The Independent

Stephen Fry to Ignite his passion for opera at festival

Stephen Fry has been named as the curator of an annual opera festival.

The Guardian

A disease called Richard? Wagner as mental health menace

In his time the composer’s ‘dangerously stimulating’ music was blamed for melancholy, hysteria, hypnosis and even triggering orgasm

Gramophone

BBC Radio 3 celebrates music of the British Isles

Month-long focus runs throughout June

The Spectator

Four recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth on a £10 app

Last weekend my iPad sucked me deeper into Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony than I thought possible.

BBC News

Titanic violin real, hospital CT scan suggests

A violin thought to be the one played by the band leader of the Titanic as it sank has been declared genuine following a CT scan at a hospital.

Southern Pro Musica set to provide classical music in Guildford

A £60,000 grant for a freelance chamber orchestra to provide classical music in Guildford is set to be approved on Thursday.

BBC News

(Written on May 24, 2013 )

The Independent

Germany celebrates bicentennial of Richard Wagner

Germany celebrated the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner, the 19th-century composer.

BBC News

New free schools include East End music school

A music school for deprived teenagers in east London and two schools for autistic children are among the latest free schools in England to be approved.

The Spectator

Four recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth on a £10 app

Deutsche Grammophon and Touch Press have released an app, that gives you four complete performances of the Ninth.

Classic FM

National Children’s Orchestras receive musical donation

Auction house Brompton’s is donating a cello to the orchestras, as well as £6,000 from the sale of a violin, in celebration of the orchestra’s 35th anniversary year.

Gramophone

Obituary: Anders Eliasson, composer

Sweden is mourning Anders Eliasson, who until his death on Monday night was arguably the country’s greatest living composer.

Classical Music Magazine

Henri Dutilleux, composer: 22 January 1916-22 May 2013

Henri Dutilleux, who has died at the age of 97, was a fiercely independent composer who left an exclusive catalogue of works that are steeped in the languid sensuousness of Debussy yet touched by the hand of modernism.

Classic FM

(Written on May 23, 2013 )

The Guardian

Wagner anniversary revives German debate over controversial composer

New productions, statues and books commemorate Richard Wagner, who still divides Germany 200 years after his birth.

The Times

Life as a page-turner: is this the worst job in music?

“If you do a brilliant job, you’re completely anonymous,” says the pianist Steven Osborne. “If you make one mistake, there’s nothing you can do redeem yourself. Everyone will remember.” But Osborne isn’t talking about his own job.

Classic FM

Scottish Opera unveils huge new 2013/14 season

(Written on May 22, 2013 )

The Guardian

German Nazi-themed opera cancelled after deluge of complaints

Production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser leaves some in audience so traumatised they have to seek medical help.

The Telegraph

York Bowen: In from the cold

The early-20th century composer, York Bowen, once dubbed the English Rachmaninov, is returning to remarkable favour after decades of neglect, says John Allison.

Classic FM

Angela Gheorghiu on Baroque music and Beyoncé

Buying a London taxi like Pavarotti, discovering the best of pop music and jazz, and explaining the differences between playing opera roles and giving recitals, we caught up with the incredible Angela Gheorghiu on one of her few days off.

Gramophone

Dacapo records New York Philharmonic composers

A new partnership will see Dacapo record works by composers who have served as the New York Phil’s composer-in-residence.

Classical Music

Consortium to trial ways of encouraging audiences to support new commissions

A consortium of music organisations has been awarded Arts Council funding for a project which will examine the public’s appetite for funding new music commissions.

Planet Hugill

London Festival of Contemporary Church Music

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music runs from 11 to 19 May 2013 in a variety of locations in and around London.

(Written on May 10, 2013 )

The Guardian

What’s Wagner’s secret? Love, actually

Every time Paul Mason hears Wagner he wonders how it is that the music of an antisemite can tear his heart to pieces. The answer is in the passion …

The New York Times

Chinese Opera Performers See Fewer Faces in the Audience

Sleep like dogs, eat like pigs, dress like angels.

The Age

A knight’s move away from conventional ideas of classical, delivered in a way to move hearts

Fifteen minutes in, the company of Thomas Ades quells the conventional wisdom that ”classical” music is dead.

Classic FM

Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2013 – listen and re-live the magic!

Some of classical music’s brightest stars joined us on stage at the Royal Albert Hall – listen to Classic FM Live on air at 8pm on 26 April

Classical Music Magazine

New Music Biennial: 20 diverse commissions announced for 2014

PRS for Music Foundation has announced details of the 20 new music commissions that will make up its UK New Music Biennial in 2014.

Music Week

Warner to launch new classical label, integrate Virgin and EMI Classics catalogues

WMG hopes that its acquisition of Parlophone Label Group will drive new efforts in the classical genre and catalogue strategy, as well as strengthening the major’s roster in Continental Europe.

(Written on April 26, 2013 )

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 )

The Independent

English National Opera’s beards smell “like wet dog”

…and The Barber of Seville requires 28 of them

The Guardian

The Rest Is Noise festival: the third instalment – Paris

The Southbank Centre’s head of classical music introduces the third part of the Rest Is Noise season – with the action switching to Paris and the worlds of Josephine Baker and Stravinsky

Helen Boaden offered BBC audio and music job

Bob Shennan had been favourite to take the post, but director of news is being lined up for role under new DG Lord Hall

The Guardian Music Blog

Guardian launches Tracks of the Week music service with Rough Trade stores

Want six new music tracks handpicked by the folk at Rough Trade and the Guardian landing in your inbox each week? Better still, for the service’s first month, everything is free if you sign up now

Classical Music Magazine

Michael Brewer found guilty of sexual abuse of former pupil who committed suicide during trial

Mike Brewer, former director of music at Chetham’s School of Music and a founder of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, has today been convicted of sexual abuse at Manchester Crown Court.

Gramophone

London celebrates Richard Wagner’s bicentenary with ‘Wagner 200’

2013 festival, running from May to December, features many of the city’s leading cultural institutions

Classic FM

Thomas Newman’s Skyfall wins BAFTA for Original Music

Composer Thomas Newman has been awarded the BAFTA Film Award for Original Music, beating competition from John Williams, Dario Marianelli and others.

NPR Deceptive Cadence

Remembering Pioneering American Conductor, Poet And Anime Inspiration James DePreist

Pioneering American conductor, National Medal of Arts winner and poet James DePreist died early this morning in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 76 years old.

Limelight Magazine

Julie Andrews to tour Australia

The legendary performer will appear on stage with an old pal from the Sound of Music.

Music Week

Could Amazon sell secondhand digital music?

A patent for re-selling digital content has been granted to online retailer Amazon.

British artists claim one in seven US artist album sales in 2012

British artists secured 13.7% of US artist album sales last year, helped on by the success of acts such as One Direction, Adele and Mumford & Sons.

The Independent

(Written on February 11, 2013 )

The Independent

Lend us a tenor: What can be done about the ENO’s lack of cash?

Despite a consistently rewarding programme, the ENO ran up a £2.2m deficit in the last financial year. But there is a way forward, its artistic director, John Berry, tells Jessica Duchen: international collaboration.

The Guardian

3,000 jobs go at Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters has made 3,000 of its 50,000 employees redundant – including some editorial staff - according to the New York Observer.

NPR Music

Honoring ‘Our Will To Live’: The Lost Music Of The Holocaust

For the past two decades, in a small town in southern Italy, a pianist and music teacher has been hunting for and resurrecting the music of the dead.

Wall Street Journal

An Academy Seeks to Touch the Mideast With Music

A new project that unites conductor Daniel Barenboim, architect Frank Gehry and Brown University will test whether music really is the universal language—by bringing together students from the Middle East in an ambitious curriculum.

The Wagnerian

Wagner goes Jazz: Eric Schaefer: Who Is Afraid Of Richard W

Michael Wollny and Eva Kruse certainly won’t take it personally when we say that Eric Schaefer stands most clearly for the pop element and humorous undertones in the trio [em], “Germany’s most creative jazz trio” (Kulturspiegel).

Opera Now

Applications open for this year’s Gerda Lissner Competition

Applications are now open for this year’s Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition in New York, which will run from 18 to 23 March.

Classical Music Magazine

HMV failure: Hilco takeover provides some hope for classical

Corporate takeover firm Hilco has taken control of HMV by paying £40m for its debt ‒ providing some hope that at least some of its high street presence will remain.

Music Week

Physical music shipments grow 9% in Japan in 2012

Shipments of physical music in Japan jumped 9% in 2012 to 218m units, according to new figures from local trade body the RIAJ.

WH Smith won’t expand entertainment offering after HMV collapse – ‘It just isn’t profitable’

WH Smith CEO Kate Swann has made it clear that the High Street retailer has no intention of expanding its entertainment offering following HMV’s collapse, because “entertainment retail just isn’t profitable”.

The Wagernian

(Written on January 28, 2013 )

The Times

Soprano Barbara Hannigan: pitch perfect 

Why this Canadian soprano is setting the opera world on fire with her extraordinary vocal range and joyous precision

Classical Music Magazine

Welsh rights dispute: BBC and PRS accused of price fixing

Dafydd Roberts asks ‘whether the BBC-PRS agreement is price fixing’ as Welsh musicians’ dispute with PRS rumbles on.

BBC News

BBC plans Bollywood-style live opera for Bradford

A live Bollywood-style production of the opera Carmen is to be produced by the BBC in Bradford.

Wired

Coding project aims to deepen the experience of streaming classical music

A Sheffield based media company has created a prototype web project that tells the story behind classical music using a combination of HTML 5 and Javascript.

Slipped Disc

Richard Wagner museum is reopened by Jewish band

Germany’s oldest Richard Wagner museum, dating back to 1907, is in a hunting lodge in Graupa, 20km east of Dresden.

Breaking: Sacked oboist wins appeal. Welsh Opera faces huge bill

Sandy Johnston, the oboist sacked by Welsh National Opera, has succeeded in the Employment Appeal Tribunal against an earlier ruling on his dismissal.

The Guardian

Arts Council considers opera shakeup as ENO posts £2.2m loss

English National Opera falls into red after losing £1.3m funding and filling only 71% of seats

Despite HMV’s inability to make high street music retailing pay, some independent record shops are seeing increased sales

Music Industry News Network

Pop Still On Top As British Music Buying Tastes Revealed

Classical, Hip Hop and Reggae all made gains in 2012. Big sellers including Andre Rieu’s Magic Of The Movies and Andrea Bocelli’s Opera helped Classical claim a four-year share high in 2012 of 3.7%.

BBC News

(Written on January 17, 2013 )

Classic FM

Tattooed opera composer third in Czech presidential election

The Czech presidential elections have a surprise third-place candidate in the shape of Vladimir Franz, an opera composer with tattoos covering his body.

BBC News (found on Arts Journal)

Competition launched to develop one-handed instruments

A competition has been launched to develop a musical instrument that can be played, at orchestral level, with one hand.

CBC News (found on Arts Journal)

Quebec tenor stages ‘vocal cord strike’

Singer Marc Hervieux protests Opera de Montreal ad campaign

Wales Online (found on Musical Chairs)

Former home of actor and composer Ivor Novello sells for £350,00

The former residence of composer and film actor Ivor Novello has been snapped up for close to its £350,000 asking price – and is to be leased as office space.

Slipped Disc

Minnesota unfreezes for one night only – Grammy time

The Minnesota Orchestra, whose musicians have been locked out for four months by a brutal management, will give a one-off concert on February 1, ahead of the Grammy awards.

Dresden sticks two fingers at Richard Wagner in his birthday week

On 22 May 2013, the great composer’s 200th birthday, the Semper opera house in Dresden, where he was music director for seven formative years (1842-49), will be performing…. Verdi.

The Telegraph

Verdi or Wagner?

Although born in the same year, Wagner and Verdi embody two very different outlooks on life and art.

CBC News

(Written on January 10, 2013 )