was a perfect place for staging Halka. Of course it's hard to present the world with a new opera, an unknown opera – but with this work, the music is so beautiful, and it was a nice production. It's good people realize there's something like this in Poland and they say, "Okay, we welcome Halka into the world" – that was the idea. And now, I'll be happy and extremely satisfied when it becomes part of the normal repertoire in some houses; that would be a dream.
Like at the Met?
Maybe, yes, of course! I know the difficulty to produce projects like that. I spoke with Peter Gelb about it – he has to sell tickets, that's the thing. We get sold out in Theatre An Der Wien, but five performances there equals one performance at The Met. This is the big problem. There's a risk also for many titles that aren't popular, but the risk could be good in the case of Halka. Let's see.
So it's a chicken-or-egg sort of situation…
Yes, it is. We did it once in Vienna, and again in Warsaw, and it was twice on Austrian TV, and it's being released now on DVD. In a couple months, someone interested can say, "Okay, time for something new!" and listen to this and watch it, and then there's some impulse to make things happen.
(via Pentatone)
Speaking of impulse to make things happen, your Vincero! album seems to have that quality; I kept wondering as I listened when the world might hear your Calaf.
It was the idea behind this album, to show all these arias, the most popular being "Nessun Dorma". When I prepared myself and all this repertoire for the recording, I discovered a lot of fine music moments, different colors, and realized there are many sensitive and beautifully soft moments in Turandot. Of course the tenor has to sing with a sound of verismo, it's like oil painting: when you are making it, you don't have to take a big brush and do the big strokes, you need the possibility to make many small details – and this way to sing verismo is very important. I'd sung only two or three of those roles (on the album) on stage – Cavaradossi and Lecouvreur and Rinuccio, and that was twenty-five years ago – but the rest is for me questions for the future. And you mention Calaf… yes, I will do it. Most of these roles are in my plans for the future.
I kept hearing Parsifal also.
Thank you very much…. yes, Parsifal is in the schedule too! It's a very special role; it's not high, it's not long, it's not a lot to sing, but it's very deep in terms of the meaning. The difficulty is, going through five hours of music, maybe (the opera) should be called Gurnemanz! I think in the next seven or eight years I will develop in the Italian repertoire, as well as Wagner. I really like singing Lohengrin, and Parsifal is the next logical step, and then maybe Meistersinger. I'm curious about what happens with repeating a role in different productions.
For example, Faust, for me it's such an interesting story, with such a rich background and emotional world. I like to repeat every year or every two years a new production with this music, just to see how my voice is changing, which parts of the character I can discover again. I never get bored singing. Someone asked me a couple years ago about Rigoletto. If I'm not tired of singing it – I had sung maybe 100 performances in my life – I said, well, compared to all my wonderful colleagues like Leo Nucci or Anna Moffo, it's nothing; Leo sang Rigoletto over 500, and it's still fresh and not boring, Anna Moffo sang something like 800 Traviatas in her life. To keep the freshness also, not only vocally but in your head, your attitude and sense of discovery with the role, is very important in the business.
To keep it interesting for yourself as an artist?
Absolutely. You can't be famous for fifty roles – you can't go in history for fifty roles. You can go into history for at least maybe five or six roles; that's the brutal truth. What I like is to discover, again and again, the same subject and to change it for different audiences – in America, Vienna, Barcelona, Paris, because this kind of working with people, with the public, is also a big part of discovering and searching for new impulses in the music
… which is precisely what you're missing now, that interaction with a live public.
That's so true! That's been the most difficult part of this lockdown. We are in contact a little bit, but nothing can replace real contact with the public; that's something absolutely special.
Your real contact will come with opening the Budapesti Nyári Fesztivál soon…
Yes, this open-air concert that had been cancelled got brought back. It's fantastic because it's presented as open-air on Margaret Island. I was in Budapest a couple of times but never there in that spot, but I know the the people well, the orchestra and the soprano (Andrea Rost) I'll be singing with.
How challenging will it be to return to a live audience?
It's like driving a bicycle: you never really forget it. When I did my last day's recording in Vienna there was no public there of course, but there were a lot of people around, the producers and others. There are always people around in this industry, and you have to find somebody, focus on them, and sing for that one person. In the worst case, my wife is sitting twenty meters away, and I can sing to her!
With wife Kasia at the 2015 Opera News Awards.
You two seem like a very strong team.
We are a team, and for many years we've travelled together, studied together, and she knows my voice better than anyone. She is at most of my performances. Us singers need ears which are outside – we can't really hear ourselves, and it's so important when you have a person you can trust, to get some feedback. That's really, really important.
As a benefit, she gets to eat your lovely cakes.
She gets the ideas for the cakes; I make them; she decorates them, and then we invite people and they have to eat it. That's the plan, always. It's a good arrangement. My proportions for the cake are always big, and since we are only two we can't eat it all, so we always invite people. Normally we'd take it to the house for colleagues. It's always a good collaboration.
That nicely underlines the significance community has gained throughout the lockdown.
Yes, precisely, we are close in our space and apartments, it's like discovering a whole new situation. I was rather happy here in Poland when nothing happened and we couldn't travel… actually it was a good thing. I hadn't taken a vacation in fifteen or twenty years. When people say "I'm taking a vacation" in our industry, it's usually only two weeks – not studying, not practising, switching off all your activities, and focusing on doing nothing. That's what we tried to do here. But moving on, I mean, in Salzburg 50% of the programme will happen, including my concert. For a long time we didn't know what would happen, but it was very good news when I learned it will. It's a very important year with the anniversary, and it would be a pity to cancel it. I've been singing there since 1997, it's a long-time collaboration, and I was happy to have the possibility to sing there during the anniversary year. People have struggled with the situation but we hope people will be fine. We have to just react to the situation and adjust with whatever happens.
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Alexander Neef: "I Believe In The Resilience Of The Art Form"
In classical, Europe, interviewing, music, opera, production, programming
Photo © Gaetz Photography
Update 22 June 2020: The Canadian Opera Company has cancelled its 2020 autumn season. The conversation with COC General Director Alexander Neef, below, took place in May 2020, prior to the official announcement.
Cancellation, closure, calibration: these are the elements at work within an arts industry trying desperately to stay afloat in the middle of a pandemic. What to cancel? What to postpone? What to calibrate – or recalibrate – as the situation warrants? Which companies will be around in year, and which will close? Some organizations are busily preparing for presentations of old favorites within the context of a new normal dictated by the coronavirus, acting, consciously or not, as beacons of an industry facing an immense and undeniable transformation.
The annual Salzburg Festival, for instance, will be going forwards in a modified form as of August 1st. On the slate is Elektra (with Aušrine Stundyte in the lead and Franz Welser-Möst on the podium, in a production by Krzysztof Warlikowski) and a revival of Così fan tutte, as well as four theatre works (including the world premiere of Zdeněk Adamec by Peter Handke) and numerous concerts, including a Beethoven cycle by pianist Igor Levit. In Germany, Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB) has also made adjustments. The company recently announced a 90-minute chamber presentation of Das Rheingold in its very own car park, running for five performances starting this Friday (12 June), and featuring twenty-two musicians and twelve singers. The production, by Jonathan Dove (who also did orchestration) and director Graham Vick for the Birmingham Opera Company, is not the first presentation by DOB in such an environment; in 2014 the company presented Iannis Xenakis' Oresteia in the very same parking deck. Wagner's first opera in his epic Ring Cycle had been originally planned as a fully staged work from director Stefan Herheim, a premiere which has since been postponed. The upcoming version, adhering to the guidelines set out by the Senate of Berlin, has a €5 entry fee and a pay-what-you-can structure, with audience member contact information being recorded and a 1.5 metre distance enforced; moreover, masks will be required when entering and exiting, toilets will be accessible, and (rather crucially) small bottles of "beverages" will be made available to visitors.
Such an ambitious undertaking underlines the very thin lines that currently exist between possibilities and probabilities. Those who can are doing their best, in the most creative and safe methods presently allowable; others are bending and flexing in ways heretofore unimaginable six months ago. The Metropolitan Opera cancelled its autumn season and will be reopening (ostensibly) on December 31st, although it continues to offer a revolving slate of productions online. Looking over their latest release, it's hard to not think of the artists who were set to make their debuts at the house this autumn, either in a role or with the company itself: soprano Christine Goerke was set to sing her first fully-staged Isolde in a revival of Marius Treliński's production of Tristan und Isolde; 74-year-old conductor Michail Jurowski was to have made his Met Opera debut leading Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel. On the other side of the ocean, the Royal Opera House, itself in dire straits, is getting set to launch a new series, Live From Covent Garden, on Saturday (June 13), which will complement its extant online offerings of opera and ballet. Curated by Sir Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, Oliver Mears, Director of Opera, and Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, the event (set to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on June 15th) will feature performances by baritone Gerald Finley, tenor Toby Spence, soprano Louise Alder, and the premiere of a new ballet choreographed by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor. The following two presentations of the program, on the 20th and 27th of June respectively, will be available on a pay-per-view basis. Like every company, a prominent "Donate Now" button is displayed on the ROH homepage, one whose request will no doubt grow in urgency as the autumn season inches ever closer.
Rosario La Spina as Radames (background) and Sondra Radvanovsky (foreground) as Aida in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Aida, 2010. Photo: Michael Cooper
For Canadian Opera Company (COC) audiences, the fall season is just as fraught with uncertainty. In late March the company made the difficult if necessary decision to cancel the remainder of its 2019-2020 season, which was to include revivals of The Flying Dutchman and a wildly divisive staging of Aida by Tim Albery. Bereft of the gilded visuals so frequently attached to presentations of the famed Verdi work, the production had been anticipated for the reactions it might have provoked a full decade after its premiere. Would Toronto audiences have grown to accept Albery's arresting vision? Would it have been so upsetting in 2020? Will it even be staged again, now that COVID seems, for some, to have put a damper on even perceivably risque productions and programming? The opportunity to discover the elasticity of the COC audience was, alas, lost this spring but another chance, possibly, awaits in the fall. The company is set to present Wagner's Parsifal – the first presentation of the opera in the COC's history. A co-production with Opéra de Lyon, The Metropolitan Opera, and the COC, the highly abstract (and at times, very bloody) François Girard-helmed work was presented in February 2013 at The Met, to widespread acclaim. Owing to the monumental nature of the production, the company launched a fundraising campaign with various levels of support named after elements of the opera. Tenors Christopher Ventris and Viktor Antipenko share the title role in the COC production, with Johan Reuter as Amfortas, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Kundry, and Robert Pomakov as Klingsor; COC Music Director Johannes Debus conducts. Opening night is scheduled for September 25th.
A scene from The Metropolitan Opera's production of Parsifal, 2013. Photo: Ken Howard
According to Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef, those plans are still intact. Neef, who is also Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Festival, had been set to leave the COC at the end of the 2020-2021 season and become General Director of the Opéra national de Paris. The company is facing €40 million in losses this year alone, from both the pandemic as well as numerous strikes which occurred before the lockdown. The Opéra's current Director, Stéphane Lissner, announced in an interview with Le Monde on June 11th, 2020 that he's ending his mandate at the end of 2020, emphasizing the extreme nature of the situation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic: "nous ne sommes pas dans une situation de passation normale." ("we are not in a normal handover situation.") Neef confirmed in a COC release the following day that he "certainly did not anticipate Lissner's early departure and that also confirmed not leaving Canada just yet. Neef says he "has not yet had any formal discussions – either with the Paris Opera or members of our Board of Directors – about accelerating the start of my engagement in Paris. Moreover, the ongoing global health crisis makes it difficult to envision how any significant changes to the intended timeline could be accommodated."
Back in May, Lissner spoke to the unfeasible economics around presenting opera at the Garnier and Bastille theatres within prescribed social distancing mandates. France, like most other locales, requires audience members to be two meters (6.5 feet) apart. "Le protocole [proposé pour reprendre les spectacles] est impraticable : impraticable pour le public, pour les artistes et pour les salariés. Suppression des entractes, c'est impossible, faire entrer 2700 personnes en respectant les distances, c'est impossible, la distance dans l'orchestre, dans les chœurs, c'est impossible," he noted in early May ("The protocol [proposed to take over the shows] is impractical: impractical for the public, for the artists and for the employees. Eliminating intermissions is impossible, bringing in 2700 people while respecting distances is impossible, the distance in the orchestra, in the choirs, is impossible."). Will there even be a 2020-2021 season for Opéra national de Paris? The report in Le Monde indicates, if not an outright cancellation, then a greatly altered one, with an emphasis on revivals, including La traviata (led by James Gaffigan, in a production by Simone Stone), the ballet La Bayadère, and the ever-popular Carmen, with Domingo Hindoyan on the podium, in an acclaimed staging by Calixto Bieito. The Bastille is not set to reopen until November 24th, and the Garnier in late December. A planned new Ring Cycle staging is off the books. "Fin 2020, il est probable que l'Opéra de Paris n'aura plus de fonds de roulement" (By the end of 2020, it is likely that the Paris Opera will no longer have working capital"), Lissner told Le Monde. "C'est pourquoi, à partir de janvier 2021, j'ai choisi de m'effacer afin qu'il n'y ait plus qu'un seul patron à bord." ("That's why, from January 2021, I chose to step aside so that there would only be one boss on board.")
The interior of the Palais Garnier. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
That "seul patron" is shouldering a lot of responsibility right now. Notwithstanding this unfolding and weighty situation, plus the cancellation of the COC's spring season and the uncertainty of its 2020-2021 season, Neef was also very recently heavily involved in negotiations to obtain recorded COC performances for online broadcast during the quarantine – hardly a simple task, as music writer Lydia Perovic ably outlined in her smart investigation into the paucity of online Canadian opera content for Opera Canada magazine in 2018. Yet in our conversation last month, before the Paris news, Neef was his characteristically cool, unflappable self. The COC head honcho and I have spoken many times over the years, most recently last summer following the announcement of his Paris appointment. The German-born Neef has always been direct if highly diplomatic, eloquent but possessing an undeniable edge of steel. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of history (not surprising, given he graduated from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen with a Master of Arts in Latin Philology and Modern History) and a solid if wholly unsurprising knack for thoughtful casting (honed during his time as casting director at the Paris Opera from 2004 to 2008), Neef is as much passionate as level-headed; that passion shows itself in strong, well-observed opinions and observations, and then translates itself into elegantly understated wisdom. Having started at the Salzburg Festival with famed opera administrator Gerard Mortier, Neef went on to work at the Ruhrtriennale, New York City Opera, and later, Opéra nationale de Paris, before arriving in Toronto in 2008. In the decade-plus of his directorship with the COC, Neef has brought a number of celebrated international opera figures to the Four Seasons Centre stage: singers (Ferruccio Furlanetto, Anita Rachvellishvilli, Patricia Racette, Stefan Vinke, Luca Pisaroni, conductors (Carlo Rizzi, Speranza Scapucci, Paolo Carignani, Harry Bicket, Patrick Lange), directors (Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Claus Guth, Robert Wilson, Spanish theatre collective Els Comediants). He has consistently championed the work of tenor Russell Thomas, who has appeared on multiple occasions on the stage of the Four Seasons Centre (The Tales of Hoffman in 2012, Carmen in 2016 Norma in 2016, Otello in 2019, and was to have performed in Aida this spring), along with that of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (two operas in Donizetti's Tudor trilogy as well as Norma), bass baritone Gerald Finley (Falstaff, 2014, Otello, 2019) and soprano Christine Goerke, whose Brunnhilde in the company's year-by-year presentations unfolding Wagner's Ring Cycle won her acclaim and, like Radvanovsky, Finley, and Thomas, bolstered a fierce following.
In mid-May, Neef took part in an online chat hosted by the Toronto-based International Resource Centre for the Performing Arts (IRCPA) in which he was asked about how he perceived the coronavirus pandemic was affecting the opera community, singers in particular; I was keen to hear more from Neef and was grateful when, not a week later, he and I had a lengthy discussion – about pandemic, Parsifal, Paris, and, to start, the question of risk and its place in the industry moving forwards.
In light of the damage the pandemic is doing in the arts world, some believe that opera programming and presentation will become more conservative, that any perceived risk in either is off the table for the foreseeable future. What's your take – can opera afford to break eggs in a pandemic/post-pandemic environment?
To stick with your analogy: I think there is no art if you don't break the eggs. And I think since we don't have any live art in our lives right now, breaking eggs becomes even more important in the future. I got this really interesting manifesto in my mailbox this morning – and it's easier to say this when you run a little company rather than when you have X number of employees you want to keep feeding – but, it says, "time to commission new works from young composers; time to ally with other theatre, cinema, dance, performing arts centres; time to follow the example of cinema, the storytelling medium that came after opera and was predicted by great opera composers" and so on. When you're a small, flexible structure, then yes, those boats are easy to turn around; you can be much more reactive. The bigger your apparatus becomes, the harder it is to change because there are a lot of people who need to make that change with you, but in general, I've never believed and still don't believe it, that going back to more traditional approaches, to what we consider "safe" repertoire, will do anything for the future sector – the only thing it will do is make people get more tired of you. Or, to say it another way, how many times will you need to see the same production of La bohème, even though it might be with different people? At some point you may say, "I've seen this five times over the last ten years; give me one reason why I should go again?" I think what we've been trying to do is to space things out enough, or to hold off with programming, so there's still for us a reason to do (a certain opera), other than the reason that it's popular repertoire…
Or it's nostalgia…
… or it's nostalgia, yes. Also, our audience is not eternal. Like everybody who deals with an audience, we are always interested in refreshing – we want a relationship with our public where we don't always confirm what they think opera is.
That's a big hurdle, especially for companies who play into clichés. How do you counter it?
It is a hurdle, but I continue to believe, and this crisis hasn't changed my opinion so far, that what's really important is people know what kind of company they're coming to; you need to have a spine. And again, I always say, and have said: indifference is our biggest enemy. If people think, "Oh, this is the same old thing" or they leave a show and can't remember, ten minutes later, what it was all about… well, obviously we want people to like what we do, but I prefer they hate (a production) with a passion than be indifferent to it. Unfortunately we didn't get to do that revival of Aida that people were itching to see, for very different reasons!
I distinctly recall someone saying to me at the opening in 2010 that "it's actually just fine if you close your eyes."
Think what you want about that production but ten years later people still talk about it. That's what I mean when I say indifference is our biggest enemy. Obviously there was a lot of rejection at the time but also a lot of people came to it and said, "Wow, I had no clue opera could be so current, and about me, and not just stuffy and purely representational."
There were also younger people I know who went and later said, "That was my first opera experience and I wanted grandeur and camels!"
… and other people walked away from it thinking, "Where has this art form been all my life?!" So it's hard to say what's interesting to one and not to the other. People think about young audiences that, very often, those are the ones who want the avant-garde, but I think it's not necessarily true; sometimes they're way more conservative than someone who's been subscribing for twenty-five years. It's a complicated thing! But just because you are older does not mean your taste in art is more conservative – that's not how it works.
Jonas Kaufmann as Parsifal in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Parsifal, 2013. Photo: Ken Howard
There's been so much effort on the part of classical organizations to try and get this mythical young audience, but I feel as if the pandemic has forced them to realize the importance of a far wider cultivation.
In the end you can't afford to ignore any part of your audience. Right now there's an issue with at-risk populations; a young audience is not seen as so much at-risk (for COVID), but I think that shouldn't mean we totally abandon our older audiences. The whole discussion for me is kind of moot anyway, because you cannot separate the discussion of keeping an audience safe from keeping the performers and staff safe, and while that might not be exactly the precisely same measures, if you can't combine both, then it's going to be very hard to have a show. Right now the pit is a very dangerous work environment. We're in a lucky position in Canada and the COC – we won't be going back into rehearsals before two-and-a-half months from now, so we will have better information in two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, that will allow us to make better decisions. The big hiatus we have now, I'm rather grateful for that.
Some in the Toronto opera world are wondering what will happen to Parsifal – it's been a long road to having it staged at the Four Seasons Centre.
What I say is: I simply don't want to make that decision right now. And I don't feel I have to. Right now we're living in an equation with too many variables and those variables make it hard to solve that equation. There's already some measures falling in place in terms of public health advisories, and some of the variables are starting to be eliminated. Today I read something stating that essentially the virus is mostly circulating in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and the rest of Ontario is under control – which is not great news for the GTA, but it's true in all urban centres – Montréal, Paris, all those places – it's true that it hangs on (in those locales) for longer because there's more movement of people, but it also means it can get contained. We need to have a better idea of the public health measures.
Obviously we won't be able to perform Parsifal if we have to have limited numbers in the audience, it's an economic nightmare and it wouldn't be worth it. We couldn't even accommodate all of our subscribers (in that scenario), but we have to be prepared, and we are taking the time to be prepared, and when we have to make a decision, we will gather all the elements to make the best decision for our staff and performers, and the house, and everyone.
The interior of Palais Garnier. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
It's a strange new equation to accept, that we are now in a world where there's a question mark over both Parsifal and Paris's opera season.
It is a strange new equation, and with strange new variables – and I think one needs to take this a week at a time. There are supposed to be additional announcements of openings in Europe…
… under strict conditions. Returning to the theatre-going experience people are familiar with will take much longer.
Yes, and it's a two-way street, or more than a two-way street. A part of it is medical progress as well – I think even more effective and widely-available testing will do a lot to reassure the public about the situation. That is big! Everybody knows the vaccine will take a little while but also we're working on all kinds of things in terms of an effective antiviral, because the truth is, if we didn't have a flu vaccine we would be having a terrible situation every winter. But because we have a flu vaccine there's no discussions of masks or additional hygiene measures during flu season… so we need to find a way through additional safety measures, through progress in medicine, all of that, to kind of normalize this situation in a way that is… I mean, there's always a risk: you leave your house and you can catch something on the subway, right? That happens to a lot of people. I am not a scientist and indeed COVID is very contagious – if you get sick you can get very sick, but we need to take time to really learn more about it and then calibrate all the available information and input it back into a form where people can gain a certain amount of comfort in leaving their homes, in order to assess different levels of risk.
View from the orchestra pit of R. Fraser Elliott Hall at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Photo: Lucia Graca
How do you see the current recalibrating in the opera world influencing not only companies but artists?
Again, for everything that's on the performer's side, regular testing is going to be the key so that you can be certain the people working together in confined spaces, people touching each other in rehearsals and so on, they can have a reasonable level of confidence that everybody is up to date on their health. Now it's the case that you wake up in the morning and you feel a little bit off and take your temperature; three months ago you would have thought, "Oh I'll see how I feel in the afternoon" but today you get the thermometer out and look at the reading and say, "It's not normal." People will be more sensitive to their own symptoms and more responsible, I think. I was reading something interesting, about how work culture will change, especially in North America, where coming to work sick was like a badge of honor, not letting the company down, now it's, "You're not feeling well, we don't want to see you" and that's not necessarily a bad thing! That's the performer's side.
On the audience side, if people feel safe again if wearing a gloves and a mask when they go somewhere and feel okay to sit next to someone they don't know, if we can reach that level of confidence, I think nobody will care about people wearing a mask in the foreseeable future in a theatre, even if it's not a requirement. It will be part of the new normal, and frankly, it's normal already in certain parts of the world. It's funny that in Canada, which was so haunted by SARS, mask-wearing didn't become a norm, so maybe now it will. If that's the worst thing that can happen to us, that people put on a mask before walking into the Four Seasons Centre, we can do that. There's so much cultural change about masks that's already happened – people felt, "Oh you can't speak with a mask" – well, people do it all the time. I was at the supermarket the other day and ran into someone I know, and we didn't take our masks off, we just spoke with our masks on at a safe distance. Places are going to normalize these kinds of protocols, and it'll make it all less scary, I believe. And of course, if you are part of a risk group, you would think twice about where you go and what you do; we might be able to accommodate you somewhere in the theatre. We're more than happy to do that with patrons; it's our business to accommodate their needs. Frankly, every theatre would be willing to do that to get their patrons back. But then again it's not something we haven't done already in making all reasonable accommodations for people with needs.
Tenor Russell Thomas in rehearsal for the Canadian Opera Company's production of Otello, 2019. Photo: Canadian Opera Company
And casting?
That's actually one of the bigger problems we're discussing. Zoom doesn't give you a lot of information about the size of the voice but it does give you information about the personality you're dealing with, about pitch, about rhythm. We were talking about this in relation to the ensemble, for example; they were Zoom coaching before they went off contract for the summer. Everybody hated the idea initially, and then came away saying it was better than not doing anything at all, so that is obviously also a part of that new normal, as you say. There's also the situation of stage auditions and having a pianist and nobody in the hall except for two or three casting people; that seems less complicated than a full stage performance in this environment, if you can get them safely in through the stage door and onstage. All these things are being worked out.
I'm curious if you think digital platforms like Instagram will become a big factor in casting the post-coronavirus opera world.
It probably will… but… I look at it more as an added tool to what we're already doing than anything else. We have more and more tools at our disposable, yes, but there's a lot of the old stuff that still works and we can't abandon it, that's been true for our marketing and communications as much as for casting – we still send postcards to people (for marketing) because there's people who really like postcards, maybe not as many as twenty years ago, but it's still a valuable part of our audience, so why would we abandon that practise?
Alexander Neef at the COC's 2020-2021 Season Reveal event, 2020. Photo © Gaetz Photography
So the same holds true for singers then? I see a lot of imitation online.
As I said in the IRCPA talk, people who do casting are really not very interested in generic products…
… you mean in terms of singers pushing an homogenous image?
Yes – going back to your breaking-the-eggs metaphor at the beginning of our conversation, if you don't have that appetite for risk-taking there's not going to be a lot of art in what you do.
Strange to think that being yourself is perceived as a risk.
We all know it's the hardest to be yourself – but as an artist you have the opportunity to not be yourself, and to figure that out, and to live it out, in a way a lot of people cannot, but I think it's very important to have that self-assessment skill and to figure out, clearly, "What can I do better than other people?" If you have better high Fs than anybody, then all I want to know is, can you sing Queen Of The Night? That's the thing, and there's nothing bad about it, and you must acknowledge that as you get older, your high Fs won't be as great, and you'd better figure out what you can do then.
Or have figured it out already…
Yes. It comes back to having a lot of courage. Sometimes I feel the courage, especially for a young artist, will always come before the self-assurance, but it's kind of a bit of – I really like this egg thing you started with! – it's a chicken-and-egg situation: if you don't put in the courage it might just never happen, but you will not know if there's a reward before you've done it, and I think doing it for the first time, and seeing if it works, will give you more courage for the second time, and so on.
The benefit of digital is it's creating a vital form of community a lot of people miss right now – are the recent COC opera broadcasts a sign of things to come?
Right now it's a concession to the times we're in; we wouldn't want to necessarily put archival recordings out as a standard, but what's important for me is – and some don't see it this way but that's fine – that it's about creating a presence for all those artists who can't work right now. Putting this kind of work out – work that was done in a good environment, where (artists) are performing good roles with a good company, with a high level of quality – reminds the world that is what artists do. And having such material released also reminds the world that this is just a video, and if you want the real thing, you will have to come back to the theatre and get a real-life experience.
So you see video as a complement, not a replacement?
The exterior of Palais Garnier. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
I asked you this in our conversation last year, but of course so much has changed, and I want to ask again: what are you taking with you now from Toronto to Paris?
I'm not leaving just yet!
Something you'd noted before is your desire at Opéra national de Paris to highlight various historical aspects within a contemporary context.
That hasn't changed, of course – putting historical opera within the larger context of what happens today, for 21st century artists and for a 21st century audience – that won't change, but we'll have to see as we emerge from this crisis, what has actually changed, and when we can go back. That (plan for return) will determine a lot. The longer this goes, the more we will have to think about smaller things we can do for limited groups of people. The goal is to go back to fully staged opera as quickly as possible, but if we can't do that, we better get inventive. Ultimately I believe in the resilience of the art form.


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ISSN 1470-8108 Issue 56 Autumn 2004
BRITISH ASBESTOS NEWSLETTER
T&N: Who Gets What?
Whether dying victims or aging pensioners deserve first crack at a moribund company's finite resources is a decision that would tax the wisdom of Solomon. This, however, is only one aspect of the on-going saga of the Federal-Mogul(FM)/T&N reorganization process.1 As global stakeholders continue to jostle for position, T&N's UK administrators, Kroll Buchler Phillips (KBP), find themselves increasingly out of the loop. In mid-August, the placing of a series of advertisements in legal journals, newspapers and other media outlets in the UK, India, Brazil, and France by FM's US lawyers came as news to Simon Freakley, head of the court-appointed KBP team. In a Press Release issued by MP John Battle on August 16, 2004, Battle reported Freakley's "surprise" at FM's manoeuvre to circumvent the administrators by appealing directly to potential claimants. On August 22, Freakley, perhaps in an effort to paper over the widening gulf between US and UK interests, attempted to put the advertising campaign into context saying:
the advertisements are part of the Chapter 11 process and have been placed directly by Federal-Mogul's US lawyers;
as part of the reorganization process, Federal-Mogul is required to assess its global asbestos-related liabilities;
US proponents of the Plan are required to obtain the support of a majority in number of Federal-Mogul's creditors and two-thirds in value for the US Bankruptcy Court to validate the Plan in December 2004.2
Suspicions that the proposed Reorganization Plan will give short shrift to T&N's non-US3 creditors are growing. A statement by Freakley on August 5 hinted at a possible UK rejection of the US Plan:
"As administrators, we need to be confident that whatever reorganization plan we support represents the best outcome for all T&N's creditors. The Plan of Reorganization as it now stands is valued at 7.24 cents on the dollar; it is likely that, unless a more generous offer is tabled, a controlled sale of the company's UK assets could yield several times that amount. Although this is a step we are reluctant to take, it is something that warrants consideration. It is essential that any Plan of Reorganization deals fairly with UK pensioners and UK asbestos creditors as well as all US creditors."4
Pension Deficit
Last year's announcement by the independent trustee of the T&N Pension Fund of a £875 million deficit in the £1 billion scheme has led to headlines such as Wind-up of T&N plan is likely, Pension threat for 40,000 T&N staff, Turner & Newall pension fund fears and Thousands of UK workers set to lose pensions through company administration.5 On July 9, 2004, the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) said: "There have to be grounds to be concerned; their (pension fund) situation is not at all clear cut."6 Currently there are 21,206 members drawing on T&N's Retirement Benefits Scheme, as well as 4,119 active and 15,474 deferred members. A UK pension expert believes current T&N employees could get less than half of what they were expecting if the fund were to be closed. "It is not in anyone's interests that the scheme be allowed to wind up," said a UK trade unionist. "If that happens it could potentially jeopardize 4,000 UK workers' jobs as well as 40,000 peoples' pensions..." Looking at the broader picture, John Rowse, of the Transport and General Workers Union, said: "Once again UK workers are losing out because of our antiquated and unfair laws on insolvency."7 The National Secretary of Amicus, Tony Murphy, agreed: "Here we have a loyal UK workforce that have stayed with the company through difficult and uncertain times and this is how they have been rewarded."
As the prime responsibility of the independent trustee is the maximization of the pension fund assets, if the deficit gap is not plugged, the trustee may be forced to liquidate the scheme leaving most beneficiaries with a fraction of what they are owed. The Pension Protection Fund, due to be introduced by the UK Government in April, 2005, could come too late for those whose T&N pensions are at risk; they would also be unable to make claims on the Government's £400 million rescue fund for those affected by pension shortfalls prior to May, 2004. Full pension entitlements to T&N's retired employees will continue but payments may be frozen and not inflation-linked.
Concern over the pension situation prompted the administrators to seek guidance from the High Court:
"(In July, 2004) the Court handed down an Order directing us (the administrators) to withdraw the subsidiary companies from the T&N Pension Scheme. As well as maintaining the balance between all creditors, this action protects the interests of those employees who are members of the T&N pension scheme, whilst we progress toward an exit from Administration and Chapter 11 for the group. In the event of a wind-up of the scheme, current pension law provides that retired members get paid their benefits first. Also, deferred members (former employees who have yet to retire) do not make ongoing contributions to the scheme… We wish to make it clear that the scheme is still open – it hasn't terminated nor is it currently subject to winding up…"
A separate interest-bearing Trust Account to collect pension contributions from the 2,500 T&N workers who the Court removed from the underfunded scheme has been set up; in time this will be replaced by a Defined Contribution Scheme. Replacement death-in-service insurance cover has also been obtained. Information regarding T&N pension arrangements can be obtained by contacting a telephone hotline.8
Discussion of the pension problem took place throughout the Summer. On August 4, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Government spokesperson on work and pensions in the House of Lords, met trade union officials in London to review the situation. On August 10, 2004 representatives from Amicus and the GMB9 expressed their members' fears during a four-hour meeting in New York with the independent trustee,10 representatives of KBP and FM creditors and executives. Describing the session as a "dogfight," the Amicus spokesman said: "The Americans are like a pack of wolves and they do not understand UK trust law." Carl Ichan, FM's major US bondholder, saw it differently:
"We presented a proposal that we believe will save jobs of Federal-Mogul's U.K. workforce and avoid a wind-up of the Pension Scheme."11
The $130 million (£65 m) offered in full and final settlement was way under the £29 m/year for eight years deemed necessary by the independent trustee. The next day (August 11), lawyers for both sides held another meeting; no progress was reported. Back in the UK, on August 19 Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks was told of the "strength and depth of feeling which exists on this matter in our constituencies," by a group of MPs. Minister Wicks confirmed that "his department was monitoring the situation closely and that he shared the MPs' view that in the first instance it was the company's responsibility to meet its obligations to its current and past workforce."12 A Parliamentary All-Party Support Group for Members of the Federal Mogul/Turner & Newall Pension Fund which liaises with fund members, Ministers, civil servants, trade unions and the company is pressing for coordinated action to resolve the situation.13 On September 2, the T&N pension problem was the subject of talks which took place at the London headquarters of Amicus; the thirty delegates attending the four-hour meeting included UK shop stewards, Tim Culverhouse and Derek Sloan, the independent trustee and his lawyer, administrator Simon Freakley and FM executives and legal representatives. At several points during a House of Commons debate on the status of UK pension arrangements (September 8), politicians referred to the uncertainty arising from the T&N pension shortfall:14
Tom Levitt (High Peak): "I do not need to remind the House that the Turner and Newall pension fund that Federal Mogul inherited is in considerable difficulty… Some 40,000 people in this country are members of the Turner and Newall pension fund… All those 40,000 people were led to believe throughout, no matter when they worked for the company, that in return for their contributions and those put in by the employers, there would be a pension when they came to retire… a letter went out in July to all fund members from the trustees and the company's administrators to say that some issues had to be addressed. However, it was not until about three weeks later that a second letter went out saying that there was a crisis and that it was impossible to see how the pension fund could meet its obligations... The pension fund should not be allowed to collapse in ruins… I do not prejudge what will happen because I want the scheme to be rescued and, if at all possible, I want it to be rescued by those who were involved in making promises about the scheme in the first place. Incidentally, those same people have awarded Federal Mogul (and T&N) a contributions holiday in 18 of the past 25 years."
Hywel Williams (Caernarfon): "There is a particularly acute circumstance in my constituency, in that people who used to work for Ferodo were persuaded to stay with the Turner and Newall scheme when the company was taken over by Friction Dynamics… My constituents joined the Turner & Newall scheme. They had to do so, and they were advised that it was very safe. Many of them deferred their pensions when Friction Dynamics took over, and now they are ruing their loss."
Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater): "There is a company in my constituency that used to be called Wellman, which became Turner and Newall, and ultimately Federal Mogul… unless the rules for the pension protection fund are changed, at least eighty of my constituents, and perhaps 400 people in my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Flook), could be affected."
A confidential briefing of MPs by the administrator took place in Westminster on September 9. A few days later at the annual Trades Union Congress conference an emergency motion was passed which expressed alarm at the "situation facing 40,000 Turner & Newall pensioners…(and supported) the joint unions in asking the Government to investigate and if necessary intervene to bring about a successful resolution to this issue."15
US vs UK Interests
The FM Reorganization Plan is driven by US interests. "What we do know," Tom Levitt told the Commons "is that the key decision will be made not in Chapel, nor Whitehall, but in America." Judging by other Chapter 11 reorganizations, claimants exposed to FM/T&N asbestos outside of North America have reason to expect that the compensation process will be skewed against them. In 1982, three major US asbestos defendants filed for Chapter 11 reorganization; the resolution of the bankruptcy proceedings of UNR Industries, formerly Unarco, Amatex and the Manville Corporation set many precedents. Under the Manville Trust Distribution Process, 2.1% of the 673,111 claims processed to date have been foreign claims; foreign claimants receive one third the value for the same category of injury as US claimants.16 Based on the experience of the Manville Trust, MP John Battle's scepticism seems well-founded:
"The plan proposes to set up a trust to compensate asbestos victims, but it will be based in America and already it is clear that under US law US claims by potential victims will take precedence over the claims of actual victims in Britain."
It is ironic that even though FM's US pension pot has a $536m (£290m) deficit, in the event of corporate insolvency, the pensions of FM's US employees will be protected by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. With government schemes protecting pensions in France and Germany, it seems that UK pensioners are amongst the most vulnerable.17 As it is "unclear whether the British regulator can force a foreign firm to honour its UK pension commitments," should the intransigence of FM bondholders continue, it is more than likely that the independent trustee will be forced to put the pension fund into wind-up.
The pension negotiations have revealed a growing divergence between US and UK positions; as a participant at a recent meeting in London remarked:
"There are clear differences between the UK administrator and the company (FM) as to how the pension fund issue can best be resolved. This is essentially about how much money the co-proponents have said they can make available ($130m) and what the independent trustee believes the UK assets are worth."18
Towards the end of August, the independent trustee formally rejected the $130m proposal in an email sent to Peter Wolfson, the attorney representing the US bondholders; Wolfson commented:
"We are already offering to pay a significant premium to what we think the plan is valued at… They are overvaluing the assets and undervaluing the asbestos claims against them… They are taking a big gamble that their valuations are right and that they will find a buyer."19
"Surprised and disappointed" at the trustee's decision, FM said:
"The co-proponents (creditors), working with the administrator, will now determine the next steps, which could include a 'market test' of the UK assets. The co-proponents believe this will demonstrate the fairness of what was offered to UK creditors including the pension scheme."20
In a recent statement by the administrators,21 the polarization between the US and UK positions was clear:
"The (US) Plan Proponents have declined to make any revisions to the Plan to take account of the Administrators' concerns. Instead, the Plan Proponents have pressed ahead in the United States."
The administrators' barrister, Richard Snowdon QC, told the Financial Times that the plan is "structurally unfair;" the article, which appeared on September 23, 2004, summed up the situation as follows:
"(the) deal would give a trust for asbestos plaintiffs a 50.1 per cent stake in the restructured Federal-Mogul and 49.1 per cent to bondholders… Mr. Snowdon said the administrator would want the English court to look at this alleged 'fundamental point of unfairness' and advise on what might happen if the reorganisation was approved in the US without complementary voluntary schemes being drawn up in the UK.
He claimed the plan could impose unattractive and unsuitable sale obligations on the UK administrators and envisaged that asbestos claimants would be forcibly 'assigned' to the US trust."22
Snowdon will seek directions from the English High Court in October, 2004.
The independent trustee has also asked the Court to rule on alternative courses of action now that FM's final pension fund offer has been rejected. The pension stalemate increases the likelihood that KBP will not agree that T&N's UK businesses should be part of the FM global settlement; if this happens, then a controlled liquidation of UK assets is inevitable. Time is short. On December 9, 2004, the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which approved FM's Plan of Reorganization on June 4, 2004, will consider whether to confirm the Plan. The FM/T&N Chapter 11-administration process in the US and UK is one of the most complicated transnational insolvency proceedings ever attempted. A collision of the US and UK judicial systems is not impossible.
Status of T&N Insurance Litigation
While the T&N pension crisis staggers on, the plight of hundreds of UK asbestos victims whose claims against T&N have been frozen since October 2001 seems to be largely forgotten. When T&N went into administration, research was commenced to ascertain the history of T&N's Employers' Liability (EL) insurance. According to minutes from the Turner and Newall Board Meeting on February 10, 1977:
"When the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act came into force we found ourselves in some difficulty. The present situation is that our insurers (The Royal Insurance Company Ltd. now Royal & Sun Alliance: RSA) provide the certificates required by the Act, but the clause in the policy excluding asbestosis liability still remains. Insurers have now indicated that they are not prepared to continue, and we are now, through Hogg Robinson, seeking another insurer (at Lloyd's of London). The Royal were concerned because since 1972 they have been carrying a risk, by reason of having issued the certificates, which is specifically excluded from the policy, and furthermore that it is a continuing risk for claims which may take up to twenty years to arise. They put forward a suggestion that we consider setting up a trust fund so that claims could continue to be paid even if T&N became unable to meet them. This was not regarded by T&N as a practical solution. On the other hand, T&N asked the Royal to quote a premium for full cover within the terms of the Act but they have declined to do so. The obvious solution seemed to be for T&N to continue to settle asbestosis claims, and for insurers to charge a premium for the other risks which reflected their contingent liability to meet asbestosis claims if T&N ever failed to do so, but they have declined to adopt this course."
T&N's novel insurance arrangements left plenty of scope for disagreement should the company become unable to meet its liabilities. Attempts by the UK administrator to enforce the insurance cover were vigorously resisted. The RSA claimed:
"that the policies excluded all asbestos related claims; that the (£1,000 per claim) excess applied; and that RSA were entitled in any case to avoid payment of any EL claims (including non asbestos claims) by reason of alleged misrepresentations and material non disclosures by T&N."23
The Brian Smith Syndicate at Lloyd's of London, which was the EL insurer from 1977-1995, also sought to avoid payment of claims on the grounds that "alleged misrepresentations and material non disclosures by T&N" entitled them to do so. The administrator began legal proceedings against both insurers in May, 2002. A verdict issued in May, 2003 was conclusive:
from 1969 to 1971 asbestos-related diseases, except asbestosis, were covered by the RSA;
from 1972-1977, all asbestos-related claims were covered by RSA;
from 1977-1995 all asbestos-related claims were covered by the Brian Smith Syndicate.
This decision was appealed by both defendants and a hearing was scheduled for November 2003. According to Neil Griffiths, the administrators' lawyer:
"At that stage the administrators and the insurers asked the Court of Appeal to postpone the appeal hearing so that settlement negotiations could take place. The Court of Appeal deferred the hearing until May, 2004.
Long and complex settlement negotiations were conducted with the insurers. Shortly before the appeal hearing was due to be heard in May 2004, the parties reported to the Court of Appeal that agreement had been reached in principle for the settlement of all asbestos related issues in the litigation. At the parties' request, the proceedings were stayed so that the settlement could be finalised and put into effect.
The proposed settlement, once approved and implemented, will provide a fund of approximately £36 million for distribution as compensation to insured T&N workers exposed to asbestos during the period 1969 to 1995. Of that sum, £34.74 million in cash has been paid into accounts held jointly by the solicitors for the administrators and the insurers pending implementation of the settlement. The compensation fund would receive a further £1.26 million from future dividends expected to be payable to insurers, bringing it to £36 million, plus interest earned on the accounts in the meantime. The insurers have also made a payment of £2 million into joint accounts towards the administrators' costs of the litigation."
As the settlement only covers insured T&N workers in the UK, the assets will not be gobbled up by American litigants. Although the proportion of each claim which will be paid is dependent on the total number of claims received, based on current projections it is being estimated that applicants will receive around 70% of the claims' value.
Action taken by the administrators against European reinsurers which issued the Hercules Asbestos Insurance Policy24 in 1996 has prompted the following responses:
litigation by EIRC, a subsidiary of Swiss Re, to avoid its obligations under the reinsurance agreement that has "now been settled on terms satisfactory to all parties… subject to confidentiality restrictions and necessary approvals;"
litigation by Centre Re and Munich Re regarding the transfer of claims handling rights and the treatment of claims handling costs incurred by the reinsurers scheduled to reach the Court of Appeal on October 26, 2004.
For the moment, little reassurance can be given to anxious pensioners and uncompensated victims. One thing, however, can be said with 100% confidence: hundreds of people exposed to T&N asbestos will continue to contract asbestos-related diseases. In the UK, funds allocated for research into mesothelioma, a type of asbestos cancer, are minimal. Dr. Ken O'Byrne, former head of the British Mesothelioma Interest Group, explains: "People think it will pass away. It has often been perceived as a disease of older working-class men and historically they tend not to get the best deal." Consensus over the best treatment for mesothelioma has not emerged with some specialists advocating radical surgery such as extrapleural pneumonectomy and others promoting various chemotherapy regimes or palliative care. The Asbestos Sub-Committee of the All Party Parliamentary Occupational Safety and Health Group has received repeated calls for a national mesothelioma strategy to be implemented. Commenting on the urgent need for action, John Battle, a member of the Asbestos Sub-Committee, said:
"Ten years ago we were all saying 'You have HIV or Aids, you die.' Now, not only can we extend life, we can mitigate the worst effects so people don't suffer appallingly. With mesothelioma people die a terrible death in agony. We can't leave them to suffer alone."25
1 In 1998, the US automotive parts manufacturer, Federal-Mogul Corporation (FM), bought the UK-owned company: T&N Ltd. On October 1, 2001 FM/T&N filed for voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization in the US and administration in the UK (see British Asbestos Newsletter, issues 45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 55).
2 Kazan-Allen L. Federal-Mogul: Causing Anxiety and Raising False Hopes. August, 2004. Website: www.ibas.btinternet.co.uk
3 According to the FM website, claims from Canadian and US asbestos victims will receive equal treatment.
4 On June 4, 2004, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved the Disclosure Statement respecting the Third Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization for Federal-Mogul Corporation.
5 There are: 4,000 current T&N UK employees at 11 UK factories located in Bradford, Lydney, Chapel-en-le Frith and Slough, up to 20,000 deferred pensioners and 20,000 existing pensioners. T&N's UK businesses had net sales of approximately £218 million ($402 million) for the year ended December 31, 2003.
6 Thorniley T. Pension threat for 40,000 staff. Business Telegraph. Accessed July 20, 2004, website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money
7 Daley J. Turner & Newell pension fund fears. The Independent. July 23, 2004. p.42.
8 The help-line is managed by AON, the company which runs the T&N Ltd. pension scheme: tel: 0161 834 0594.
9 GMB: General and Municipal Boilermakers' Union
10 On this occasion, Alexander Forbes Pension Services, the firm acting as the independent trustee of the T&N Pension Fund, was represented by Quintin Heaney.
11 Statement from Federal-Mogul Regarding New York Meeting; http://www.-federal-mogul.com/
12 Federal Mogul pensions. Website: http://www.tomlevitt.labour.co.uk/
13 Levitt's High Peak constituency is home to FM's plant at Chapel-en-le-Frith while Robertson's Coventry base is the site of FM's Brico factory.
14 Hansards, September 8, 2004:Column 723-778.
15 Congress 2004 TUC Emergency Motion E1- Federal Mogul/Turner and Newall
16The Manville Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 1982. It was approved in 1988, payments commenced but were suspended in 1990 and did not resume until 1995.
17 In France, FIVA will pay the T&N pensioners with government money; problems may arise when the government seeks repayment from the company.
18 Joint Trade Union Press Release: September 2, 2004: Talks continue on Turner and Newall pension problem.
19 Hamilton D. UK Federal-Mogul Pension Plan Rejects Bid. August 27, 2004. Accessed August 30: http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/
20 Seager A. T&N offer rejected. The Guardian. August 30, 2004. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business
21 Freakley S. FM UK – Update from Administrators. September. 27, 2004.
22 Tait N. Judge grants T&N request for advice on restructuring. September. 23, 2004. http://news.ft.com/
23 Insurance Litigation Briefing by Neil Griffiths, Denton Sapte Wilde, September 17, 2004.
24 According to Griffiths' memo: "The value of the Hercules policy to T&N Ltd. is £500 million in excess of claims of £690 million, with three reinsurers (Swiss Re, through its subsidiary, being one) each taking an equal share under the reinsurance agreement of the £500 million cover."
25 'We can't leave them to suffer alone.' The Guardian. September 16, 2004.
website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,,1305080,00.html
Compiled by Laurie Kazan-Allen
ÓJerome Consultants


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