The Guardian

German Nazi-themed opera cancelled after deluge of complaints

Production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser leaves some in audience so traumatised they have to seek medical help.

The Telegraph

York Bowen: In from the cold

The early-20th century composer, York Bowen, once dubbed the English Rachmaninov, is returning to remarkable favour after decades of neglect, says John Allison.

Classic FM

Angela Gheorghiu on Baroque music and Beyoncé

Buying a London taxi like Pavarotti, discovering the best of pop music and jazz, and explaining the differences between playing opera roles and giving recitals, we caught up with the incredible Angela Gheorghiu on one of her few days off.

Gramophone

Dacapo records New York Philharmonic composers

A new partnership will see Dacapo record works by composers who have served as the New York Phil’s composer-in-residence.

Classical Music

Consortium to trial ways of encouraging audiences to support new commissions

A consortium of music organisations has been awarded Arts Council funding for a project which will examine the public’s appetite for funding new music commissions.

Planet Hugill

London Festival of Contemporary Church Music

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music runs from 11 to 19 May 2013 in a variety of locations in and around London.

(Written on May 10, 2013 )

The Guardian

Britten’s comic hero Albert Herring: the only virgin in the village

How many operas feature a man who is crowned May Queen because no one can vouch for the virginity of the village girls? Andrew Mellor on Britten’s comic gem, Albert Herring.

The Telegraph

Sally Beamish: “There’s a dark, brooding quality in Britten’s work. It’s almost sinister.”

Ivan Hewett talks to composer Sally Beamish about giving up the viola, bumping into Peter Pears and her new work, Variations on a Theme of Benjamin Britten.

London Evening Standard

Pick of the Proms 2013

Booking opens on May 11 for the world’s largest classical music festival — from Barenboim to Bryan Ferry, our critics have the lowdown on the line-up.

BBC News

Nazi-themed Wagner opera cancelled in Dusseldorf

A controversial production of a Wagner opera at one of the major German opera houses has been cancelled because of harrowing scenes involving Nazis.

Classic FM

Dario Marianelli’s thoughts on the Quartet soundtrack

(Written on May 9, 2013 )

The Guardian

Nina Stemme: ‘I am always questioning myself – could it be better?’

The Swedish soprano is the outstanding Isolde and Brünnhilde of her generation and, in July, will sing the latter role in the first-ever complete Ring cycle at the Proms. Here, she reveals how she climbed the Wagnerian mountain.

The Economist

Multimedia theatre

All theatre requires some form of collaboration. For nearly ten years, Katie Mitchell, a British theatre director, and Leo Warner, a video designer, have been working together on genre-defying operas and plays.

Classic FM

Einaudi shares his musical inspiration

From Bach to Stravinsky, electronic music, and folk tunes, Einaudi reveals the inspiration behind his latest compositions in an interview with Margherita Taylor.

Gramophone

Mariinsky II Opera House opens to the public

Opening Night Gala launches three days of celebratory performances in St Petersburg.

Classical Music Magazine

Bryn Terfel among artists-in-residence in RLPO new season

Four internationally-acclaimed musicians have accepted invitations to become artists in residence at Liverpool, following the announcement of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s new concert season.

Planet Hugill

What makes a good opera libretto (3): three librettist/composer marriages

On 29 April 2013 a group of writers, composers, contemporary opera creators and producers gathered together at the Barbican’s Pit for a one day conference.

(Written on May 3, 2013 )

WildKat PR recently interviewed composer Tom Hodge, to understand his compositional techniques and to investigate the different approaches he undertakes in music for television, film and advertisements as opposed to programme music. Tom also describes what stimulated his interest in composition and how it became his career.

To keep up to date with Tom’s upcoming engagements, including a full-length orchestral ballet commission for June 2014 as well as concert dates in Germany and festivals this Summer, visit his Facebook, Twitter, or visit the WildKat website for regular blog posts.

(Written on March 28, 2013 )

Tonight, at 8pm CET, the first ever live stream of a Yellow Lounge performance will be broadcast to the Deutsche Grammophon website. Featuring Daniel Hope (violin) and Ludovico Einaudi (piano), the evening will take place at the Stockholm club O-Baren Sturehof.

The set list will feature pieces from Daniel Hope’s upcoming album Spheres, to be released on February 15th on Deutsche Grammophon; a curated anthology of music exploring the concept of “musica universalis”: the idea that planetary movement creates sound.

The first e-single from the album, I Giorni, by Ludovico Einaudi, was released in mid-December 2012 and will be performed tonight by Daniel Hope, a string ensemble and Ludovico Einaudi himself, alongside several other tracks from Spheres.

To view the live stream, from 8pm CET tonight, please click here.

For more information on Spheres please click here.

(Written on January 10, 2013 )

This morning, David Green will be appearing on Midweek to discuss his grandfather – Ignatz Waghalter.

(Written on December 12, 2012 )

The Guardian

How Dorset’s 1000-year-old Viking bones inspired my new oratorio

As the BSO’s composer, I was tasked with writing a piece for the London 2012 festival. And it was the skeletons in Dorset’s cupboard that inspired the Chalk Legend.

BBC Music Magazine

Computer creates piece of orchestral music in just 8 minutes

London Symphony Orchestra to perform computer-generated piece.

Schoenberg manuscript to be auctioned

Autograph manuscript of String Quartet No. 10 goes under the hammer.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Top South African pianist ‘blacklisted’ by the Johannesburg Philharmonic

Professor Nina Schumann is one of the most active pianist in South Africa. She told the press today that she and her husband have been put on a blackist by the national orchestra’s aggressive management.

Gramophone

A double-edged sword

Performing the dual role of opera singer and director – from Carmen to this year’s Le nozze di Figaro at Stowe Opera.

Wells Cathedral invites boys and girls to ‘Be a Chorister for a Day’

Programme celebrates 10th anniversary this October.

(Written on July 12, 2012 )

The Guardian

The Shard will open to the wrong music

The London Philharmonic is to mark the inauguration of the corporate monolith with Fanfare for the Common Man. Surely Elgar’s visions of the end of the empire would be a better choice?

LA Times

George Fenton’s influences

The British composer, who’ll be conducting his own score for ‘Frozen Planet’ at the Bowl this week, numbers Henri Mancini, Mark Rothko and the Beatles among his influences.

‘Prometheus’ seeks out classical music in deep space

In space, no one can hear you scream — but everyone can hear the classical music loud and clear.

Jessica Duchen

Musicians against playing for free at the Olympics

A Facebook group, Musicians Against Playing for Free at the Olympics, has been started by Ashley Slater (formerly of Loose Tubes).

Music + Art = Magic?

About the correlation of music and art in the Impressionist era, and why it was that it took about 20 years for composers to cotton on.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

The lady who thought Bach was alive

The Times today carries a fond obituary of Lina Lalandi, founder of the (defunct) English Bach Festival who died on June 8, aged 91.

London street-mugged pianist makes her live comeback next week

Alexandra Dariescu was fortunate to escape without serious injury when she was violently mugged for her phone in broad daylight on a London street. She has not let it get her down.

If you’re booked by the Johannesburg Philharmonic, watch out: they don’t play

We’ve been sent a translated article from the Afrikaans press and another from an English-language paper reporting continuing chaos and mismanagement at South Africa’s premier orchestra.

The Times

Piece created in prison makes the big city stage

This is the world premiere of Beyond This, a 12-minute piece composed by a group of prisoners under the guidance of the composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and Sara Lee, the artistic director of Music in Prisons.

Gramophone

NY Philharmonic teams with medici.tv stream landmark concert

Performance available to stream online for 90 days from July 6.

Obituary: Brigitte Engerer, pianist

The French pianist Brigitte Engerer was never a household name – and virtually unknown in Britain where she rarely performed – but was a popular and highly respected figure in the profession.

Sir Mark Elder awarded Leeds University honorary degree

Presentation ceremony will be held during Leeds International Piano Competition.

(Written on July 6, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Tamsin Little on Delius: regrets of a lost composer

Violinist Tamsin Little tells Ivan Hewett why she loves the music of Delius.

The opera voice: Gianni Schicchi by Puccini

If you were ever in doubt that opera could be hilarious then Puccini’s one-act opera Gianni Schicchi will convince you.

NY Times

Evelyn Lear, Versatile Soprano, Dies at 86

Evelyn Lear, an American soprano who became a star in Europe in the 1950s and later won acclaim in the United States for singing some of the most difficult roles in contemporary opera, died on Sunday.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Chariots of Fire composer: ‘success breeds creative paralysis’

If you missed a rare interview with Vangelis in the sports pages of the Observer, you’ll want to catch up on the Greek composer’s thoughts on economic crisis and its relation to creative impotence.

Jessica Duchen

The Trouble with Sponsorship

More people these days are making their feelings known about where sport and the arts get their necessary lucre. And it’s not a moment too soon. But where do we go from here?

Gramophone

Opera experiment at the Sydney Opera House

Presenting Erich Korngold’s Die tote Stadt has compelled Australia’s national opera company to think outside the box – literally.

(Written on July 5, 2012 )

The Telegraph

London Symphony Orchestra to play piece created by computer program Iamus

Computer program Imaus has created works of music so successful that world-class performers such as the London Symphony Orchestra have agreed to perform them.

The Guardian

A guide to Richard Rodney Bennett’s music

This week, Tom Service looks at a  man who composes and performs across a range of musical genres and yet has found an unmistakable and personal voice.

Homeless performers take over Royal Opera House

With One Voice, part of the London 2012 festival, marks first time homeless people have been part of Olympic celebrations.

BBC Music Magazine

London Philharmonic celebrates new high

Orchestra to perform at opening of The Shard.

NY Times

Alec Baldwin Gives $ 1 Million to New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic said on Monday that it had received a gift of $1 million from Mr. Baldwin to honor Zarin Mehta, its outgoing president and executive director.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Is this a record? Youtube’s favourite pianist finally has a CD

Two weeks ago, Valentina Lisitsa gave her debut recital at the Royal Albert Hall.

Join the John Cage cakewalk

BBC Proms Music Walk celebrates the centenary of John Cage with ten especially-commissioned works.

(Written on July 3, 2012 )