It is that time of year again – WildKat PR are looking for an intern to join our team in London for 3-6 months starting in February.

Any applicant will need to be passionate about classical music, culture and the performing arts, and a second language is definitely a bonus, but not essential! An interest in new media and knowledge of social networking platforms is also important.

This is a great opportunity for someone considering a career in arts PR or marketing who is seeking to gain first-hand experience. You will assist with researching and reporting on new developments in the classical music world, writing press releases for clients and blogs for the WildKat PR website, researching press opportunities, as well as general tasks such as keeping the office in top running order.

The successful candidate needs to be self-motivated with excellent written and verbal communication skills. Good computer skills are vital. You will need to be confident and able to take on responsibility, as well as being organised, able to prioritise and meet deadlines.

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to london@wildkatpr.com before 5pm on January 30^th.

Interviews will be held on the 3rd February and the start date will be the 13th February.

N.B. Only candidates able to work five days a week from 10 – 6 should apply.

(Written on January 18, 2012 )

Congratulations to all involved with last night’s Music in Offices christmas carol concert at St. Katharine Cree church in Aldgate.

The concert was a wonderful celebration of the work achieved by each of the office choirs from Debenhams, Channel 4, Freemantle Media, BBC World Service, Royal Historical Palaces and Christie’s amongst others as they all joined in the festive spirit along with a guest appearance from The Lunar Saxophone Quartet.

The event highlighted the great community spirit from all choirs and even held a mini tournament in the form of ’12 days of Christmas’ in preparation for the 2012 Office Choir of The Year Competition held in March.  Applications are still being accepted so if you think your office has got what it takes to claim the prize or just want a bit of musical fun, why not enter at their website.

(Written on December 13, 2011 )

The Belcea Quartet launched their new website this week.  The site has everything you need to know about the group including concert dates, updates and blogs from quartet members, videos and extracts from all of their albums.

The website will be constantly updated with information about what the ensemble are up to and where you can see them perform as well as information on the new Beethoven album which is currently being recorded.

You can also follow the group on facebook.

The next dates for the Beethoven series are:

Friday 20 January                           Liverpool, St George’s

Saturday 21 January                       London, Wigmore Hall

Tuesday 24 January                        Hamburg, Laeiszhalle

Thursday 26 January                      Gateshead, The Sage

(Written on December 12, 2011 )

The Guardian

The best classical music of 2011: Fiona Maddocks’s choice

Amazing orchestras, opera premieres and Wagner in a Cornish church stay in the mind.

Slipped Disc

Mayor Boris promises better musical futures

The fund set up by London’s Mayor for disadvantaged children with musical ambitions is disbursing its first £400,000 ($650,000) in scholarships to 100 kids aged between 7 and 11.

The Telegraph

Royal Opera House chief executive Tony Hall interview: ‘Am I worth it? I hope so’

This being the digital age, even the Royal Opera House has seen fit to launch an “app”.

 Royal Opera House chief executive Tony Hall Photo: GEOFF PUGH

(Written on December 12, 2011 )

The second set of concerts in the Belcea Quartet’s Beethoven cycle, once again went down a storm with audience and critics alike.  Some of the highlights include:

The Guardian

“…the Belceas still play like a young quartet, seizing the music’s energy, shocking us out of our seats with every fortissimo. There’s a huge range of colour in their quieter playing”

The Evening Standard

“The B flat Quartet, op. 18 no.6, was bursting with wit, lyricism and elegance of style; rhythms were buoyant, ensemble flawless and the overlapping dialogues seamless.”

Planet Hugill

“This was an impressive concert, serious in intention and big on achievement. The audience in the packed Wigmore Hall was rightly enthusiastic. And we have more to come!”

Boulezian

“The Belcea enthralled not only in the lively, Haydnesque opening movement, with a touch of Mozart here and there, but also in subsequent intimations of what we have come to consider ‘late Beethoven’. ”

Classical Source

“This second Wigmore Hall visit in the Belcea Quartet’s touring Beethoven cycle proved to be as riveting as the first; the programme, mixing early, middle and late works as enlightening as ever.”

You can also read more about the rehearsal styles of the quartet in this week’s Classical Music Magazine and the decision to leave EMI in Music Week Magazine.  The concert will be available to listen to on BBC Radio 3 on December 11th.  Stay in touch with the Quartet via their website or facebook.

(Written on December 5, 2011 )

Audiences and critics alike positively received the first leg of the Belcea Quartet’s Beethoven concerts. The quartet took audiences in Hamburg, London, Liverpool and Gateshead though a personal and intimate interpretation of Beethoven’s coveted string quartet writing.

The program for this, the first concert in the quartet’s year-long exploration of all of Beethoven’s string quartets, consisted of three contrasting and prominent quartets: no.3, op.18, no.10, Op.74 and no.13, Op.130, the Belcea String Quartet’s interpretations were skillfully devoid of any over indulgence.

it was immediately clear from the opening phrases of this evening’s concert of Beethoven quartets that these four players enjoy an intensely powerful shared musical language, with an incredible level of communication between each other and with the audience. They immediately drew us right into the heart of Beethoven’s very personal music, as they took us on an introductory guide through his string quartet writing.

Throughout the concert, there was never any harshness, even in the more forceful parts of the latter quartets. The quiet passages were mesmerizing, almost vanishing at times

Backtrack

As versed as they are in the music, the quartet maintained a keen sense of spontaneity as they laid out the contrasting passages with razor-sharp articulation. The rich andante was beautifully phrased, while the presto brimmed with energy

The Northern Echo

The next leg of the concert series will begin on the 28^th of in Liverpool and moving on to revisit London, Gateshead and Hamburg with more of Beethoven’s string quartets. For more information, visit the Belcea Quartet’s website.

(Written on October 14, 2011 )

Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music.

Gramophone online

Daniel Barenboim is named new head of La Scala

After six years the Italian house appoints a new director

The Guardian

Jeffrey Tate: ‘I’ve had to fight all my life’

After nearly two decades abroad, Jeffrey Tate returns to Covent Garden. So why the wait, asks Tom Service

Intermezzo

Free opera online from the Opera House of the Year

La Monnaie, recently awarded the prestigious title of Opera House of the Year by Opernwelt magazine, is planning to stream all of this season’s productions free online.

Fast company.com

How Symphonies Grew Strong Audiences By Killing The Myth Of The Average Consumer

It turns out the secret to unlocking demand for classical music–as for most products–is discarding the Myth of the Average Customer

New York Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Management and Musicians Approve Labor Agreement

The Philadelphia Orchestra management and musicians said on Thursday that they had approved a labor agreement that represents a major step toward bringing the orchestra out of bankruptcy court

The Telegraph

Il Volo: The boys who tempt teens to love opera

Italian pop-opera trio Il Volo have taken America by storm. Adam Sweeting reports

(Written on October 14, 2011 )

Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music.

New York Times

Bringing Russian Soul to Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies

The conductor Valery Gergiev maintains an absurdly busy schedule. Besides his duties as the artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, he is the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra; runs festivals in Moscow, Rotterdam, Finland and Israel; and makes guest appearances with major orchestras.

Gramophone online

New Noseda project to champion 20th century Italian music

Musica Italiano launched at Italian Embassy in London

Norman Lebrecht Slipped Disk

Pianist launches brave assault on her ‘brutalised, corrupt’ country

The international soloist Gabriela Montero, famed for her improvisations, is about to perform her first fully-composed work, titled Ex Patria.

The Guardian

How Abbado made me love Bruckner

Claudio Abbado’s Bruckner Five with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was one the great concerts of my life

(Written on October 12, 2011 )

Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music.

Classical Music Magazine Online

Twenty commissions announced for Cultural Olympiads 20×12 Scheme

Twenty British composers have been commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad and PRS for Music Foundation to write 12-minute pieces for a ‘once in a lifetime celebration’ in the year of the Olympics.

The Guardian

Lucerne Festival Orchestra- Royal festival Hall, London

Any appearance by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra brings with it intimations of legend. Founded by Claudio Abbado in 2003, it brings together international soloists, professors from the major European conservatoires, and members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

New York Times

A Metropolitan Opera High Note, as Donations Hit $182 Million.

According to preliminary figures released for the first time, the Met hauled in $182 million, an astonishing amount in a tough economic climate and 50 percent more than it raised just the year before.

The Independent

Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne on Tour

Donizetti wanted his late masterpiece ‘Don Pasquale – premiered in Paris in 1843 – to look bang up to date, and throughout its glittering afterlife directors have played fast and loose with its place and period.

(Written on October 11, 2011 )

Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music.

The Telegraph

Die Schöne Müllerin/Christian Gerhaher, Wigmore Hall, review

Gerhaher’s presence on the platform is quiet and modest and by being the music’s servant, he also became its master.

 The Independent

How the Royal Opera House helped a suburb find its voice

Rob Sharp visits a community choir as it takes the stage at Covent Garden

Gramophone Magazine

Nikolai Lugansky signs to Naïve

Russian pianist begins deal with a Liszt recital

Jessica Duchen Blog Spot

Its Myra Hess Day

It’s wonderful when they name a day after your musical heroine and make it an annual event. Today at the National Gallery it is Myra Hess Day.

Norman Lebrecht Slipped Disk

Tubular Bells man has died

His biggest impact was with the Mike Oldfield album that launched the Virgin label in 1973.  David Bedford orchestrated and conducted the richer-sounding album that followed two years later.

 The Guardian

How the great symphonies became our soundtrack to a changing world

This autumn the BBC will present a landmark season of TV and radio programmes to show how music has provided a rousing accompaniment to the march of history for 250 years

(Written on October 4, 2011 )