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 )

Gramophone

(Written on October 10, 2012 )

After two successful performances in LA, Lionel Bringuier received warm reviews from the LA Times. For his first performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Lionel began by leading the LA Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Yefim Bronfman through Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, for which he was praised for keeping ‘things moving along for Bronfman, getting the Philharmonic to whip up some convincing thunder of its own’. The rest of the concert consisted of Elgar: ‘full of rambunctious energy and mischief, dancing with life whenever emerging from a contemplative variation, centered by a straight-forward, flowing Nimrod variation that drew applause in mid-piece.’

His following concert just days later was praised by the LA Times as showing the Bowl to be a ‘welcoming Beethovenian host’. Lionel ‘fluidly steered the orchestra through a clear, measured reading of a score’ ending with sheer exhuberance in the final movement. Alongside his fellow ‘gifted young frenchman’ Renaud Capucon, Lionel lead the audience through a rousing show true to the great scores of Beethoven.

Read the full articles here: 31st July & 2nd August.

(Written on August 22, 2012 )

WildKatPR would like to wish everybody a very happy Easter! We’d like to celebrate by recommending upcoming dates for our clients including:

Johannes Pramsohler:

6th April: Osterspiele, Margarethenskirche, Sterzing

Die Passion auf vier Seiten

Click here for more information.

ACCENTUS Music:

6th April: St Thomas Church, Leipzig

St Matthew Passion – St Thomas Boys Choir

For more information please click here.

LA Phil Live: Symphony of a thousand

13th April: Electric Cinema, Portobello Road, London, 2pm.

Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Philharmonic and Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra – Mahler’s “Symphony of a thousand”

For more information please click here.

(Written on April 5, 2012 )

Gramophone

Jordi Savall Honoured By The York Early Music Festival

Viol player receives Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog

You Know Those TV Phone-In Votes?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the money from those expensive TV phone-in votes for BBC talent shows? It might be going on some pretty good causes.

Intermezzo

Herheim Rusalka Free Streaming

To add to this week’s free laptop viewing, La Monnaie are streaming a recently recorded performance of Rusalka on demand from Tuesday 27 March to Monday 16 April.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Watch This: Serious Pianist, Canadian, Makes It Onto US Prime Time TV

Marc-Andre Hamelin is a pianist’s pianist, an artist for the keyboard connoissuer. So what was he doing on US prime time last night?

Readers ‘Often Know More Than I Do’: A Critic Redefines His Job For The Online Age

Anyone who is concerned with the formation of received opinion and artistic canon must read this.

Want To See Dudamel’s Record-Breaking Mahler 8?

Over 1,000 musicians, more than 20 countries and 1 symphony: Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand” comes to cinema screens across Europe in April 2012

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/03/want-to-see-dudamels-record-breaking-mahler-8.html

(Written on March 22, 2012 )

WildKat PR are proud to announce that we are working with Omniverse Vision on the LA Phil LIVE international cinema broadcast of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand”, recorded in Caracas in February 2012.

Gustavo Dudamel’s epic Mahler Project saw him conduct all of Mahler’s completed symphonies with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. The project culminated in a dramatic performance of the 8th Symphony, dubbed the “Symphony of a Thousand”. Over 1,400 musicians and singers took to the stage in Caracas for this historic performance.

Now, the concert is being broadcast to cinemas internationally including the UK, Germany, Brazil, Hong Kong, Australia and more.

LA Phil LIVE with Gustavo Dudamel comes to UK cinemas between the 13th and 17th April 2012. For full international listings, visit the Omniverse Vision website, or contact WildKat PR.

(Written on March 21, 2012 )

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Watch Out You Slackers, Solti’s Back.

There are two Solti bio-documentaries in the making for television.

New York Times

North Korean Orchestra Performs In France.

The Unhasu Orchestra of North Korea, one of the country’s foremost musical institutions, joined the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra on Wednesday night in a concert at the Salle Pleyel.

LA Times

LA Phil’s Borda And Bohnett To Attend White House Dinner.

David Bohnett, the technology entrepreneur, philanthropist and chairman of the L.A. Philharmonic, with his guest Deborah Borda, president and CEO of the L.A. Phil, will be attending a White House state dinner honoring British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron.

The Times

David McVicar Beats His Demons With The Rake’s Progress.

Magnus Linklater interviews David McVicar.

The Telegraph

Why Royal Opera Is Abuzz.

Although its enemies like to think of it as an impregnable bastion of privilege, the Royal Opera House has been feeling the pinch of the financial crisis as sharply as the rest of us.

BBC News

Gloriana Opera To Be Revived For Coronation Anniversary.

An opera written for the Queen’s coronation will be revived to mark its 60th anniversary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17368509

(Written on March 15, 2012 )

Classical Music Magazine

Robert Maycock Has Died.

The arts journalist Robert Maycock died in a car crash last week. He was the second editor of Classical Music magazine, editing the title from September 1977 to June 1986, before moving to the Independent.

LA Times

Dudamel, Salonen To Appear In Philharmonic Society’s New Season.

The current and former music directors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will be among the prominent classical personalities to appear in the next season of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

The Guardian

David Lynch’s Musical Magic.

David Lynch deploys music in his movies to devastating effect. Ahead of a retrospective, the Guardian picks his best statements in sound.

Audience’s Flock To ‘Difficult’ Contemporary Classical Music.

The Southbank, Barbican, ENO and BBC4 are catering for the new-found appetite for sonic adventure.

Gramophone

The Sage Gateshead Launches Digital Project To Reach Wider Audiences.

Classical music streamed to regional venues in the North East of England.

Telegraph

Sergei Polunin Loses His Right To Work In The UK.

Sergei Polunin, the gifted dancer who stunned the arts world by quitting the Royal Ballet last week has had his UK work permit revoked, it has been reported.

What Do You Listen To When You’re Sad?

Apparently 70 per cent of men and 90 per cent of women cry at a sad piece of music, according to a survey. What music is indisputably sad?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/lucyjones/100060182/what-do-you-listen-to-when-youre-sad/

(Written on February 1, 2012 )

Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog

Hooray For Haydn.

Haydn is named a member of the top ten most performed composers of 2011.

The Guardian

Delius: Beauty In The Ear Of The Beholder.

His life was as romantic and colourful as his exquisite music, yet his works are rarely performed today. Delius deserves better, writes Julian Lloyd Webber.

LA Times

Gustavo Dudamel’s Mahler Project.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s mammoth tribute to the composer is an unprecedented musical feat for the conductor.

New York Times

New York City Opera Declares Rehearsal Lockout.

Talks break down at City Opera.

The Independent

Twenty Years Of Brahms & Liszt: Meet The Classic FM DJs Who Have Made Fugues Funky.

For decades, classical music was considered fusty and exclusive. One broadcaster has changed all that.

Sergei Prokofiev: Beyond ‘Peter And The Wolf’ – The Rehabilitation Of Stalin’s Composer.

Prokofiev followed ‘the bitch goddess success’ back to Soviet Moscow – or so the story goes. Think again, Vladimir Jurowski tells Andrew Stewart.

The Times

Gabriel Prokofiev Takes On The Family Business.

Fancy a classical club night? The composer Sergei Prokofiev’s grandson’s is a dab hand at making worlds collide.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/classical/article3278958.ece

(Written on January 9, 2012 )

Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog

Accolade For Alan.

Dr Alan Walker, whose three-volume biography of Franz Liszt is now the definitive text on last year’s bicentenary supremo, has been awarded a top honour by the Government of the Republic of Hungary: the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit.

New York Times

Omus Hirshbein, Classical Music Administrator, Dies At 77.

Omus Hirshbein, an arts administrator who directed important concert series at Hunter College and the 92nd Street Y, founded the New York Chamber Symphony and held posts at the National Endowment for the Arts, died on Saturday in Manhattan.

Frank Gehry To Try His Hand At Mozart.

Having designed the auditorium for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the architect Frank Gehry is now turning his attention to the stage itself, creating a set for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of “Don Giovanni.”

Boston Business Journal via LA Times

Opera Boston Defends Decision To Shut Down.

Opera Boston, which in late December announced it would shut down, sent an email to supporters and media on Wednesday, providing more details about its financials and the situation that drove the organization to close.

LA Times 

Pasadena Symphony Musicians Negotiate Contract, 5% Raise.

The Pasadena Symphony and Pops said Thursday that it has negotiated a new four-year contract with its musicians that will see their base wages rise by 5% over the course of the contract term.

The Telegraph

Jonathan Biss: My Mission To Spread The Word About Beethoven.

Pianist Jonathan Biss talks to Ivan Hewett about his ‘Kindle Single’ in which he explores the mystery of the sonatas.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/8993120/Jonathan-Biss-My-mission-to-spread-the-word-about-Beethoven.html

(Written on January 6, 2012 )