The Telegraph

Roch Modrzejewski: Opera’s guitar hero

With his virtuosic new recording of opera tunes, Poland’s Roch Modrzejewski has revived a much-neglected corner of the guitar repertoire, says John Allison.

Financial Times

Interview, Neeme Järvi, conductor

The music director known for his improvisatory approach is a ‘man of 100 projects’.

Classic FM

Classical music, colours and emotions linked

What colour is Mozart’s Requiem? A new study has confirmed a link between emotion, classical music, and colour.

National Portrait Gallery appoints choir in residence

Classic FM’s Sam Pittis talks to artistic director Gregory Batsleer about this “exciting new venture for choral music”.

Gramophone

Andris Nelsons named Boston Symphony Orchestra music director

At the age of 34, the conductor is the youngest music director of the prestigious orchestra in over 100 years.

HRH The Prince of Wales launches new Royal College of Music Award

The President’s Award recognises a student’s outstanding work in the community.

Planet Hugill

June at the Barbican

June in the Barbican opens with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s contribution to Britten 100 with a performance of Britten’s Owen Wingrave directed by Kelly Robinson.

The Telegraph

(Written on May 20, 2013 )

The Guardian

Staging of Stockhausen’s helicopter string quartet scores key prize

Royal Philharmonic Society praises rare performance of Mittwoch aus Licht by Birmingham Opera Company

The Telegraph

Singing in English: It’s harder than you think

Rupert Christiansen visits The Association of English Singers and Speakers to explore the many difficulties of singing in English.

The Times

Rossini’s opera, La donna del lago heads a tartan takover at ROH

Not many opera directors would admit that their latest production had been inspired by Mel Gibson’s Braveheart or the preposterous sci-fi fantasy Highlander

The Times of India (via Musical Chairs)

Letter found from Britain’s greatest opera composer’s drawer shows his love for Ravi Shankar

Curators sifting through thousands of objects belonging to Britain’s musical geniuses composer Benjamin Britten and opera singer Peter Pears have stumbled upon an ink written page in their private diaries where the duo recalls their experience of having heard Pandit Ravi Shankar perform live.

BBC News

How does the oldest grand piano sound?

The oldest-surviving English grand piano, one of the first ever made, was built by the piano maker Americus Backers in London in 1772 and has now been returned by English Heritage to the home of its former owner, the Duke of Wellington.

Classical Source

Barbican Launches Beyond Barbican With A Summer Of World-Class Arts Across East London

The Barbican today launches Beyond Barbican with a summer of arts events outside the walls of the Barbican Centre featuring pop-up performances, commissions and collaborations across east London.

Limelight Magazine

Arts proven to combat Alzheimers

New British study proves the benefits of the Arts in treating patients with debilitating mental disease.

Gramophone

Dame Janet Baker hosts the 2013 RPS Awards

Awards for Karabits, Philharmonia and the Heath Quartet

The Telegraph

(Written on May 15, 2013 )

Gramophone

Cellist Sunny Jungin Yang to join Kronos Quartet

Young Korean-born cellist replaces Jeffrey Zeigler

BBC

Kenny Ball, jazz trumpeter, dies at 82

Jazz trumpeter Kenny Ball has died at the age of 82 after suffering from pneumonia, his manager has confirmed

The Guardian

So, what’s it like directing an opera at Glyndebourne – with 75 amateurs?

Susannah Waters on the challenges of working with a 75-strong amateur chorus on Imago, Glyndebourne’s community opera

Classical Source

Barbican In 2013–2014: New Season Of World-Class Arts And Learning Announced 

Jean Paul Gaultier, Michael Clark Company, David Tennant, a weekend of community arts events to celebrate the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, International Associate residencies from the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, a Barbican Britten centenary season and major exhibition Pop Art Design head up the unmissable projects to be presented by the Barbican in its 2013/2014 season

BBC Music Magazine

First Bristol Proms festival unveiled

Nicola Benedetti, Guy Johnston and Voces8 to perform this summer

BBC Music Magazine

(Written on March 8, 2013 )

Limelight

Love Song Dedications for Valentine’s Day: 10 Classical Muses

A Valentine’s Day tribute to the women (and men) who inspired the great composers.

The Times

French baroque opera: a hard game for hard men

Extortion, beatings, sexual violence, musical fatwas and calls for composers to be burnt at the stake: the opera stage was a dangerous place in 17th-century France.

Gramophone

Gustavo Dudamel and LA Philharmonic take up residency at London’s Barbican

March events include three concerts of 20th and 21st century music and an international symposium focusing on education

Classic FM

Watch: Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ meets Liszt

Watch our incredible performance video of AyseDeniz Gokcin performing Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ in the style of Liszt at Steinway Hall, and a fascinating interview with Classic FM’s John Brunning.

Steve Reich and Max Richter talk Radiohead and Radio Rewrite

Musical masterminds Steve Reich and Max Richter’s latest projects have seen them both ‘re-imagine’ other people’s work – Vivaldi for Richter, and Radiohead for Reich. The two composers explore what it means to take inspiration from a wide range of musical styles, from rock to Baroque.

Classical Source

The Royal Opera House Heads To Brazil

The Royal Opera House is expanding its international links, creating a long term education, audience engagement and skills programme in Rio de Janeiro designed to strengthen and develop links between the ROH, Theatro Municipal and the arts education communities in both countries.

The Wagnerian

Leipzig Celebrates its Famous Son Richard Wagner in 2013

Leipzig is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner, who was born here on 22 May 1813.

Music Industry News Network

The Music Sales Group Launches Its New Digital Education Division

The Music Sales Group today announced the launch of its new digital education division, MusicFirst™, offering teachers and students easy-to-use, affordable, cloud-based music education services and related activities.

Music Week

Sarah Brightman signs licensing deal with Universal Music Germany 

Soprano singer Sarah Brightman has signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Germany’s KOCH/Universal imprint.

Classic FM

(Written on February 14, 2013 )

The WildKats have been especially busy this January with a number of exciting events to both organise and attend, accompanied by numerous previews, reviews and interviews from national newspapers to specialist classical music press. Let’s have a look at some of the stand-out events…

On 10th January, violinist Daniel Hope performed alongside composer and pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, in Stockholm’s first ever Yellow Lounge. Established in Berlin seven years ago, the Yellow Lounge promotes ‘classical clubbing’, where international classical musicians perform with top DJs in unexpected spaces. The event was streamed live on the Deutsche Grammophon website. More and more events are being streamed live online, making concerts and recitals accessible both physically and economically, and reaching out to new audiences. Cellist Guy Johnston performed Walton’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic on 14th, which was streamed live on BBC Radio 3.

Several of our clients had opening nights in January, including Silent Opera’s L’Orfeo. The first performance received huge amounts of press and publicity, specifically a BBC News report answering ‘What is Silent Opera?’. Silent Opera is still ongoing and tickets can still be purchased here – don’t miss out! The Silent Opera team appeared on Channel 4′s Sunday Brunch this weekend, watch it online here. Meanwhile in Milan, Daniel Harding had his opening night for La Scala’s Falstaff: a fantastic production of Verdi’s famous opera, staged in the same opera house it received its first ever performance. The esteemed conductor also performed with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra in Munich, Baritone Christian Gerhaher, receiving a great review from Süddeutsche Zeitung. Andrew Staples also performed in Munich with Daniel, receiving outstanding reviews for his performance. Another highlight of January for WildKat was the premiere of Raymond Yiu’s The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured at the Barbican, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Raymond also wrote a guest blog for Gramophone last month, discussing challenging perceptions of British classical music.

January was a highly successful time for AyseDeniz Gokcin who was applauded worldwide for her Lisztified EP. The young Turkish pianist was featured in an article by Prog Rock Magazine Online, which was shared hundreds of times through Facebook and Twitter. The article has continued to spread, through major music websites and social media in Hungary, Spain, Finland, Brazil, Greece, the Netherlands, Turkey and many more. Classic FM then published a news story on her success, bringing the article back around in a full circle. Another triumph we celebrated was another award for production company Accentus Music, who have been awarded a second International Classical Music award for John Cage – Journeys in Sound.

In anticipation of his upcoming CD release of Franck & Strauss Violin Sonatas, Augustin Dumay was featured in BBC Music Magazine discussing the recording of the album. Another event for the violinist was the Gala Concert at The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where Augustin mentors the young string players. Young musicians of the Music Chapel performed works by Bloch, Liszt and Schubert, alongside the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Octopus Symphonic Choir and British conductor Christopher Warren-Green.

The WildKats had a number of great recitals to attend in January; such as Kimiko Ishizaka’s flawless performance of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, an intimate performance of works by Tom Smail at Susanne Kapoor’s home, along with a unique event from Samson Marzbani where he performed improvised piano pieces, before the audience received a preview premiere of his new work: Un Jour Infini.

Finally, the busiest of all has been our Founder and Managing Director, Kat Alder, who has been travelling across the world visiting our international clients performing all over the world; from Berlin to Austria, Munich to New York, and a few visits back to London.

Although January was so busy, February has a lot of exciting projects in store. Keep up to date with WildKat news through our Facebook, Twitter and daily posts from our blog.

(Written on February 4, 2013 )

The Telegraph

Orchestras must ‘shed elitism’ to survive, says Universal Music boss

Head of Universal Music’s classical division tells orchestras to show emotion and leave the concert hall if they want to gain new fans.

‘Tyrannical’ Walt Disney gets an opera

The Perfect American, an opera by Philip Glass, opens in Madrid and shows Walt Disney as ‘a racist, misogynist megalomaniac’.

Slipped Disc

UPDATE: Classical editor has quit the New York Times

James Oestreich has finally accepted a buyout and will retire at the end of the month from the New York Times.

Deceptive Cadence NPR

Back Off The Bach To Drive Safely

Researchers in London claim that listening to classical music makes for unsafe driving — in fact, that it caused more erratic driving than hip-hop, heavy metal or not listening to music at all.

The Arts Desk

Barbican and Southbank 2013-14 seasons: still neck and neck 

Undaunted by the current climate, the biggest steerers of London’s concert scene sail on

Planet Hugill

Flicker – new opera on Locked-In Syndrome

Music can sometimes illuminate areas that text on its own cannot.

The Pacific Standard (found via Arts Journal)

Playing Music May Lower Blood Pressure

New research from the Netherlands finds neurocardial differences between young musicians and their non-musical peers

Opera News

Joyce DiDonato to Host Live, Web-Streamed Master Class at Juilliard School on 1/25

On Friday, January 25, mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato, will host a master class with four students from The Juilliard School’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts.

Fast Co.Design

A Board Game Designed For Classical Music Buffs

Virtuoso may not have mass appeal, but it would liven up band class

Fast Co. Design

(Written on January 24, 2013 )

Raymond Yiu’s most recent commission, The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured, will receive its world premiere at the Barbican tomorrow evening. The piece will be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, alongside works by Elgar and Haydn, with the London Premiere of Qigang Chen’s Reflet d’un temps disparu. The Hong Kong-born composer describes The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured as a ‘symphonic game’, using the nursey rhyme Oranges and Lemons as inspiration for the composition, as well as Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture, which will also be performed at the concert.

To purchase tickets for the concert, visit the website here or tune in to BBC Radio 3 tomorrow at 7:30pm.

Photo credit: Malcolm Crowthers

(Written on January 17, 2013 )

Raymond Yiu’s most recent commission, The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured, will receive its world premiere at the Barbican on Friday 18th January. The piece will be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, alongside works by Elgar and Haydn, with the London Premiere of Qigang Chen’s Reflet d’un temps disparu. The Hong Kong-born composer describes The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured as a ‘symphonic game’, using the nursey rhyme Oranges and Lemons as inspiration for the composition, as well as Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture, which will also be performed at the concert.

To purchase tickets for the concert, visit the website here or tune in to BBC Radio 3 at 7:30pm.

(Written on January 10, 2013 )

To say that we are excited about working with British composer Max Richter would be an understatement.

You might be familiar with Max’s previous works: his film scoring (Waltz for Bashir, Prometheus, Shutter Island), his artistic collaborations with Tilda Swinton, Julian Opie and Robert Wyatt amongst others, or you might have been lucky to see his dance and ballet music being performed. Max also created the chamber opera Sum, which premiered to great acclaim at the Royal Opera House.

Max’s latest project is daring, contemporary but with a very classical core and sound: He re-imagined Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons and ‘recomposed’ it for Deutsche Grammophon’s Recomposed series. Violinist Daniel Hope, conductor André de Ridder and the Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin joined Max’s project for the recording.

Recomposed by Max Richter will be released in the UK on 29^th October 2012 followed by a concert at Barbican Hall on 31^st October 2012 with Daniel Hope, André de Ridder and Britten Sinfonia.

And… Watch out for the #Recomposed Classical Takeover across London this October!

(Written on September 18, 2012 )

The Independent

La Scala chief’s anger lack of state funding for the arts

The artistic director of La Scala has warned that the celebrated opera house is “dangerously close” to privatisation.

BBC Music Magazine

Royal Philharmonic Society Awards shortlist announced

Nominees include conductor Claudio Abbado, composer Harrison Birtwistle & soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek.

Meet the artist: David Briggs

David Briggs is one of the world’s finest organists, but has recently been making his name with transcriptions of Mahler and Elgar Symphonies.

Meet the artist: Iain Burnside

The pianist on the unjustly neglected songs of Martin Shaw and a project at the Barbican.

Gramophone

Francesco Piemontesi sings to Naïve Classics

Pianist will rcord at least three albums for the label.

Norman Lebrecht

Have they heard yet in St Louis?

This year, American composers and the music of Arnold Schoenberg form the focus of Musikfest Berlin 2012 of the Berliner Festspiele, organized in cooperation with the Berliner Philharmoniker foundation and taking place from 31 August to 18 September 2012.

The Times

Plácido Domingo to conduct biggest ever UK opera at Wembley

Wembley Stadium is to host a grandiose prodcution of Turandot conducted by Plácido Domingo.

(Written on April 18, 2012 )