The Telegraph

BBC Proms 2012: the Proms has it all

Ivan Hewett chooses the events he’s most looking forward to at the Proms 2012 this year.

50 Shades of Grey prompts classical music piece to climb the charts

The Tallis Scholar’s recording of ‘Spem in alium’ has been climbing the charts after being featured in El James’s erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey.

NY Times

Symphony Space Plans a Series Inspired by John Cage

Symphony Space has announced that its next season of events, which begins on Sept. 24, will includes a new series, John Cage’s “How to Get Started”.

Calvin Marsh, Baritone and Met Stalwart, Dies at 91

Calvin Marsh, a lyric baritone who sang more than 900 performances with the Metropolitan Opera before forsaking the stage for a life in religious music, died on June 18 in Dallas. He was 91.

Gramophone

Paavo Järvi appointed NHK Symphony chief conductor

Plus Kryzsztof Urbański named principal guest conductor of Tokyo Symphony.

Jessica Duchen

Le nozze di Chico?

It’s perhaps one of the strengths of Glyndebourne’s much-vaunted new production of Le nozze di Figaro, directed by Michael Grandage, that through a series of apparently zany juxtapositions it makes clear the archetypal, timeless nature of its drama.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Gustavo Dudamel as you’ve never heard him before

The new Lebrecht Interview series opens next Monday on the BBC with the longest, deepest conversation that Gustavo Dudamel has ever offered on public media.

The Times

São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra debuts at the Proms

Plentiful tropical fruit aside, the Shostakovich had a maverick quality: the Fifth Symphony, which usually expresses everything horrendous about Stalinist Russia, sounded practically buoyant once the two grimmest movements had been excised to make an al-fresco taster programme.

(Written on July 11, 2012 )

This weekend, Baritone William Berger will perform Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, with La Nuova Musica, at Kings Place London. In the title role, usually performed by a tenor, William’s warm Baritone voice is sure to rejuvenate the famous Greek legend. Conductor of La Nuova Musica, David Bates described, to BBC3 In Tune, the ‘freedom’ with which they are interpreting the works, bringing them ‘into our own time’ (Suzy Klein at the BBC), having fun with the music, and making them more accessible for a wider audience.

William Berger – ‘one of the best of our younger baritones’ Gramophone Magazine – was a student, and now an associate, of London’s Royal Academy of Music as well as an alumnus of the Young Singers Programme at the English National Opera. He has performed an incredulous amount of Operatic roles, as well as acclaimed concerts, with 2012 set to be one of his busiest and most successful years.

Tickets are available here. Online savers are a great deal for just £9.50; get your tickets as soon as possible, for what will be, such a great event!

Paul Foster-Williams

(Written on June 20, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Peter Maxwell Davies: The old rebel has a new cause

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies talks about the inspiration for his Ninth symphony.

The Guardian

Carmen in the desert: Israeli Opera promises hot staging at Bizet

Dead Sea and Massada fortress form backdrop for ambitious performance of fiery, romantic opera.

Interview: Sergei Leiferkus

Baritone Sergei Leiferkus, singing the Forester in Glyndebourne’s current production of the Cunning Little Vixen, talks about the opera.

Classical Music Magazine

Clandeboye’s former young musicians to return to celebrate tenth festival

Booking has opened for the tenth Clandeboye Festival, taking place 13 – 18 August at the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava’s Clandeboye estate near Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Gramophone

Universal’s ‘Bass Hunter’ search uncovers what may be the world’s lowest singing voice

For singer Tom Stroms, the low E is effortless.

Arts Journal – Slipped disc

Naked Spencer Tunick is modifying his art for Munich’s Ring

Bavarian State Opera have just announced that the naked flash mob it is preparing for Wagner’s Ring will not be in the altogether. The American artist Spencer Tunick has been persuaded to cover prudish Muncheners with body paint.

Cathedral fires choirmaster for ‘being rude about Scotland’

Ian Simcock has been sacked by Glasgow Cathedral for merciless teasing of singers and ‘being rude about Scotland’.

Jessica Duchen

On the future of music journalism

Here are a few thoughts I’ve cobbled together in the wake of last week’s panel discussion at Classical:NEXT.

The New Yorker

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s Art Songs

As everyone knows, Fischer-Dieskau, who died on May 18th, was the reigning master of the art song.

(Written on June 7, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Thomas Blumire: young composer who defies barriers

At 19, Thomas Blumire is a promisingly talented and already accomplished composer, currently hoping to study for a degree in music.

Ian Bostridge on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: ‘I’d never have sung without him’

English tenor Ian Bostridge tells how the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau came to inspire him.

Classical music dead? Nico Muhly proves it isn’t

The Manhattan-based composer Nico Muhly – the hottest talent in contemporary classical music – is so attracted to everyday drone noise that he’s composed an album in tribute.

The Guardian

How Maurice Sendak helped me stage his operas

Months before his death, the children’s author met director Netia Jones to discuss opera versions of his famous stories.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

‘I don”t do crossover’, says YouTube’s most watched pianist

One of the things I like best about Valentina Lisitsa is her lack of guile.

Gramophone

Baritone Derek Hammond-Stroud has died

The English singer Derek Hammond-Stroud has died; he was 86.

Obituary: Alexander Arutiunian, composer

Alexander Arutiunian has died at the age of 91 in Yerevan, the city of his birth.

LA Times

Jazz impressions with Chris Botti

Trumpeter Chris Botti tours constantly with his instrumentals. He dishes on his career, his latest album, ‘Impressions’, and musical collaborations.

(Written on May 29, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Online piano star Valentina Lisitsa gets Royal Albert Hall debut

YouTube star and and virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa signs record deal and will play a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jessica Duchen

A Music World Fair

This year’s International Wimbledon Music Festival is ‘A Music World Fair’ – a tremendously international job, lighting up South West London with performances by the Kopelman String Quartet, Alina Ibragimova, Nicholas Daniel and Sam West, Christine Brewer, Zuill Bailey, Cristina Ortiz, Mark Padmore and many more.

NY Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Submits Plan to Cut Debt

The Philadelphia Orchestra has laid out its plan to erase debts and cut costs in a major step toward exiting bankruptcy court.

The Guardian

King Priam, a pacifist’s opera, can still shed light on the trauma of war

Half a century after its first showing, Michael Tippett’s libretto based on the lliad is a fitting work for today.

Fischer-Dieskau’s 12 best recordings

Martin Kettle’s pick of the great baritone’s recorded output.

LA Times

Glenn Dicterow leaving New York Philharmonic, joining USC faculty

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for more than 30 years, will be leaving the venerated orchestra and joining the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

New West Symphony names Marcelo Lehninger as new music director

Marcelo Lehninger, the young Brazilian German maestro who serves as an assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been named music director of the New West Symphony, which is based in Thousand Oaks.

Classical Music Magazine

Classical singles chart greeted with scepticism by industry

The launch of a weekly classical singles chart, the first of which will be released on 28 May, has been greeted enthusiastically by crossover artists but more sceptically by the core classical sector.

Gramophone

Anne-Sophie Mutter receives Distinguished Leadership Award

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has been awarded the Atlantic Council’s 2012 Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award, recognising her as ‘one of the most significant leaders of our society’.

(Written on May 25, 2012 )

On July 30th baritone William Berger will release his debut recital disc on Delphian Records with pianist Ian Burnside. Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song describes in seventeen songs the restless night of a man who reflects on his unnamed love. Unclear if the beloved is dead or living, the songs are characterised by dreaming, disorientation and hallucination.

For more information, visit William’s website or become a fan on Facebook.

(Written on May 23, 2012 )

We are very excited to welcome the wonderful Baritone William Berger to our artist roster. William will be performing with La Nuova Musica at Kings Place this June in his L’Orfeo debut. He is also performing the role of Alcandro in Garsington Opera’s production of L’Olimpiade this June.

In September William will be releasing his debut recital disc Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage on Delphian Records. The programme for the recital was devised by William for the 2011 Lucerne Festival and describes an imaginary voyage through a restless night, with music by Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, Wolf, Vaughan Williams, Liszt and Strauss.

To keep up to date with William’s work, visit his facebook page.

(Written on April 27, 2012 )

The Spectator

Six Of The Best Young Opera Singers.

First it was the policeman who seemed to get younger every year. Then it was the conductors. Now it’s the opera singers, writes Jessica Duchen.

The Guardian

Alice Goodman: The Furore That Finished Me.

Two decades ago, Alice Goodman wrote the libretto to The Death of Klinghoffer, an opera about a Jewish American murdered by Palestinian terrorists. It ended her career. Does she have any regrets?

Gramophone

Conductor Paavo Berglund Dies At 82

Born April 14th, 1929; died January 25th, 2012.

The Independent

‘These people have never sung an opera in their lives’.

Baritone launches attack on lowbrow music industry and performers of classical ‘greatest hits’.

New York Times

Not Everyone’s In Tune Over Precious Violins.

The value of valuable violins.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/sunday-review/the-value-of-valuable-violins.html?ref=classicalmusic

(Written on January 30, 2012 )

Gramophone

Violinist Israel Baker Has Died, Aged 92.

The violinist Israel Baker has died at his home in Los Angeles aged 92.

Thomas Quasthoff Withdraws From The Spotlight.

Citing ill health, the German baritone retires.

BBC News

Letter Penned By Beethoven Uncovered In Germany.

A letter written by composer Ludwig van Beethoven has emerged in Germany after being left in a will.

BBC Music Magazine

BBC Proms Launches Competition For Young Composers.

Entries to be judged by composers including Stuart MacRae and Nico Muhly.

New York Times

Carnegie Hall To Establish National Youth Orchestra In 2013.

Ireland has one. Norway has one. Sweden has one, and it will be at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 26. Even Iraq has one.

The Telegraph

Jonathan McGovern: New Face.

Jonathan McGovern is a 26 year-old baritone who looks poised for a brilliant career.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9007749/Jonathan-McGovern-New-Face.html

(Written on January 12, 2012 )