The Guardian

Harrison Birtwistle: the music of myth

Harrison Birtwistle’s music has always drawn on the rituals and stories of English folk. But is the bucolic Latitude festival ready for disembowelling and murder?

Jessica Duchen

An operatic top ten

What makes a really good opera production?

LA Times

‘Wilhelm Furtwangler: The Legacy’ is 107 CDs of musical hypnotism

The CD box shows the enigmatic German conductor’s passion.

Toscani collection illustrates conductor’s great heights

RCA’s remastered 48-CD set is irresistible.

Financial Times

The bright continent

Africa Utopia is the month-long showcase that its curator Baaba Maal has dreamt for a decade.

New York Times

Surround Sounds Through the Centuries

Alan Gilbert’s ‘Philharmonic 360′ at Park Avenue Armory.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Abbado, injured in a fall, gives rare interview

The conductor, 79 last week, refused to permit photographs of his facial scratches and bruises but appeared otherwise in good health when he spoke to the Berliner Morgenpost.

The hot young violinist who’s dividing China in two

This is Li Chuan Yun, also known as  Chanyun Li, who many Chinese think is the country’s violin equivalent to Lang Lang.

Lang Lang contracts out his tweets and facebook page

Lang Lang signs to Inverne Price for Social Networking.

Gramophone

Fabulous Figaro as Glyndebourne returns to its boots

Seventh production in 78 years a visual and vocal treat.

Jean-Philippe Rolland joins at EMI Classics as A&R president

Succeeds Andrew Cornall from July.

(Written on July 2, 2012 )

The Independent

Independent podcast: Naxos 25th anniversary

In just a quarter of a century Naxos has created “a catalogue comprising the largest number of individual works and the widest available repertoire of any classical label since the beginning of the recording era.”

The Guardian

A guide to Harrison Birtwistle’s music

Harrison’s elemental and powerful music feels both ancient and modern.

Classical Music Magazine

BBC Young Musician: the winner

The winner of BBC Young Musician 2012, the final of which was held at the Sage, Gateshead on 13 May and broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC2, is 15-year-old cellist Laura van der Heijden.

Jessica Duchen

There can only be one BBC Young Musician of the year

For every musician whose lifelong public career is launched in the arena of BBC Young Musicians, there are maybe 100 more, at least, who vanish.

The Times

Spira mirabilis: The orchestra where everyone’s in charge

Does an orchestra where all players have an equal say mean a recipe for amity or anarchy?

The NY Times

David Robertson to Lead Sydney Symphony

David Robertson, the music director of the St. Louis Symphony, has taken on a position on the other side of the world, becoming artistic director and chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony in Australia starting in 2014.

Financial Times

To marry the heart and the head

The prolific Catalan musician Jordi Savall talks about grief, memory and building bridges.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

Saxon sings out to save Bach ensemble

The theatre in Eisenach, Bach’s birthplace, is under threat of closure. Hundreds gathered to stage a peaceful protest in song.

Gramophone

Miloš: new champion of the classical guitar

A classical guitarist’s debut recording remained at the top of the Specialist Classical Chart for much of the past year. That artist is Miloš Karadaglić – or Miloš as he’s known simply – who was named Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year at our 2011 Awards.

Venezuelan Rafael Payare wins Malko Competition

32-year-old Venezuelan Rafael Payare won the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen on Saturday in an atmospheric final round broadcast live on Danish radio and television.

(Written on May 15, 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 )

Every day the WildKat team scan newspapers, websites and blogs for interesting classical music news, and now we’ve decided to publish our lists so that you can get a classical music news summary each day. If you’ve read anything interesting each day that we’ve missed do feel free to comment and let us know!

Harrison Birtwistle: ‘I know how Stravinsky felt’

Ivan Hewett meets Harrison Birtwistle to discuss how he is sharing a bill with Ray Davies despite hating pop music.

Will the Garsington Opera survive in its new home?

Michael White discusses Garsington’s new auditorium.

Rare Mozart edition worth £3000 found in Reading charity shop

The early edition of Mozart Sonatas is being auctioned on Wednesday.

Young British Conductor Michael Francis takes charge of Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra

Michael Francis has been a double bass player in the LSO for ten years.

London Calling

Kasper Holten talks about his move from Copenhagen to the ROH.

(Written on June 6, 2011 )