The Guardian

Google launches Spotify rival Music All Access in the UK

Subscription-based music service aims to undercut Spotify and other rivals with £7.99-a-month offer for early signups

Zubin Mehta to conduct concert in Kashmir

Mumbai-born maestro to perform with orchestra on banks of Lake Dal in Srinigar next month

Classic FM Online

New Zealand Symphony cancels tour to record Hobbit soundtrack

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has cancelled its tour of New Zealand because it coincides with recording dates for the soundtrack to the second Hobbit movie

Eric Whitacre on VC4, dubstep and meeting the Royals

Eric Whitacre chats to Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau about the success of Virtual Choir 4 and its premiere at Buckingham Palace

Stephen Fry cites Tchaikovsky in anti-Olympics open letter

Actor, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry has used Tchaikovsky as an example in an open letter to the Prime Minister and the International Olympic Committee calling them to boycott the Russian Winter Olympics due to LGBT prejudice

Gramophone

Fiona Shaw replaces Deborah Warner as director of Met Opera’s season-opening Eugene Onegin

Warner withdraws due to an unexpected surgical procedure

Rural opera festivals can be serious rivals for the big London houses

Smaller stages at Longborough and Dorset show what can be done with limited resources, bags of enthusiasm – and one Jonathan Miller

Classical Music Magazine

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra launches 10-day campaign for £70,000 rescue fund

A campaign has been launched to raise funds for the freelance professional Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Klassic.com

Namhafte Künstler engagieren sich für Menschenrechte in Russland

Geiger Gidon Kremer kritisiert Anna Netrebko und Valery Gergiev