The Arts Desk 

My Summer Reading: Violinist Vadim Gluzman 

Some violinists just play; others have a voice.

The Guardian

Salvatore Licitra obituary

Operatic tenor with exemplary phrasing, dramatic charisma and a rare sensitivity  

The Evening Standard

Big ideas for small opera

Unless the major institutions learn the lessons of smaller companies and get closer to their audiences they run the risk of reducing opera to a museum piece, director John Fulljames tells Nick Kimberley

The LA Times

Conductor James Levine cancels fall performances after new injury 

James Levine, the ailing music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, has suffered from recurring back problems in recent years that have forced him to cancel a number of appearances. On Tuesday, the company announced that Levine has had to withdraw from all fall appearances this season due to an accident last week that damaged one of his vertebrae.

The Times

Le nozze di Figaro at the Peacock, WC2

It is back to school week. But for the singers of British Youth Opera this month marks their final farewell from music college and graduate opera courses. 

(Written on September 7, 2011 )

Gramophone

Private Passions

The essence of chamber music

LA Times

Salvatore Licitra, the unexpected tenor, dies at 43

Salvatore Licitra’s singing career began just over a decade ago in Parma, Italy, and ended Monday in a Sicilian hospital, where he died at 43 of injuries from a Vespa accident 10 days ago.

The New York Times

Strike at La Scala Forces Cancellation of Vienna Staatsoper Performance

Citing “the extremes of an anti-union attitude,’’ workers at La Scala opera house in Milan have announced a strike that will cause the cancellation of a performance of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” by the Vienna Staatsoper this week.

The Telegraph

Busoni Piano Competition, Bolzano, Italy, review

Geoffrey Norris reviews the major international contest in which the 22-year-old Ukrainian Antonii Barischevsky was particularly impressive.

The Times

Rory Bremner: Orpheus in the modern world

Setting the opera in a time of sex scandals, banking crises and riots is an exciting challenge, says Rory Bremner

(Written on September 6, 2011 )

(Written on August 30, 2011 )