Departures

Sigh:

• Stephen Rubin died last Friday, October 13, at 81, of complications of sepsis following an infection. He was an immensely successful publisher, a career he started at 43 after twenty years as a freelance journalist. We never met, but I knew him as the founder of the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. The Rubin Institute has held alternate-years seminars for young classical music critics; the seminars moved around for the first few occurrences but now they are settled into the SF Conservatory of Music. Rubin has also funded music critic positions at several newspapers, at a time when journalism is in retreat and the number of such positions is greatly diminished. He was a smart guy with a great eye for a best seller and I'm grateful for his work on behalf of classical music journalism.
• The Emerson String Quartet is about to play its last concert, after nearly a half-century of standard-setting performances and recordings. They've played it all, from the earliest string quartets to recent works, including pieces they commissioned.
• Waltraud Meier is retiring from the stage; her last performance took place today. She sang Klytemnestra in Patrice Chereau's Elektra staging in Berlin. Ben Miller interviewed her for the Times.