26Jan

Young baton leaves Britain over Brexit

Winner of the 2015 Aspen Conducting Prize, the British conductor George Jackson today declared himself non-resident in the UK. He has relocated to Wiebaden, Germany, stating Article 50 as his reason for the move. He won’t be the last to go.

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26Jan

Exclusive: 28 musicians resign from troubled orchestra

About half of the musicians in Sweden’s Camerata Nordica have issued a public letter resigning from the orchestra, which was suspended by its former manager last month. The manager has walked away with a fat pension. The players are outraged. Here’s their letter: With these words, the former freelance musicians of Camerata Nordica stand together […]

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26Jan

‘After Einstein on the Beach, I went back to driving a New York cab’

From Fiona Maddocks’ interview with the new octogenarian, Philip Glass: After Einstein on the Beach I went back to driving a New York cab. I didn’t mind that. It was interesting work. I didn’t have an agent. I ran all the business side of it and the box office myself. I enjoyed it. I grew […]

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26Jan

12 UK composers get recording grants

The  PRS Foundation has distributed £150,000 ‘to support composers and enable them to realise projects and ambitions that may not be possible through traditional commissioning models.’ Mostly, that will involve recording their music, off and on-line. This year’s 12 lucky composers are: Ed Bennett Gary Carpenter Jessica Curry Shiva Feshareki Stuart MacRae John McLeod Hilda […]

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26Jan

US Orchestra awards musicians 19% pay rise

It’s the Jacksonville Symphony, and they have reached agreement eight months before contract expiry. They are also increasing the number of concert weeks from 35 to 40. Here’s the small print:     Jacksonville, FL (January 26, 2017)– Robert Massey, President and CEO of the Jacksonville Symphony and Peter Wright, President of Local 444, American […]

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26Jan

La Scala renews its music director

Things are going so well in his first full season that Riccardo Chailly has signed a second contract with La Scala, taking him to 2022. More here.  

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26Jan

Paris Opéra claims a younger audience

Stéphane Lissner, director of the Paris Opéra says his cheap ticket scheme for under-28s is working well. Last season, he claims, ‘we welcomed 100,000 patrons under 28,’ as well as registering a 15 percent increase in under 18s. Lissner is now offering 40 percent ticket discounts to people aged 29 to 39. The average attendance age […]

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26Jan

Vienna’s finest turn out for Heinrich Schiff

The Vienna Konzerthaus, where he played more than 200 times, is putting on a farewell concert in Heinrich Schiff’s memory on February 12. Among those taking part are Paul Gulda, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Francesco Piemontesi, Christian Poltéra, Benjamin Schmid, Gerhard Schulz and a 24-person cello ensemble including: Natalie Clein, Valentin Erben,  Ádám Grób, Clemens Hagen, Julia Hagen, Yves Savary, Leo Schmidt, Mark Schumann, Julian […]

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26Jan

Death of a much-recorded mezzo

The death is reported of Klara Takacs, a widely travelled and well liked Hungarian mezzo. She sang major roles at the Met, Vienna, Salzburg and La Fenice and recorded extensively for Hungaroton and Capriccio.  Her breakthrough recording was Goldmark’s opera The Queen of Sheba with Magda Kalmár and Siegfried Jerusalem. Klara died on Saturday, aged 71.

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26Jan

Watch: A Neuhaus student, still playing at 93

Genrikh Neuhaus was the outstanding piano teacher in Soviet Russia. His pupils included Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Yakov Zak, Tikhon Khrennikov, Alexei Lubimov, Radu Lupu and… Lidia Fikhtengoltz. Still going strong. Her last reported concert was in Moscow, two years ago. Film courtesy of Roman Mints

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26Jan

Maestro stays: Esa-Pekka is happy where he is

He could have been music director of the New York Philharmonic, if only Matthew VanBesien had offered him the job after fuelling speculation in the local media. But Esa-Pekka Salonen, coming up for 60, has now reached ten years as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor with the Philharmonia in London and he’s not going anywhere […]

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