The Guardian

Tod Machover: how to crowdsource a symphony

Can music repair damaged tissue? Is it possible to hear it through another person’s ears? If anyone knows, it’s Tod Machover. As he prepares to create an innovative symphony for Edinburgh, Charlotte Higgins meets the music professor

The Guardian

Tine Thing Helseth, trumpet player interview: ‘I was a crazy Spice Girls fan

Norwegian trumpet virtuoso Tine Thing Helseth tells Adam Sweeting how she plays everything from Bach to the Beach Boys, and looks at the strange rituals of classical music with an inquiring eye.

The New York Times

A Challenge Grant From Weills to Spur Carnegie Hall Renovation

Carnegie Hall has received a $10 million challenge grant from its chairman, Sanford I. Weill, and his wife, Joan, and their Weill Family Foundation toward the completion of its $230 million renovation.

Classic FM

Mice play lullabies by Mozart, Brahms and Schubert

Lullabies by Mozart, Brahms and Schubert were performed by mice in a performance installation by the experimental musical duo Quiet Ensemble.

Music Week

IFPI slams EU piracy study as ‘flawed and misleading’

The IFPI has slammed the recent report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre which concluded that piracy has no effect on legal digital music purchases.

Classical Music Magazine

RSNO announces 2013/14 season

Britten’s War Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No 8 and Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie are among the musical monoliths that the Royal Scottish National Orchestra has announced for its ambitious 2013/14 season, its second with Peter Oundjian as music director.

Classical Music Magazine

(Written on March 21, 2013 )

Die Thomaner Entartete Musik article

Published on Monday 3^rd September, Gavin Plumley’s article on his online music journal, Entartete Musik, provides a great insight in to Accentus Music’s new DVD release, Die Thomaner.

‘Die Thomaner: A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boy Choir, Leipzig’ is a documentary that follows a year in the life of boys in the St.Thomas Choir, Leipzig; one of the most prestigious boys’ choirs in the world, which celebrated its 800^th anniversary this year. Plumley described the choir as ‘the bedrock of all musical life in the city’ and agrees that ‘as this film testifies’, the legacy of J.S.Bach’s musical reign over Leipzig lives on.

The article comments on how the DVD captures the boys’ emotional attachment to the choir and its ability to reflect the impact it has on the boys’ lives, when “Tears flow from the eyes” of one of the choir’s established leaders leaving the choir. Moreover, it encapsulates the ‘inimitable chemistry for Bach’s choir’, demonstrating how the boys, ‘like Bach himself…weave the extraordinary from the everyday… The results speak for themselves’.

The latest documentary in a line of past successes for Accentus Music, ‘Die Thomaner’ follows Accentus Music’s DVD release of Claudio Abbado with the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA performing Mahler’s ninth symphony, which won the 2012 BBC Music Magazine ‘Best DVD’ Award.

Read the full article here: http://entartetemusik.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/spinning-gold-from-bachs-legacy.html

(Written on September 10, 2012 )

The Telegraph

What Cinematic Opera Means for the Real Thing

There are drastically changing patterns of demand in the opera world: Opera audiences outside London are increasingly elderly, and no amount of proselytising in schools or groovy buy-one-get-one-free initiatives seems to arrest that worrying trend.

Gustav Holst: so much more than ‘The Planets’

Gustav Holst’s neglected ‘Indian’ works are about to be celebrated in his home town at the Cheltenham Festival.

The Independent

The Proms think big: Can the world’s leading classical festival hold its own in an Olympic year?

As a vital part of the London 2012 Festival, the pressure’s on the Proms this year – and they deliver on their own terms

Ten years ago Delphian Records released its first recording, and in celebration of a decade’s worth of chamber, choral, vocal and instrumental albums, the Scottish label will present a series of concerts at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

How Gustav Mahler addressed the President of the United States

Apparently, at a January 1911 dinner that the music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra attended for President Howard Taft, Mahler got up and made a speech. It’s not clear from the report if he made it before the president left, but wouldn’t you like to know what he said?

The Guardian

Lina Lalandi obituary

Founding director of the English Bach festival, and a pioneer in the rediscovery of baroque opera.

James Bond lyricist Leslie Bricusse gives George Gershwin a new voice

For the first time the composer’s best-known orchestral music can be heard with words to accompany it.

The Times

A Review: Brynfest at the Festival Hall

Every Londoner became a Welshman at the weekend as the Brynfest took over the Southbank.

Lina Lalandi

(Written on July 9, 2012 )

Classical Music Magazine

Breakthrough for blind musicians as Prima Vista signs deal with OUP

Ms Machell, based in Leeds, has her own music publishing and software company, Prima Vista Braille Music Services, which provides music to enable blind musicians to ‘feel the music’.

Jubilee composers miss out on BBC coverage

The event, organised by the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation, saw nine ‘music herald barges’ sail down the river, with performers on each.

LA Times

Vinny Golia to enable young talent

Vinny Golia is using his residency at the Blue Whale, which celebrates his Nine Winds label’s 35th anniversary, to showcase young musical talent.

Playboy Jazz Festival tries to broaden its appeal

The 2012 Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl will feature classic styles, jazz-rock fusions and genre pushers. Bill Cosby is the emcee.

Sonny Rollins, Esperanze Spalding head S.F. Jazz Festival lineup

Los Angeles-area jazz fans will have ample reasons to trek north on the Golden State Freeway beginning in August with the recently announced lineup of the 30th San Francisco Jazz Festival.

The Guardian

Opera North tackles Wagner’s Ring Cycle – minus the financial drama

Concert hall staging with giant video and ‘nicely blown in tubas’ keeps ticket prices down to draw Wagner virgins.

Gramophone

Obituary: Judith Nelson, early music soprano

The American soprano Judith Nelson, who has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, was one of the most prominent voices in the early music world.

New York Times

The White Light Festival Turns to Dark-Hued Mahler

White Light, Lincoln Center’s fall festival dedicated to humanity’s spiritual side, will present Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London next season.

BBC Music Magazine

Winners of Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition announced

The first prize at the annual competition founded by tenor Plácido Domingo,Operalia, has been awarded to 29-year-old American soprano Janai Brugger.

(Written on June 13, 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 )

From today LA Phil LIVE “Symphony of a Thousand” will be broadcast to UK cinemas.

The concert being screened was the climax of the recent Mahler Project, which saw Gustavo Dudamel conduct all of Mahler’s 9 completed symphonies and the opening movement of his unfinished tenth. The exciting final concert saw him conduct more than 1,400 musicians in the epic Eighth Symphony – the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.

For more information, read today’s Independent, and for tickets to UK screenings, follow the links below:

Electric Cinema, London April 13^th 2012 2.00pm

Apollo, Piccadilly, London April 16^th 2012 6.30pm

Vue Westfield, London April 16^th 2012 7.30pm

Showcase CDL Bristol April 19^th 2012 7.30pm

Showcase CDL Derby April 19^th 2012 7.30pm

Showcase CDL Leicester  April 19^th 2012 7.30pm

Bluewater April 19^th 2012 7.30pm

Reading April 19^th 2012 7.30pm

(Written on April 13, 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 )

Leading up to their next major release, ACCENTUS Music has published a trailer available to view on YouTube. The production, Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra performing Bruckner’s 5^th Symphony, is the latest in ACCENTUS’ catalogue of successful releases.

Previous ACCENTUS productions featuring Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra have received widespread critical acclaim. Andrew Clarke in the Financial Times praised the ACCENTUS DVD of Abbado conducting Mahler’s 9^th Symphony, writing: “this DVD of last summer’s fabulously fluid performance is an important release.”

For more information on ACCENTUS Music please click here: http://www.accentus.com/

To view the trailer please click below:

(Written on April 2, 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 )

Daily Telegraph

Lang Lang at Latitude: should music festivals embrace classical?

Ivan Hewett wonders if classical music can cope with the great outdoors.

Independent

World’s first sex trafficking opera to premiere in the UK

Anya17 opens at the Liverpool Philharmonic today. The opera tackles the difficult subject of women forced in to prostitution.

Guardian

Close to you

Accompanists: The unsung heroes of music. Tom Service pays homage to the musicians condemned to sitting in the shadows.

Intermezzo

Tristan Und Isolde Und The CBSO.

This was a static Tristan und Isolde, even by concert version standards. But four enthralling hours proved that sometimes the music really is all that matters.

Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog

How To Be Part Of Rox’s Love Album.

Jessica Duchen on the London premiere of Roxanna Panufnik‘s Four World Seasons.

Opera Chic

Bringing Out Brahms.

The definitive schedule for the 49th Festival Pianistico Internazionale of Brescia and Bergamo has been rolled out, titled “Brahms, the conservative progressive” in homage to the complex character of the German composer.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Another Mahler Howler.

Norman Lebrecht on a Mahler Prize by the city of Klagenfurt, in southern Austria, which requires entrants to set a 1967 poem by Patti Smith.

(Written on March 7, 2012 )