WildKat PR have just completed an exciting competition and ‘check-in’ venture in collaboration with Kings Place, a hub for music, art, dialogue and food situated in the heart of London’s Kings Cross in an award-winning building.

The ‘King of Kings Place’ competition covered both digital and physical media, fusing social ‘check-in’ technology with the format of a traditional competition. Sane & Able teamed up with WildKat PR to come up with an inventive and original way to get people to attend the Kings Place Festival between 8-11th September, encouraging them to explore the building and the events it offers. The competition let visitors ‘check in’ to the 6 venues around Kings Place with their phone or stamp card. The festival was a mix of classical music, traditional Indian dance, folk, comedy, spoken word and even food demonstrations. One of the main aims of the competition was to enable audiences to cross platforms and introduce them to medias they might otherwise not have explored. Recent studies by the Arts council suggests audiences rarely cross genre so we wanted to encourage people to explore the building and the range of events the festival had to offer.

The festival and the competition were a huge success with an estimated 10,000 people attending the festival and a large amount of the guest of all ages taking part in the competition on the smart phone app foursquare or with stamp cards. Through Twitter alone we reached over 130,000 people and had some great pictures from visitors sent to our and Kings Place’s social media sites.

Highlights of the festival included Aianna Witter-Johnson, a touch sensitive dance floor by composer Philip Venables and Mozart with Puppets.

Visit http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/festival for photos of the festival.

(Written on September 26, 2011 )

Our summer intern Elizabeth has now returned to university to begin the final year of her degree, so we are looking for a creative and music-loving individual to join our team in London for 3-6 months. The internship will involve assisting on creative PR campaigns across the cultural, classical and contemporary music industries. A passion for classical music is essential, and you will need to demonstrate artistic flair, and an interest in new media.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone considering a career in arts PR or marketing, who is seeking to gain first-hand experience. You will assist with researching and reporting on new developments in the classical music world, writing press releases for clients and blogs for the WildKat PR website, researching press opportunities, as well as general tasks such as keeping the office in top running order.

The successful candidate needs to be self-motivated with excellent written and verbal communication skills. Good computer skills are vital and knowledge of other languages is a bonus, but not essential. You will need to be confident and able to take on responsibility, as well as being organised, able to prioritise and meet deadlines. Also, excellent baking skills are definitely a plus!

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to london@wildkatpr.com. We are accepting applications until Friday 30th September 2011.

Above: An example of the baking expertise intrinsic to the role of Intern

(Written on September 22, 2011 )

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

The Guardian

Christopher Maltman and Graham Johnson – review

Christopher Maltman opened the new Wigmore season with a powerhouse recital of Schiller settings by Schubert, Schuman and Liszt.

Gramophone

EU copyright is extended by another 20 years to 70 years

But is it good news for classical music fans?

LA Times

Gustavo Dudamel’s first recordings from Gothenburg

Gustavo Dudamel and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra: Bruckner, Sibelius, Nielsen.

Slipped Disc

Breaking: 4 players suspended from London orchestra for anti-Israel letter

Four members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra who wrote a letter to the independent calling for the Israel Philharmonic to be banned from the BBC Proms have been suspended by their board for up to nine months, the Jewish Chronicle reports.

The Telegraph

Il trittico, Royal Opera House, review

Rupert Christiansen finds the Royal Opera House’s production of Il trittico an operatic treat.

The Financial Times

Berlin Philharmonic/ Andris Nelsons, Berliner Philharmonie

Review By Shirley Apthorp

Andris Nelsons directed a somewhat odd programme with originality and aplomb, says Shirley Apthorp. He is a risk-taker who pushes things so far that they sometimes fall off the edge, but he is able to regain control in a millisecond. Though the orchestra’s surprise was at times audible, they rewarded him with a burnished tone and considerable polish.

The Telegraph

Helena Juntunen gives an operatic masterclass in rural Norfolk

Says Michael White; this was high-stakes singing, big with battering emotion and carried with a limitless expanse of voice.

(Written on September 14, 2011 )

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

Gramophone

At home with Sibelius

Hearing Finnish music on its own soil, and visiting Ainola

The Guardian

A fight at the opera as conductor quits Italy for new role in America

Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera theatre threatens to sue New York Met for poaching world-renowned Italian conductor Fabio Luisi

The New York Times

At Monk Competition, a Sound Worth Returning To

While emulating the late Thelonious Monk is not a requirement of the international piano competition that bears his name, his trademark dissonance was on display.

The Telegraph

Madam Butterfly, Mid Wales Opera, Theatr Hafren, Newton, review

Mid-Wales Opera’s version of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly bravely opts for a touch of kitchen-sink realism.

The Times

Not in Our Time at Cheltenham Town Hall

The spoken utterances of President George W. Bush aren’t a composer’s usual quarry when searching for texts — I can’t think why.

(Written on September 13, 2011 )

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

Gramophone

Are we forgetting how to talk about music?

When music discourse doesn’t get past dum-dum-dum!

The Guardian

The artists’ artist: tenors

Five leading tenors nominate who they admire most in their field

LA Times

Music review: Itzhak Perlman with the L.A. Phil at Hollywood Bowl

A certain theory of orchestral hierarchy holds that when an orchestra is conducted by a notable and respected instrumentalist, the group performs in a different, particularly sympathetic way. It’s as if the familial relations of instrumentalists warm up under such circumstances.

The New York Times

A Name for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s New Hall

The government of the Province of Quebec announced Wednesday morning that the hall will be called La Maison Symphonique de Montréal.

The Telegraph

Last Night of the Proms: Susan Bullock: ‘Rule Britannia? It’s a pig to sing’

Susan Bullock looks forward to Last Night of the Proms with Ivan Hewett .

Slipped Disc Blog

The future of Deutsche Grammophon is spelled out

The way ahead was laid out by Max Hole, chief operating officer of Universal Music, at a party celebrating the market-leading label’s move to Berlin.

(Written on September 8, 2011 )

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 )

The Telegraph

I don’t hate Bach

I suppose the only way to avoid being misunderstood in print is to avoid writing anything at all.

Gramophone

Three Years of Kings Place

As Kings Place prepares for its fourth festival, its founder reflects on the highs and lows of the launching a new arts space

The Arts Desk

BBC Proms: Missa Solemnis, LSO, Davis

Sir Colin Davis: his Beethoven speaks of many decades of exploration and understanding

The Guardian

Top classical picks for autumn

The Leipzig Gewandhaus descend on London for all nine Beethoven symphonies, ENO goes French baroque with Castor and Pollux, and Glasgow gets minimal

Los Angeles Times

Music review: Juanjo Mena and Labeques at the Hollywood Bowl

There is a moment in Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, which Katia and Marielle Labèque played at the Hollywood Bowl Thursday night, that is stunningly other.

The Telegraph

Radio 3 is getting out of tune with its audience

The row over the new schedules shows how the station is edging ever nearer to the comfortable banality of Classic FM.

The Times

Is there a cure for being tone deaf?

After a lifetime of mangling tunes, Sathnam Sanghera sought advice. Is he actually tone deaf and is there a cure?

(Written on September 5, 2011 )

The Guardian

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Proms disrupted by pro-Palestinian protest.

BBC takes Israeli orchestra’s performance off air after ‘sustained audience disturbance’ by pro-Palestinian campaigners

Gramophone

Israel Philharmonic triumphs despite protests

Mehta’s players have audience on their side

The Independent

Are there any requests from the floor?

Tonight’s Prom will feature music chosen by the audience on the spot. Its conductor, Ivá Fischer, tells Jessica Duchen about an invigorating leap into the unknown

The New York Times

Remembering 9/11 With Bach and Brahms

Trinity Church is commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a week of free choral concerts.

The Times

Lang Lang/Liszt: My Piano Hero

The pianist and the composer are both superstars, but nobody benefits from a recording made over hundreds of takes

(Written on September 2, 2011 )

LA Times

Music review: ‘Powaqqatsi’ at the Hollywood Bowl 

The full title of the second film in the “Qatsi” trilogy by director Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass is “Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation.” The transformation was that of the southern hemisphere in the mid ’80s.

The Telegraph

Nigel Kennedy: My plan to put Vivaldi to an electro-beat

Violinist Nigel Kennedy tells about his new mixed-genre CD – and reveals the startling update he has in store for ‘The Four Seasons’ .

The Independent

Prom 60, Fray/Netherlands RPO/Zweden (Royal Albert Hall)

Bruckner and Mahler may attract the same kind of crowd, but as characters they have nothing in common.

Gramophone

New productions of Janáček, Mozart and Ravel in Glyndebourne’s 2012 line-up

Olympic summer season includes revival of Jonathan Kent’s The Fairy Queen

The New Yorker

Memories of Music at Auschwitz

Alex Ross discusses Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera “The Passenger,” a Holocaust drama that was completed in 1968 but had its stage première only last year.

(Written on September 1, 2011 )