The Guardian

Tale of two epoch-defining classical music titans born in the same year

Operatic face-off shows that in Milan at least, Verdi v Wagner is still more of a cultural draw than Strictly v The X Factor

The Telegraph

Move over, Maestro: Spira Mirabilis, the democratic orchestra

The orchestra Spira Mirabilis is making a bid for artistic freedom by playing without a conductor

Casablanca piano could fetch £650,000

The piano used in the Humphrey Bogart film Casablanca is up for auction in New York in December 2012.

The Independent

Why arias in the multiplex fall flat

Screening operas at cinemas is helping to bolster the popularity of this frail art form, but it’s no substitute for the emotional intensity, acoustic quality and excitement of live drama

Slipped Disc

Just in: London orchestra turns in a six-figure deficit

The orch, which receives £2,245,000 in Arts Council and other public grants, registered a deficit of £189,824.

NPR

Classical Lost And Found: Hubert Parry’s Glorious England

Composers Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford and Edward Elgar dominated the British musical scene in the latter half of the Victorian age through the Edwardian era.

Bach, Beatboxed

What happens when you get a teenage piano whiz and the 24-year-old, multi-talented winner of NBC’s The Sing-Off in a rehearsal room together?

The Strad

Baltimore Symphony grows Academy

Orchestra receives $950,000 to develop amateur musicians programme

The Telegraph

(Written on December 5, 2012 )

The Independent

Independent podcast: Naxos 25th anniversary

In just a quarter of a century Naxos has created “a catalogue comprising the largest number of individual works and the widest available repertoire of any classical label since the beginning of the recording era.”

The Guardian

A guide to Harrison Birtwistle’s music

Harrison’s elemental and powerful music feels both ancient and modern.

Classical Music Magazine

BBC Young Musician: the winner

The winner of BBC Young Musician 2012, the final of which was held at the Sage, Gateshead on 13 May and broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC2, is 15-year-old cellist Laura van der Heijden.

Jessica Duchen

There can only be one BBC Young Musician of the year

For every musician whose lifelong public career is launched in the arena of BBC Young Musicians, there are maybe 100 more, at least, who vanish.

The Times

Spira mirabilis: The orchestra where everyone’s in charge

Does an orchestra where all players have an equal say mean a recipe for amity or anarchy?

The NY Times

David Robertson to Lead Sydney Symphony

David Robertson, the music director of the St. Louis Symphony, has taken on a position on the other side of the world, becoming artistic director and chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony in Australia starting in 2014.

Financial Times

To marry the heart and the head

The prolific Catalan musician Jordi Savall talks about grief, memory and building bridges.

ArtsJournal – Slipped disc

Saxon sings out to save Bach ensemble

The theatre in Eisenach, Bach’s birthplace, is under threat of closure. Hundreds gathered to stage a peaceful protest in song.

Gramophone

Miloš: new champion of the classical guitar

A classical guitarist’s debut recording remained at the top of the Specialist Classical Chart for much of the past year. That artist is Miloš Karadaglić – or Miloš as he’s known simply – who was named Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year at our 2011 Awards.

Venezuelan Rafael Payare wins Malko Competition

32-year-old Venezuelan Rafael Payare won the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen on Saturday in an atmospheric final round broadcast live on Danish radio and television.

(Written on May 15, 2012 )