Gramophone

Nicola Benedetti and John Butt receive honours

Violinist ‘deeply honoured’ to receive MBE

Classic FM

Royal Opera House calls for Verdi videos

Marking Verdi’s 200th birthday year, the Royal Opera House is searching for singers to perform their own video versions of ‘Va pensiero’ from Verdi’s Nabucco.

The Guardian

2013 classical and opera preview: Lulu in Wales and Disney at the ENO

David Pountney directs Berg’s opera about the doomed femme fatale for WNO while Philip Glass’s opera about Walt Disney receives its British premiere

Slipped Disc

Culture chief quits the New York Times… wait for the dominoes to fall

Jon Landman, the editor in charge of arts and leisure, is leaving the paper

Britain’s most troubled orchestra gets an Italian boss

The Ulster Orchestra, facing reduction to chamber size, has used the Christmas lull to slip a new chief executive into its least comfortable seat. Dr Rosa Solinas was until her appointment head of music at Arts Council Northern Ireland and knows the orch’s problems all too well, since one-third of her former budget went on paying its bills.

The Telegraph

Toby Spence interview: ‘The sounds that came out were terrifying’

Only months after thyroid surgery, the tenor Toby Spence was back on stage. He tells Rupert Christiansen about the pain and joy of recovering his voice .

BBC News

Welsh music dispute: BBC Radio Cymru cuts airtime and amends playlists

Classical music and hymns are replacing rock and pop on BBC Radio Cymru as the deadline for a rights deal with leading Welsh-language musicians passes.

Iamus: Is this the 21st century’s answer to Mozart?

The sound of keyboard music floats over the modern buildings in Malaga’s Technology Park, commonly known as Spain’s Silicon Valley.

The Independent

From prisons to caves, concerts fit for a maestro

The cellist Matthew Barley is marking Britten’s centenary with an unusual tour

Classic FM