Classic FM

‘Goat edition’ meme hits classical music and Mozart

An internet meme (previously targeting One Direction, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and more) where music videos of pop songs are interspersed with clips of goats screaming has found its latest victim - Mozart’s ‘Queen Of The Night’ aria

Forbes

Two Cents About Classical Music For $100

The Grammys put classical music in a ghetto of its own, an afterthought following folk, reggae, and spoken word.

The Guardian

Steve Reich on Schoenberg, Coltrane and Radiohead

Steve Reich went from running a removal business with Philip Glass to revolutionising 20th-century classical music. He talks about rock’n'roll, minimalism – and how Radiohead have inspired him

The Guardian

If Michael Tippett were alive, he would still be challenging us today

When an American conductor spent time with the great British composer, he understood that behind his music lay a curiosity – and a fervent desire to correct the crooked timbre of humanity

BBC

Creating music accessible for deaf children

The National Orchestra of Wales has staged a series of workshops and concerts for deaf people, many of them children, to explore how it is possible to experience music without being able to hear it fully

The Guardian

Antonín Kohout obituary

Cellist of the Smetana Quartet for more than four decades

Gamophone 

(Written on March 1, 2013 )

Classic FM

Joseph Calleja to receive honorary degree from University of Malta

Maltese Tenor, Joseph Calleja, was given an honorary degree from the University of Malta in a special ceremony on Friday night.

The Telegraph

Michael Tippett: a visionary in the shadow of his rival

Michael Tippett, a composer often overshadowed during his lifetime by Benjamin Britten, is about to be celebrated in a series of concerts.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Professor Gergiev collects his mortarboard

By decision of the Academic Board of the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg Conservatory on 25 September 2012, Valery Gergiev was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the St Petersburg Conservatory.

Death of a Daring Soprano

The leading Norwegian soprano of her generation, Anna-Lise Bernsten died on Friday night, aged 69.

Classical Music Magazine

Former RPO double bassist Roy Benson awarded RPS/ABO Salomon Prize

Roy Benson, a recently retired double bassist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has won the RPS/ABO Salomon Prize and was presented with the award at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert at Cadogan Hall on 30 October.

Slipped Disc

(Written on November 5, 2012 )

The Telegraph

Online piano star Valentina Lisitsa gets Royal Albert Hall debut

YouTube star and and virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa signs record deal and will play a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jessica Duchen

A Music World Fair

This year’s International Wimbledon Music Festival is ‘A Music World Fair’ – a tremendously international job, lighting up South West London with performances by the Kopelman String Quartet, Alina Ibragimova, Nicholas Daniel and Sam West, Christine Brewer, Zuill Bailey, Cristina Ortiz, Mark Padmore and many more.

NY Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Submits Plan to Cut Debt

The Philadelphia Orchestra has laid out its plan to erase debts and cut costs in a major step toward exiting bankruptcy court.

The Guardian

King Priam, a pacifist’s opera, can still shed light on the trauma of war

Half a century after its first showing, Michael Tippett’s libretto based on the lliad is a fitting work for today.

Fischer-Dieskau’s 12 best recordings

Martin Kettle’s pick of the great baritone’s recorded output.

LA Times

Glenn Dicterow leaving New York Philharmonic, joining USC faculty

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for more than 30 years, will be leaving the venerated orchestra and joining the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

New West Symphony names Marcelo Lehninger as new music director

Marcelo Lehninger, the young Brazilian German maestro who serves as an assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been named music director of the New West Symphony, which is based in Thousand Oaks.

Classical Music Magazine

Classical singles chart greeted with scepticism by industry

The launch of a weekly classical singles chart, the first of which will be released on 28 May, has been greeted enthusiastically by crossover artists but more sceptically by the core classical sector.

Gramophone

Anne-Sophie Mutter receives Distinguished Leadership Award

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has been awarded the Atlantic Council’s 2012 Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award, recognising her as ‘one of the most significant leaders of our society’.

(Written on May 25, 2012 )