Fiddler’s Tale is the title that violinist Daniel Hope gave his programme for Saturday Classics. In these programmes he presents a selection of recordings that reflect his life in music so far and also which follow the story of his priceless violin – the wonderful 1742 Guarneri del Gesu, known as the “Ex-Lipinski”.

The programme includes recordings by Pinchas Zukerman whom Daniel heard perform in London at the age of five and who inspired him to take up the violin (Antonin Dvorak’s Romance in F minor op. 11). You will also hear pieces by another key inspiration in Daniel’s life, Yehudi Menuhin (Franz Schubert;s Symphony no. 2 in B flat major D.125 – 3rd movement) and music from his adopted home city Vienna (Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 in A major op. 92 – 2nd movement with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Christian Thielemann). His choice of music also includes the original 1950s line up of the celebrated Beaux Arts Trio, with whom Daniel has also performed; and a recording from his violin hero David Oistrakh.

Fiddler’s Tale is being broadcast again on Saturday, 20th April on Radio 3.

(Written on April 18, 2013 )

Emily Howard’s eagerly awaited UK premiere of her orchestral work, Calculus of the Nervous System, was a tremendous success at the BBC Proms on 21^st August 2012. The piece was first premiered in Vienna by the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by James MacMillan. For the UK performance Andris Nelsons conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Prom 51 has since received wonderful praise.

Emily’s composition was inspired by neural networks and memories; focusing on the working of the human mind, what might be imagined, what might be real and what it might be capable of. She explains that; ‘In Calculus memories occur and recur in different ways… as though being experienced in different states of consciousness’. Tim Ashley from The Guardian expanded on this after hearing Emily’s motivations and watching the performance; ‘One of Lovelace’s aims was the creation of a mathematical model that demonstrated how the brain gives rise to thoughts, and Howard, in response, scrutinises the nature of memory as tone clusters and percussive throbs shift in and out of focus’.

Alongside Emily’s piece, the CBSO also performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony and Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila overture; an amalgamation that Robert Hugill commented ‘was so diverse… each showed a different side of the orchestra’. ‘Gripping’ and ‘profoundly atmospheric’, Hugill described the result as a fascinating and tantalizing piece; one which was superbly rendered by Nelsons and the CBSO’.

Gaining four stars from both Nick Kimberley for the London Evening Standard and Matthew Lynch of One Stop Arts, Calculus was commended for being an ‘evocative work’ that ‘really made you listen and drew you in’ with ‘moments that were so quietly enrapturing that none of the audience’s vast number dared so much as breathe’. Both reviews complimented the CBSO for showing themselves ‘to be more than a match for its considerable technical and emotional challenges’, involving themselves ‘fully inside Howard’s world’.

Visit Emily’s website for more information about her work:  http://www.emilyhoward.com/

(Written on September 11, 2012 )

Telegraph

Paralympics Opening Ceremony playlist

The LSO, Britten, and new commissions at the Paralympics opening ceremony.

Classic FM

David Garrett, Lang Lang, and Lady Gaga?

The classical music stars reveal their penchant for pop after attending Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball concert in Vienna.

Piano tuning changes brain structure

You don’t need tuning forks or perfect pitch to tune a piano – in fact, listening to minute differences between notes can improve your brain structure, according to a new study

Kent Nagano appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

He adds his name to a host of master-conductors, including composers Sibelius and Nielsen, as well as Herbert von Karajan, Neeme Järvi and Gustavo Dudamel.

Arts Journal – Slipped Disc

Top conservatory leader drops out without a whimper

We have just been informed that the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester replaced its director last month.

NPR Music

Barenboim’s Beethoven: A Soloist And Conductor In Complete Agreement

Conductor, pianist and peace advocate Daniel Barenboim first recorded all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos in 1967. Barenboim, a brash and fantastically smart 24-year-old, was paired with an elder statesman, conductor Otto Klemperer. There was real magic in that collaboration, yielding recordings that still set a benchmark.

Playbill Arts

The London Symphony Orchestra Returns

Fresh from its starring role in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, the London Symphony Orchestra returns to Lincoln Center next month for its annual New York residency

Lang Lang and Garrett at a Lady Gaga concert – Classic FM

(Written on August 30, 2012 )

Guardian

Tom Service on the Royal Albert Hall

‘My love affair with classical music’s moshpit’

Classic FM

Lang Lang to be Global Ambassador for Leeds Comp

The Leeds International Piano Competition, led by Dame Fanny Waterman, has selected Lang Lang as its Global Ambassador.

Deaf man hears Mozart for first time with new hearing aid

A deaf young filmmaker has heard music for the first time in his life, including Mozart’s Requiem.

Arts Journal: Limelight

Hahn-Bin no more: violinist changes name to Amadeus Leopold

Classical music’s most extreme hipster reinvents himself with a striking new stage name.

Los Angeles Times

Oh, those string players are so full of themselves

Yes, but what about the louts in the brass section? Orchestra members, so unified when on stage, enjoy poking fun at one another when off.

New York Times

Met Opera to Preserve Rush Tickets

When Agnes Varis, a Metropolitan Opera board member and benefactor, died a year ago, the company lost the person who paid for its heavily discounted rush ticket program.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Breaking: Vienna’s Konzerthaus loses its chief

Bernhard Kerres has decided to quit after the coming centenary season. No obvious reason.

The Australian

Fate of opera season hangs in the balance

First it was the writers, then the visual artists, now the performing arts look likely to take a hit from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman as he attempts to control his state’s multi-billion-dollar debt. The fate of Opera Australia’s 2013 season in Brisbane remains undecided just a few days before the company’s season launch, causing artistic director Lyndon Terracini to tell The Australian he is “extremely worried”.

Classic FM

(Written on August 28, 2012 )

Cosi Fan Tutte at Opera Holland Park begins tonight, conducted by the highly-acclaimed Thomas Kemp. The W.A. Mozart classic was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on the 26^th of January, 1790, yet in 2012 its new production, sung in Italian with English subtitles, will be performed on June 8th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th (2pm), 28^th; July 4^th and 7^th at 7.15pm at the esteemed Holland Park venue. Cast members include celebrated Tenor Andrew Staples as Ferrando, accompanied the City of London Sinfonia and the Opera Holland Park Chorus.

Tickets for the full running of the show are still available here. This is a summer event not to be missed.

(Written on June 8, 2012 )

BBC Music Magazine

Vote now in the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2012!

And be in with a chance of winning a Kemble piano, a Yamaha hi-fi or copies of all the nominated recordings as well as the chance to support ACCENTUS Music’s DVD release of Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra performing Mahler’s 9th Symphony in the best DVD category.

Huffington Post UK

Hattie Garlick: My Mission To Discover Classical Music In 2012.

Hattie Garlick makes a resolution and appeals for your help.

The Guardian

How To Survive In An Opera Chorus.

From Berg to Bizet, bridesmaids to beggars, chorus members have to be up for pretty much anything. Henrietta Bredin talks to singers from ENO and Opera North.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Hong Kong Goes Dutch Again In Choosing Music Director.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic has announced its choice of music director to succeed Edo de Waart.

Pianist: I Will Never Set Foot In Hungary Again.

The pianist Andras Schiff has announced that he will never return to his Hungarian motherland.

Arnold Schoenberg’s Other Letters Go To North Texas.

A grandson of the great composer by his first marriage has withheld the documents and letters owned by his side of the family from the Arnold Schoenberg Centre in Vienna and given them instead to the University of North Texas.

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/01/just-in-arnold-schoenbergs-other-letters-go-to-north-texas.html

(Written on January 16, 2012 )

The Press Association

Hopkins To Release Classical Album

Sir Anthony Hopkins is adding a new string to his bow by releasing his first collection of classical works.

Digital Music News

Artists Say Facebook Likes Are Three Times More Valuable Than Email Signups

43.18% of the vote went to Facebook.

Arts Journal: Slipped Disc

Trade Unions Attack Bayreuth For Elitism

The German Trade Union Foundation has accused the Bayreuth Festival of betraying its founders’ ideals by pricing tickets out of the reach of the general public and creating an exclusivist atmosphere.

Kaufmann’s Coming, Live And Free, From Bavarian Opera.

The house has just announced a pilot projects to stream live opera online.

Throat-Struck Mezzo Makes Perfect Vienna Comeback.

Elisabeth Kulman recovers.

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/12/throat-struck-mezzo-makes-brilliant-vienna-comeback.html

(Written on December 16, 2011 )

Arts Council UK

The Space

Arts Council UK and the BBC have announced a partnership to create the Space – an experimental digital arts media service and commissioning programme that could help transform the way people connect with, and experience, arts and culture.

Slipped Disc: Norman Lebrecht

US Conductor Steps Into Karajan’s Shoes

Aachen announces Kazem Abdullah, 32, as its new general music director.

The Telegraph

Disrupting Concerts: Is It Ever Acceptable?

Lucy Jones discusses motivations for disturbing a performance.

How A Young British Composer Has Just Taken Vienna By Storm

Emily Howard’s thriving career in Austria.

(Written on November 23, 2011 )

This Thursday, 8pm, at the Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie Berlin, the young English conductor Joolz Gale leads an exciting chamber ensemble (featuring members of Berlin Counterpoint) and soprano Lydia Teuscher, to launch the mini-Mahler series. mini-Mahler celebrates and explores the relationship between Gustav Mahler and 1920s Vienna, a time which saw contemporary works arranged for the intimate setting of Schoenberg’s Private Musical Society. We caught up with Joolz Gale and Sacha Rattle from mini-Mahler to ask them about their present project and their exciting future prospects.

Click to purchase tickets!

(Written on September 28, 2010 )