Excitement certainly abounds in our office when the BBC Proms programme is announced. This year was no different, from Joyce DiDinato closing the season, Marin Alsop becoming the first female conductor to lead the Last Night of the Proms, to a number of our clients performing in this year’s lineup.

Another great asset to this year’s Proms was the inclusion of new commissions, along with more national and world premieres in the programme. Whilst it is still less than 20% of the Proms that include new commissions, it is still a fantastic effort by the BBC to bring new works to a new, and very wide, audience. We hope that this number continues to grow in future!

This year’s BBC Commissions include works by Julian Anderson, Frederic Rzewski, John McCabe and Charlotte Seither. A definite highlight of the Proms will be the BBC co-commission of Mark-Anthony Turnage, with the Royal Philharmonic Society and New York Philharmonic: Frieze in Prom 38.

One of the 8 UK premieres this year is Colin Matthews’ Turning Point in Prom 21, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Thomas Søndergård, in his Proms debut. Also appearing in this Prom is violinist Daniel Hope, who is playing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Daniel Harding conducts works by Mozart, Schumann and Sibelius at Prom 23 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, while pianist Anika Vavic makes her Proms debut at Prom 64 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, also performing Prokofiev.

Prom 19 is a performance of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde including tenor Andrew Staples with the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

We salute all of these great performers with a ‘Toi toi toi!’ and look forward to the summer and another great year of BBC Proms programming.

(Written on April 18, 2013 )

The Telegraph

The Big Question: There’s an anti-intellectualism in Britain

The first of the Big Question debates at the Royal Opera House prompted composer Mark-Anthony Turnage to say there’s anti-intellectualism in Britain.

Classical Music Magazine

ABRSM’s new chief executive vows to improve infrastructure

The new chief executive of ABRSM says he will continue the work of his predecessor in improving the organisation’s infrastructure, following last year’s ‘major issues’ with exams.

BBC Music Magazine

Join us for this year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards

Champagne, canapés and live music with the classical music world

Classic FM

Valentina Lisitsa plays for stranded passengers

The YouTube sensation surprised passengers stranded at London’s St Pancras International Station, performing an impromptu concert after her Eurostar train was cancelled.

Vasily Petrenko extends RLPO contract

Chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Vasily Petrenko has extended his contract for the foreseeable future, with a three-year notice period.

Classical Source

Top of The Baroque For Red Nose Day

This week on BBC Radio 3, presenters Suzy Klein, Sara Mohr-Pietsch, Jez Nelson and Tom Service will embark on a battle of classical prowess for Comic Relief, competing against each other to be crowned Top of the Baroque.

Marketplace Life (via Arts Journal)

Can I see your violin’s paperwork?

Imagine you’re traveling abroad. The to-do list can be long. Book your flight, pack a toothbrush — and if you’re a musician like John Thomas, you may soon need a passport for your instrument.

Classic FM

(Written on March 13, 2013 )

Gramophone

(Written on October 26, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Proms 2012: top classical musicians pick their favourite Prom

Mark Elder, Tamsin Little, Sarah Connolly and more pick the Proms 2012 they are most looking forward to.

The Independent

‘Ow’ Liza and the BBC Proms is doing ‘My Fair Lady’?

Eliza Doolittle will screech in Cockney and sing posh as the quintessential London musical “My Fair Lady” makes its BBC Proms debut on Saturday in a lavish production that owes a debt to Hollywood.

BBC Music Magazine

A Proms fanfare

The BBC Proms kick off tonight at the Royal Albert Hall with a world premiere performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Canon Fever.

LA Times

Singers brave heat wave for Philip Glass premiere in Times Square

Happy returns for Glassmost took place recently with a performance in Times Square. His 1997 opera “Monsters of Grace” was reworked into a piece for soloist and an  eight-part chorus commissioned by NPR.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Koreans come first and third in Vienna singing contest

A 22 year-old tenor Beomjin Kim took first prize and soprano Sang-Ah Yoon came third in the 31st Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition.

Deutsche Grammophon signs Canadian star

It was only a matter of time before a label locked on to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the first Canadian conductor to achieve international renown.

Gramophone

Maxime Tortelier named Bournemouth Symphony young conductor in association

Son of Yan Pascal Tortelier to work closely with BSO’s Kirill Karabits .

(Written on July 13, 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 Guardian

Portrait Of The Artist: James MacMillan

‘My high point? Writing a piece for Celtic FC: my heart filled with pride’.

Schubert: Ferocious, Tender, Sublime

Schubert’s short, prolific career changed history. As Radio 3 devotes a season to him, musicians and artists reveal the one work they can’t live without.

The Rest Is Noise

The Real Mitt Romney

A Presidential election year is again upon us, bringing with it more politically inflected speech-music videos.

BBC Music Magazine

English National Opera Dominates Opera Categories At The Oliver Awards

Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage also nominated for his opera Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House

Gramophone

Classical Music Gets A Raw Deal At South By Southwest

The music festival in Austin, Texas, hosts its third nonclassical record label night – with mixed results.

BBC Four To Broadcast Angelic Voices

Documentary examining the lives of Salisbury Cathedral choristers.

Composer Heiner Goebbels Receives 2012 Ibsen Award

Goebbels will speak at Birmingham’s Frontiers + festival.

LA Times

Esa-Pekka Salonen To Carry Olympic Torch For London Games

Esa-Pekka Salonen is pretty good at wielding a conductor’s baton, but how will he fare wielding an Olympic torch?

The 100 Cellos Of The Piatigorsky International Cello Festival

There goes the Disney Hall stage.

Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog

Everyone’s Going To…Classical:NEXT

It’s the big news in the classical music world: a new trade fair for the industry, to be held at the Gasteig in Munich at the end of May, organised by the same team that does WOMEX.

The Telegraph

Katherine Jenkins Hasn’t Got The Voice Or Technique To Sing Opera – So Why Does She Pretend She Can?

Is it not ironic that the woman complaining in the tabloid press about being bullied via a fake Twitter account is, when all is said and done, essentially faking the art of singing opera? Steve Silverman writes

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stevesilverman/100061641/katherine-jenkins-hasnt-got-the-voice-or-the-technique-to-sing-opera-so-why-does-she-pretend-that-she-can/

(Written on March 21, 2012 )

To read this weekend’s Financial Times review of A Constant Obsession with Thomas Kemp and Chamber Domaine, click here.

The paper praised the recordings for highlighting Turnage at “his most lyrical and accessible”.

(Written on March 19, 2012 )

Thomas Kemp’s exciting new release of world-premiere Mark-Anthony Turnage recordings has recieved a great response from both press and listeners. Here is the most recent review from the Daily Telegraph:

For more information visit Thomas’ website or Resonus Classics’.

(Written on February 23, 2012 )

In the current issue of Classical Music Magazine, conductor Thomas Kemp discusses the pros and occasional cons of working with living composers, and about his recent recording of chamber works by Mark-Anthony Turnage with Chamber Domaine and Nicky Spence.

You can read Thomas’ interview in the current issue of Classical Music Magazine and buy the recording, A Constant Obsession, from Resonus Classics.

Stepping away from contemporary repertoire, Thomas makes his Opera Holland Park debut this summer, conducting their new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

(Written on February 2, 2012 )

BBC News

Soloist Lukas Kmit Hits Right Note On Phone Intrusion.

Slovakian viola player Lukas Kmit reacted coolly when a mobile phone interrupted his recital at the Orthodox Synagogue in Presov, in Slovakia.

Independent

How Debussy Keys Into Japan.

In 1862 Claude Debussy was born in Paris: the biggest musical celebrations of 2012 will mark his 150th anniversary.

The Telegraph

Should Alfie Boe Be Knocking The Business That Made Him?

Rupert Christiansen is disappointed that singer Alfie Boe is showing ingratitude to his operatic roots.

Gramophone

From Darkness To Light: Music From A Prison Cell.

Mark-Anthony Turnage joins prisoners to create new work for the Cultural Olympiad.

The Guardian

Anthony Hopkins: ‘I’ve Never Really Been Close To Anyone’.

The actor on composing music, walking out on dictatorial film directors and why he moved to the US.

The Rest Is Noise: Southbank Festival To Celebrate Contemporary Classical Music.

London’s Southbank Centre to host year-long festival inspired by Alex Ross’s study of 20th-century classical music.

Tom Service On Death In Classical Music.

I can hear tubas. Am I about to die?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jan/22/critics-notebook-tom-service

(Written on January 24, 2012 )