Classic FM

Choral version of Anne Frank’s diary gets release date

Composer James Whitbourn’s choral setting of The Diary of Anne Frank is to be released on January 22nd.

League table reveals hardest-working in classical music

New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Sir Simon Rattle, Arvo Pärt and Handel’s Messiah are the winners in a survey of classical music concerts in 2012.

Gramophone

Obituary: John Carol Case, bass-baritone

The English bass-baritone, singing teacher and carol composer John Carol Case, OBE, has died, aged 89.

Irish Independent (found on Musical Chairs)

Bird ‘more complex than orchestra’

Songbirds possess a musical instrument more complex than anything found in an orchestra, a study has confirmed.

Slipped Disc

David Bowie and Philip Glass talk through their two symphonies

The world awoke [yesterday] to the news that David Bowie, on his 66th birthday, has broken ten years of creative silence with a seminal new single, Where Are We Now?

British composer misses Carnegie Hall deadline

Oliver Knussen has failed to deliver a new work to the Philadelphia Orchestra in time for a Carnegie Hall premiere next month.

The Independent

Why clapping ruins concerts

Intrusive applause can spoil a classical concert, leading conductors tell Simon O’Hagan

Deceptive Cadence, NPR

Leonidas Kavakos: Letting Beethoven Shine

Violinist Leonidas Kavakos is something of a musician’s musician in the classical world.

Irish Independent

(Written on January 9, 2013 )

Classic FM

Opera North spring season to feature Handel, Britten and Wagner

The spring 2013 season for Opera North has been announced, with opera from Handel, Wagner and Albert Herring topping the bill.

John Suchet’s Beethoven Book Tour

Classic FM’s John Suchet is out and about around the country promoting his new Beethoven book: Beethoven – The Man Revealed.

Beethoven, Schoenberg, Bach manuscripts auctioned for huge prices

A Beethoven manuscript has sold for €252,750 in an auction at Sotheby’s, Paris, along with scores by Schoenberg and Bach.

Deceptive Cadence

(Written on October 18, 2012 )

Arts Journal- Slipped Disc

Which Olympic team has 19 conservatoire students? 

You’ll never guess which Olympic team has 19 conservatoire students…

Olga Korbut makes her Royal Opera House debut

The Soviet star will play her part in the ROH Covent Garden’s Olympic exhibition.

And the Best Opera House in Germany is… 

Magazine Die Deutsche Bühne ranks Germany’s Opera Houses.

BBC Music Magazine

Time called on Sibelius in the UK 

London base of the music software company was closed last night.

BBC News 

Philadelphia Orchestra safe from bankruptcy 

American orchestra has officially emerged from bankruptcy.

Gramophone

Sydney Symphony signs partnership with Chinese conservatory 

Sydney Orchestra is linked to Xinghai Conservatory for three years.

Classic FM 

“Lost” Beethoven score auction in London 

On December 1^st a lost Beethoven manuscript will go on auction in a Sotheby’s sale.

Masked man attacks Orpington Choir rehearsal 

Masked attacker breaks into an Orpington Choir rehearsal…

Julian Lloyd Webber new youth patron of BSO 

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has announced Julian Lloyd Webber as the patron of their BSO vibes scheme.

(Written on August 2, 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 )

The Telegraph

David Munrow: Tragic genius who brought early music to the masses

The short but brilliant life of David Munrow blazed a trial for his passion.

Become part of the virtual Philharmonic Orchestra

An interactive digital installation allows visitors to step inside and become part of a virtual orchestra, taking on the role of a musician or even the conductor.

The Guardian

Leslie Baruch Brent on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: ‘He inspired my love for lieder, especially those of Schubert’

Like thousands of others, my lifelong love for lieder, especially those of Franz Schubert, was inspired by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the 1950s.

Andrew M Rosemarine on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: ‘The war helped him understand the transience of life’

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was uncertain of his legacy. But he recognised the change in himself from his earliest years and the difficulties he had surmounted in adolescence during the Hitler years.

John Birch obituary

John Birch, who has died aged 82 after suffering a stroke, was interested in – but by no means limited to – every aspect of the organ and its world.

NY Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Submits Reorganization Plan

More than a year after resorting to bankruptcy court, the Philadelphia Orchestra laid out its plan to erase debt and cut costs on Wednesday.

Arts Journal – Slipped disc

Silly, superficial, true to life: a Baroque lion’s take on the Met’s Enchanted Island

The purist Baroque pioneer Joel Cohen has been watching the Met’s potpourri on a television relay. Expecting irritation, he found a certain truth.

Classical Music Magazine

The Listening Machine launches as part of The Space

The Britten Sinfonia has teamed up with composer and cellist Peter Gregson and technologist Daniel Jones to create The Listening Machine.

Gramophone

Winners of NCEM 2012 Composers Award announced

Composition to be performed by Tallis Scholars and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Cycling with the Olympianist

Joining Anthony Hewitt on (one of a bit) Land’s End to John O’Groats concert tour.

Wigmore Hall expands commissioning programme 

Up to 15 new chamber commissions per season from 2013.

(Written on May 24, 2012 )

The Times

Spotify to launch ‘music app’ service.

Spotify is to launch apps with its online music service yesterday, allowing millions to read reviews, sing along to lyrics and buy concerts tickets as they listen to songs.

The Independent

The Nutcracker: It’s all going nuts at the ballet.

Jessica Duchen is overwhelmed by the volume of Nutcrackers around.

New York Times

Andrew Kazdin, Record Producer, Dies at 77.

Andrew Kazdin, a producer known for his recordings of the New York Philharmonic, died on Monday in Manhattan.

LA Times

Grammys: Gustavo Dudamel in classical’s West-leaning field.

The classical Grammy nominations have been announced.

Slipped Disc: Norman Lebrecht

Chailly’s out. Boston’s options are down to one.

Riccardo Chailly has withdrawn from January’s long-planned concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Breaking: Santa Claus gets an opera house.

Leif Segretsam, also known as Father Christmas:

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/11/breaking-santa-claus-gets-an-opera-house.html

(Written on December 1, 2011 )

Association of British Orhestras

ABO Announces New Chair.

Micheal Eakin has been elected new chair of the board of the Association of British Orchestras

CBS News

Woman ejected for yelling ‘boring’ at symphony.

Police removed a woman from the Bainbridge Performing Arts Theater for yelling “boring” during a symphony performance.

New York Times

U.S. to take over orchestra’s pensions.

A federal bankruptcy judge has agreed to let the federal government take over the Philadelphia Orchestra’s pension plans, saying the orchestra was unlikely to survive if it tried to keep running them itself.

Slipped Disc: Norman Lebrecht

Maestro won’t conduct next month. He’s expecting a baby.

Andris Nelsons, of the CBSO, has withdrawn from his December performances due to the arrival of his first child.

Metropole Orchestra

Metropole Orchestra scores with protest song.

The Dutch Metropole Orchestra can now claim a number one hit among their achievements.

(Written on November 30, 2011 )

Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music.

Gramophone online

Daniel Barenboim is named new head of La Scala

After six years the Italian house appoints a new director

The Guardian

Jeffrey Tate: ‘I’ve had to fight all my life’

After nearly two decades abroad, Jeffrey Tate returns to Covent Garden. So why the wait, asks Tom Service

Intermezzo

Free opera online from the Opera House of the Year

La Monnaie, recently awarded the prestigious title of Opera House of the Year by Opernwelt magazine, is planning to stream all of this season’s productions free online.

Fast company.com

How Symphonies Grew Strong Audiences By Killing The Myth Of The Average Consumer

It turns out the secret to unlocking demand for classical music–as for most products–is discarding the Myth of the Average Customer

New York Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Management and Musicians Approve Labor Agreement

The Philadelphia Orchestra management and musicians said on Thursday that they had approved a labor agreement that represents a major step toward bringing the orchestra out of bankruptcy court

The Telegraph

Il Volo: The boys who tempt teens to love opera

Italian pop-opera trio Il Volo have taken America by storm. Adam Sweeting reports

(Written on October 14, 2011 )