The Talented Cafe

Many professional performers work freelance and are, therefore, self-employed. The Corps of Army Music is currently the UK’s largest employer of professional instrumentalists offering a career up to the age of 55. For orchestral players, employers include ballet, symphony, opera and chamber orchestras some of whom will be large enough to employ musicians on full-time contracts. These employers will also employ people on a freelance basis to play specialist instruments, for certain performances and to cover absences, e.g. for those on maternity leave.

Self-governing orchestras, which tend to be less financially secure than the bigger orchestras, will employ musicians on a regular basis, but tend to pay their musicians as freelancers rather than as salaried employees.

There is also occasional work offered by independent fixers for choral society performances, recording sessions and outdoor performances. Freelance musicians or permanent staff can take on this ad hoc work.

The most common employers of singers are opera companies, as there are very few professional choirs. This can lead to other employment opportunities as many of the larger choral societies employ opera singers for solo and oratorio work.

Methinks he was a crazy man?

Cologne, Germany
08 May 2007 01:32
A man cut off his own head with a chainsaw after stabbing his 70-year-old father to death in their apartment in the German city of Cologne, police said on Tuesday. The body of the offender (24) was found headless when police raced to the apartment Monday after an emergency call, apparently from the dying father, had been broken off in mid-sentence. Alf Willwacher, a senior prosecutor, said an electric chainsaw was next to the son’s body. “We do not believe any third party was involved,” he said. Neighbours said the father and son had been reclusive since the death of the mother, allegedly by suicide, several years ago. — Sapa-dpa What do you think?

Full Time Content Writer Required.

DanceEast is looking for teachers to start weekly work from September 2007, teaching the following styles and ages:

• Creative Dance:  Ages 7 – 11 years, 11 – 14 years
• Jazz:  Age 10 years +
• Hip Hop:  Age 10 years +
• Contemporary technique: Age 16 years +
• Parents and Tots

Competitive hourly rates with reasonable travel reimbursements available.  

CRB disclosures dated within the last two years essential.

Subsidised Child Protection, Safer Dance Practice and First Aid training available.

Please send CV’s to Emma Reed, Northgate Arts Centre, Sidegate Lane West, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 3DF, or e-mail to emma.reed@danceeast.co.uk. 

Deadline for applications Friday 25 May 2007

The position of Community Dance Artist and other teaching opportunities in the eastern regional Centre for Advanced Training (Ipswich) will be advertised shortly.  Please contact DanceEast for more information on 01473 639230, or regularly check their website www.danceeast.co.uk.  

Call us if you’re interested

Up-coming Music Producer seeks a female vocalist to perform on a ready-to-go dance track (the lyrics are provided and melody line mapped out). 

Ability to work distantly (via the internet, due to being an international project) - this would require you to have own home studio/or access to a studio for recording of your vocals. Upon completion, the track will be pushed for a commercial release &/or licenced out. The singer will be fully credited for her work. This is an excellent opportunity for an up-coming young singer looking to get their foot in the door and be heard! 

Interested singers, please send a short mp3 vocal sample or a direct link to your samples, to: 

LV-Productions@hotmail.com

By the way seeing funny videos, this is a cool way to travel, don’t you think?

 Saudi Skating

Was that good or are they just plumb loco?

Newspaper conned by fake Gucci model

Some people will do anything to get in the papers, but few have the audacity of a man in Switzerland, who conned one of the country’s biggest media companies into publishing a two-page advertisement he created of himself posing semi-naked beside a bottle of Gucci perfume.

The man, who claimed to represent the Italian fashion giant, called up the Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung last week to book the expensive colour spread in Sunday’s edition, a spokesperson for the paper said.

Christoph Zimmer said on Tuesday that the man asked for the 60 000-Swiss-franc (about R352 000) bill to be sent to Gucci.

“We’ve spoken to Gucci and apologised for the mistake,” Zimmer said. “We’re going to try and get the money back from this guy, but we don’t rate our chances.”

The Milan-based Gucci, owned by luxury goods group PPR SA, could not be reached for comment.

Zimmer said the paper fell for the scam because the call arrived too late for the advertising department to check whether it was genuine.

It was not the first time that the mysterious model — a dark, handsome man appearing to be in his late 20s — had tried to sneak into the limelight.

According to the Zurich-based daily Blick, the man attempted to book concert venues by passing himself off as Puerto Rican singer Chayanne. The paper said it narrowly avoided also being conned, but was tipped of the hoax by record company Sony BMG, which represents Chayanne.

The man is under investigation for alleged fraud, said Meinrad Stoecklin, a spokesperson for police in Basel.

Butt