Classic FM

Daniel Hope on the music of the spheres

Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau chats to violinist Daniel Hope about his new album, Spheres, and even gets his violin out.

LA Times

Gustavo Dudamel was detained by Israeli authorities, reports say

Classical conductors spend a lot of time on airplanes flying from one job to the next and are thus used to the frustrations that come with modern-day air travel.

Gramophone

Edward Gardner to head the Bergen Philharmonic

Chandos will record the new partnership

Classical Source

BBC Concert Orchestra Teams Up With Singing For The Brain To Bring Music To People Living With Dementia

BBC Concert Orchestra is joining forces with five of the Alzheimer’s Society’s regional ‘Singing for the Brain™’ groups in music-making aimed to engage with people dealing with the impact of dementia.

WFAE (via Musical Chairs)

Anonymous Donors Give Charlotte Symphony $2 Million

A group of anonymous donors is giving the Charlotte Symphony $2 million. The donors’ contribution could increase if some financial goals are met.

Music Industry News

Introducing Muvote.com!

Something new is bubbling up from the depths of the Internet. Music critics are calling it, “Something to do.”

Music Week

Gatfield echoes call for Government tax breaks for music A&R

Sony Music UK CEO and chairman Nick Gatfield has echoed calls for the Government to offer more support to the creative industries, urging tax breaks for music A&R specifically.

WFAE (via Musical Chairs)

(Written on February 19, 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 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 )

The Telegraph

New music scholarships for London’s talented children

Talented children who might otherwise slip through the music education net are fulfilling their promise thanks to a new scholarship scheme.

The Guardian

Damon Albarn’s opera Dr Dee – video

Dr Dee, an opera about the Elizabethan mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Dr John Dee, opened at the Coliseum on Monday night.

Gramophone

China holds its first Li Delun National Conducting Competition

Designed to inspire young Chinese conductors of the future.

BBC Music Magazine

Tower Bridge as a musical instrument

Composer Samuel Bordoli has written a piece to be performed on London’s Tower Bridge as part of the City of London Festival’s 50th anniversary.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

German theatre chief: Give the Ring a rest

In a perfect curtain-raiser to the Bayreuth festival and the Wagner bicentenary, the president of the German Theatre Association Klaus Zehelein says there are too many productions of the Ring.

New artistic director at Ensemble Intercontemporain

It’s the composer Matthias Pintscher.

 LA Times

El Sistema produces a new, younger Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel, 31, seems practically middle-aged compared to Jose Angel Salazar, a 14-year-old El Sistema student who has gained attention recently for his talent as a conductor.

(Written on June 29, 2012 )

The Guardian

The fantastic Dr Dee: angels, magic and the birth of modern science

As Damon Albarn’s opera opens in London, Carole Jahme wonders why Dee has been written out of the history of science.

The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel – live stream

Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra performed at London’s Royal Festival Hall with conductor Gustavo Dudamel on 23 and 26 June.

The Times

Delius takes Hassan on the Golden Road

On July 7 Frederick Delius’s Hassan is staged in Cheltenham.

MUSO

Edward Gardner among artists given Queen’s birthday honours

English National Opera director Edward Gardner has been named among the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, being awarded an OBE for services to music.

BBC Music Magazine

Arts Council awards Catalyst Endowment funds

The Arts Council has awarded ‘Catalyst’ awards to a host of music organisations including the Hallé and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE).

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Bayreuth’s American Siegfried has died

Jean Cox was not the first American to sing at the Wagner shrine but he was surely the first to fly a bombing mission before he took to the stage.

Gramophone

Performing musical saw in a potato barn

The SCO’s principal cellist prepares for the East Neuk Festival.

New Music 20×12 issues three more releases

Hear excerpts from works by David Bruce, Emily Howard and Michael Wolters.

Jamie Philips appointed assistant conductor of the Hallé

21-year-old succeeds Andrew Gourlay in September.

(Written on June 27, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Interview with composer Heiner Goebbels

Heiner Goebbels has transformed Henry Thoreau’s ideas into music for the UK premier of Walden as part of the London 2012 festival.

The Guardian

Glyndebourne and Figaro: a perfect marriage

The son of the festival’s founder and Glyndebourne’s first Susanna looks forward to a new production of Mozart’s great comic opera.

Neville Roberts obituary

Originally a tenor player, Neville answered an ad for bass trombonists and Sir John – always JB to his musicians – heard his audition and engaged him on a three-month trial.

BBC Music Magazine

BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ Competition winners announced

The three winners of this year’s BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ Competition have been announced.

The Independent

Bernard Haitink: A meastro passes on his baton to the next generation

It’s tough to make it as a conductor – so when 20 young stars where asked to perform for the great Bernard Haitlink, the pressure was on.

LA Times

A 4-D ‘concert’ at a London museum 

At Science Museum, an interactive digital installation co-developed by Esa-Pekka Salonen lets visitors conduct and step inside a virtual orchestra.

Hollywood Bowl opens with the queens of country and funk

Reba McEntire and Chaka Khan, both divas by virtue and of their talent, were inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame at this season’s opening night concert Friday.

Gramophone

Gearing up for the Aldeburgh World Orchestra

Aldeburgh Music launches remote learning learning technology.

Dudamel and Sounds Venezuela at the Southbank

Four days of events began Saturday.

Jessica Duchen

Brigitte Engerer, 1952-2012

Tributes have been pouring in following the death of the French pianist Brigitte Engerer at the age of 59.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

US orchestra chief quits after just three month

Lee Williamson started work as executive director of the Delaware Symphony in March. Now she has asked to be released from her contract with immediate effect.

The Times

Six of the best opera villains

If an opera is not a comedy or filled with people who wish to destroy their own lives (mostly as a result of failed love), then a villain is needed for the opera to end in the appropriately awful way.

My space: Gus Christie

The Glyndebourne boss talks about living on the grounds where the festival – founded by his grandfather – takes place.

(Written on June 25, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Damon Albarn interview: the magic and mystery of Dr Dee

Damon Albarn and Rufus Norris have let the subject of their opera Dr Dee – part of London 2012 Festival – become an obsession, says Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate.

How Ivor Novello’s songs may become old friends to his listeners

Ivor Novello gave much pleasure to millions, but why has he been forgotten?

El Sistema and Gustavo Dudamel: rescuing children with music

As Gustavo Dudamel’s Simon Bolivar Orchestra helps launch London 20120 Festival, Ivan Hewett travels to Venezuela to witness the music system of El Sistema that produced it – and helps to save children from lives of violence and crime.

El Sistema timeline: from a Caracas garage to the Albert Hall

The history of El Sistema, the Venezuelan musical education programme which has produced the Simon Bolivar Orchestra.

BBC Music Magazine

All BBC orchestras and BBC Singers to stay open

Newly published report recommends all ensembles continue but with ‘substantial savings’.

The Guardian

Dudamel’s heroic Beethoven challenge

Beethoven’s third symphony – the Eroica – is an exposing piece for any orchestra. Will the newly matured Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra make the grade?

LA Times

Gustavo Dudamel in talks to compose score for Simon Bolivar film

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel is expected to lend his musical talent to a new movie about the life of Simón Bolívar.

Gramophone

Takacs Quartet, Sir Mark Elder, Andrew Litton and Rachel Podger

The latest edition of the Gramophone Podcast is now online.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

US orch hires new music director after 25 years

The Illinois Philharmonic played happily for more than two decades with Carmen DeLeone, who retired last year.

Criticising the critics: Only one UK newspaper reviews Youtube’s hottest pianist

Somehow none of London’s critical pack found time to attend Valentina Lisitsa’s groundbreaking debut at the Royal Albert Hall.

Cologne fires opera chief

The saga of who runs opera in one of Germany’s biggest cities – and whether there will be any opera at all next year – took an upturn last night when the city fired the opera intendant, Uwe Eric Laufenberg.

NY Times

Late-Night Drinks With a Pianist

David Greilsammer, known for his inventive programs of piano works, will play one of the late-night concerts at the Mostly Mozart Festival.

(Written on June 22, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Russell Watson to sing at White House

British tenor Russell Watson will perform at Barack Obama’s White House for Independence Day celebrations.

We can’t all be Mozart – but we can still play

From Caracas to Sterling, the evidence that music can transform lives is utterly overwhelming.

Classical Music Magazine

Arts Council’s £30.5 million match funding for endowment schemes

The Hallé’s new orchestra centre, Opera North’s ongoing Ring cycle, the Philharmonia’s digital programme, and international work to be based at The Sage, Gateshead, are among projects to benefit from Arts Council England’s ‘Catalyst’ funding.

BBC Music Magazine

New Gareth Malone TV series

Choirmaster and television presenter Gareth Malone will return to television later this year with a new six-part series featuring choirs in the workplace.

The Times

Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna: the Liz Taylor and Richard Burton of opera

For anything is possible when it comes to opera’s golden couple. Their romance off-stage has mirrored the operas they headline around the world.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Cello authority dies

Gerhard Mantel, author of ‘Cello Technique – Principles and Forms of Movement’ and professor at the Frankfurt Hochschule, has died aged 82.

Gramophone

King’s College Cambridge and King’s Singers Foundation launch ‘A Carol for Christmas’

The UK summer is now in full swing – complete with its traditional rain and tepid temperatures – but the King’s Singers Foundation is asking British composers to cast their thoughts forward to the Christmas season.

Guardian

Big Noise orchestra’s classical music proves instrumental in social change

El Sistema and Gustavo Dudamel’s Simon Bolivar Orchestra turn musicianship into citizenship in in Stirling’s Raploch estate.

Wagner’s Dream: watch clips from the new documentary

Susan Froemke’s documentary follows Robert Lepage’s five-year journey as he stages Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle for New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

La Cenerentola – a musical guide 

The prince is in disguise, there’s no fairy godmother and not even a glass slipper, but Rossini’s take on the Cinderella story offers sparkles, star turns and a great storm scene.

(Written on June 21, 2012 )

The Telegraph

La Scala opera house stars take 10pc pay cut amid Italian austerity

It may not quiet make it The Beggar’s Opera, but Italy’s famed La Scala is to cut the salaries of its top directors, in line with the rest of the country’s straitened economic circumstances.

Classical Music Magazine

Myerscough report recommends cuts of 10% at BBC performing groups

The independent report, commissioned by the BBC’s director of audio and music, Tim Davie, was written by academic John Myerscough, a former special advisor on the arts to the House of Commons.

LA Times

Receipt signed by Chopin when he sold compositions is up for sale

A one-page document signed by Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin is on the auction block through Wednesday and has proved more popular with bidders than expected.

Drama afoot as L.A. Opera feels heat of rival works

The L.A. Opera is on challenging ground as local groups like the L.A. Phil., The Industry and Jacaranda stage inventive productions of opera and opera-like music theatre.

NY Times

Tanglewood Revisits Its Past, for All to Hear

Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Lenox, Mass., is celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer in several big ways.

Gramophone

Las Vegas Philharmonic launches search for new music director

David Itkin will not extend his contract beyong June 2013.

LPO to perform outside the Royal Academy of Arts

Courtyard concert coincides with French Impressionism exhibition.

Spoiler Alert

Could operatic surtitles replace the programme plot synopsis to deliver real surprises?

Re-thinking Nielsen’s centennial symphony

As Nielsen’s unusual and brilliant Third Symphony turns 100, it’s about time we respect his notes as we would Mahler’s.

Jessica Duchen

Heat and light

Kicking off the Olympic cultural festivities in style, The Dude and his Simon Bolivár Orchestra of Venezuela are back in Britain. Dudamel & co are taking over the Royal Festival Hall this weekend

The Guardian

Gustavo Dudamel and London: a special relationship

The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra conductor loves London, and London loves him back.

(Written on June 20, 2012 )

The Independent

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.

(Written on May 14, 2012 )