Previously, the public domain Goldberg Variations scores and recordings were extremely hard to locate or non-existent. The Open Goldberg Project (OGP) desired to produce a public domain score and recording that is easily accessible to all. MuseScore.com is creating a public version of the score using open source software, based on an open peer review process.

Thanks to Robert Douglass’ vision, the project is realised! Through the use of crowd-funding via Kickstarter, the OGP raised over $20,000. Embracing technology – from raising funds to online publishing to open peer review and sourcing – is a distinguishing feature of the project.

The score and recording will be available for digital download on 28th May 2012.

For more information on the Variations and the free download please visit the OPG website here

For more information on Classical:NEXT please visit their website here

For information on the new technolgy used please visit MuseScore’s website here and SampleSumo’s here

Tallis Scholars: at the cutting edge of discovery

Tallis Scholar founder Peter Phillips says there are still great Renaissance masterworks waiting to be brought back to life.

The Guardian

The Cunning Little Vixen brings animal magic to Glyndebourne

With its cast of bloodthirsty foxes, lazy hens and mischievous frogs, Janácek’s opera is joy – and a powerful reminder of the force of nature.

Classical Music Magazine

Catalyst Arts fund: music organisation to invest in development

Nearly £4.5m has been allocated to UK music organisations as part of Arts Council England’s Catalyst Arts scheme, announced today.

NY Times

Mattila Bows Out From Met Production

Karita Mattila, the Finnish soprano, has dropped out of a new production of Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera” at the Metropolitan Opera planned for next season.

LA Times

Piano and flute in India, where the sitar is king

There’s a growing interest in the music of Beethoven, Bach and Co. in the country. The Delhi School of Music is among the institutions that feed this thirst for the Western classical genre.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

Pavarotti’s Machiavelli has died

Herbert Breslin, who masterminded Luciano Pavarotti’s career and made sure it triumphed above all others, died today in Nice, France.

Gramophone

No place for boorish boos at sumptuous new Falstaff

The reaction of sections of the audience at Tuesday night’s unveiling of a brand new Falstaff at the Royal Opera House was uncalled for, unjustified – and boorish.

Die Rezension von Richard Lorber lobt vor allem das perfekte Zusammenspiel Prahmsohlers mit den Hörner, die unglaubliche Präzision der Stücke und den weitläufigen Klang, der dem Hörer das Gefühl gibts, “als spürte man den Bogen oder die Lippen am Blatt”.

Lesen Sie die vollständige Rezension hier:

Magdalena Kožená: ‘I’m not scared of the big maestro’

What’s it like to sing Carmen when your husband is the conductor? Magdalena Kožená reveals all.

The NY Times

A Deadly Night in the Boxing Ring is Grist for an Evening at the Opera

The jazz trumpeter, band leader and composer Terence Blanchard is composing an opera based on Griffith’s life called “Champion,” with a libretto by the playwright Michael Cristofer.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

La Scala’s 1960s Butterfly has died

Maria Bieshu, the Moladvaian soprano who commanded the Scala stage and many others as Madam Butterfly, died today at the age of 76.

Bach’s hometown ensemble is saved

We’re hearing from the concertmaster in Eisenach that two million Euros have miraculously been found to save the theatre from instant closure

Gramophone

Echoes of the Quartet for the End of Time

A new work commissioned by the Gryphon trio takes inspiration from Messiaen’s wartime work.

Reflecting Olympian ideals in music

This year’s Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music takes as its theme the great sporting event.

Simon Halsey named chorus director of LSO and chorus

Conductor takes up the role in August 2012.

For more information on Classical:NEXT and its mentoring program, please click here

Pop stars like Damon Albarn finally understand classical music

After decades of risible fusions, artists today like Damon Albarn really know how to mix the old and new.

Gramophone

Cellist wins 2012 BBC Young Musician contest

Fifteen-year old Laura van der Heijden takes the £2000 prize.

David Robertson appointed Sydney Symphony artistic director

Conductor signs up to a five-year term from 2014.

Why so many conducting Finns?

An extraordinary one-off project reveals a lot about a small country’s podium prowess.

ArtsJournal – Slipped Disc

Iran marks Mahler Day 

Press TV, official outlet of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has announced a concert tomorrow at Jalil Shahnazi Hall in Tehran for what is described as ‘the 101th death anniversary ceremony’ of Gustav Mahler.

Good man: Leonard Cohen gives away the rest of his prize – to the arts

There were those who muttered when Leonard Cohen won the Glenn Gould prize last year that the poor fellow was going to need the case after being cleaned out by a fraudster.

Singer appointed chief of major opera festival

The  Finnish tenor Jorma Silvasti, 53, is to be the next artistic drector of Savonlinna, a festival that trusts performers to run it more than suits.

Independent podcast: Naxos 25th anniversary

In just a quarter of a century Naxos has created “a catalogue comprising the largest number of individual works and the widest available repertoire of any classical label since the beginning of the recording era.”

The Guardian

A guide to Harrison Birtwistle’s music

Harrison’s elemental and powerful music feels both ancient and modern.

Classical Music Magazine

BBC Young Musician: the winner

The winner of BBC Young Musician 2012, the final of which was held at the Sage, Gateshead on 13 May and broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC2, is 15-year-old cellist Laura van der Heijden.

Jessica Duchen

There can only be one BBC Young Musician of the year

For every musician whose lifelong public career is launched in the arena of BBC Young Musicians, there are maybe 100 more, at least, who vanish.

The Times

Spira mirabilis: The orchestra where everyone’s in charge

Does an orchestra where all players have an equal say mean a recipe for amity or anarchy?

The NY Times

David Robertson to Lead Sydney Symphony

David Robertson, the music director of the St. Louis Symphony, has taken on a position on the other side of the world, becoming artistic director and chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony in Australia starting in 2014.

Financial Times

To marry the heart and the head

The prolific Catalan musician Jordi Savall talks about grief, memory and building bridges.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

Saxon sings out to save Bach ensemble

The theatre in Eisenach, Bach’s birthplace, is under threat of closure. Hundreds gathered to stage a peaceful protest in song.

Gramophone

Miloš: new champion of the classical guitar

A classical guitarist’s debut recording remained at the top of the Specialist Classical Chart for much of the past year. That artist is Miloš Karadaglić – or Miloš as he’s known simply – who was named Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year at our 2011 Awards.

Venezuelan Rafael Payare wins Malko Competition

32-year-old Venezuelan Rafael Payare won the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen on Saturday in an atmospheric final round broadcast live on Danish radio and television.

We are looking for a Junior Account Manager to join the London team.

The role will involve working with the Director and Account Managers on creative PR campaigns across the classical and contemporary music industries. The successful candidate will be looking after promotional projects under the supervision of the Senior Account Managers, and liaising with the press and journalists to generate media coverage for clients.

Key objectives:

- Assisting Account Managers in the co-ordination and execution of international PR campaigns.

- Liaising with press to secure coverage for artists.

- Assisting with the creation of unique campaigns to promote our artists.

- Writing press releases.

- Researching and reporting on new developments in the classical music world.

- Monitoring new online tools, which might benefit our artists.

- Creating and maintaining online profiles on behalf of artists.

- Executing the distribution of promotional materials.

- General running of the WildKat PR London office.

Skills required:

The successful candidate will be self-motivated with excellent written and verbal communication skills, a creative mind able to work under pressure and have an interest in new media.

Marketing or PR experience is advantageous but not necessary, and fluency in a second language is desirable.  Good computer skills are vital and a genuine passion for classical music, culture and PR is essential.

Other information:

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to london@wildkatpr.com.  The application deadline is 1^st June at 5pm.  Interviews will be held on 7^th and 8^th June.

Kermit the frog joins the chorus – in ‘Caligula’

New opera dresses characters as kid’s favourites to portray citizens living in terror.

Glyndebourne – Singing for their supper

Tickets for Glyndebourne aren’t cheap but the festival is continuing to attract visitors with a seductive, world-class programme that plays it safe.

The LA Times

Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ‘Don Giovanni’ stars the music

The opera, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and with design by Frank Gehry and Laura and Kate Mulleavy, is a semi-stage production.

The NY Times

The Corner of Falstaff and Zerbinetta

The Metropolitan Opera has 1,024 identically framed images on its Wall of Fame.

The Financial Times

World class

Formed via YouTube, the Aldeburgh World Orchestra is comprised of instrumentalists from more than 30 countries.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

Laura van Heijden, 15, wins BBC Young Musician

A Sussex cellist – half-Dutch, half-Swiss – ran away tonight with the career-making BBC Young Musician of the Year, cresting to triumph on the Walton concerto.

Leipzig opens 5km composer walk

As of this weekend, you can follow the trail of all the great composers who were born, studied, lived and worked in Leipzig.

Gramophone

Jonathan Dove to write work based on Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi

Nobel Peace prize-winner and Burmese political activist Aung San Suu Kyi is to be the subject of a new work by British composer Jonathan Dove, commissioned as part of BBC Radio 3’s Portraits Day.

The Open Goldberg Project, which was funded entirely through the crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter and raised over $20,000, has made a recording of pianist Kimiko Ishizaka playing all of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It will be available for everyone to download for free from May 28^th.

To visit the website, learn more about the Open Goldberg project and download the amazing recording please click here

To view the video (in Geman) please click below