BACKNew York Times
A New Operatic Harmony in Berlin
Berlin’s two main opera houses, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper, have a rivalry dating back to the cold war but recent changes suggest a new era of cooperation.
Guardian
Funding cuts force merger of Germany’s SWR Symphony and Stuttgart Radio Orchestras
As of 2016, “the SWR Symphony Orchestra, based in Freiburg and Baden-Baden, is merging with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, thanks to a combination of budgetary cuts at the radio organisation that pays for both of them and what musicians in Germany call the ‘cultural barbarity’ of the radio bosses.”
BT to add music service to TV offerings
BT is to launch a music streaming and karaoke service backed by the world’s largest music company, Universal Music. The service will initially offer the equivalent of about 150 albums of music tracks, which subscribers can listen to through their BT TV service.
Huffington Post
Orchestra Moving to the Internet
Leonard Slatkin, conductor of the Detroit Symphony orchestra, writes about how internet broadcasting of concerts has helped them bounce back after their six month strike and financial troubles.
Telegraph
Dressing up, dressing down: does it affect how many come to concerts?
Stephen Hough discusses concert dress, accessibility and the theatre of the concert hall.
Gramophone
Linn offers festive gift of 24 days of free high-resolution music downloads
The hi-fi manufacturer, whose Linn Records label won Gramophone’s Label of the Year in 2010, is celebrating the festive season with free Studio Master high-resolution music downloads from the beginning of December until Christmas.
Der Tagesspiegel
Staatsopern-Maestro Daniel Barenboim spricht im Interview über die „Trovatore“-Premiere mit Placido Domingo und Anna Netrebko, über Berlin und seinen baldigen Abschied von Mailand. Und er bricht eine Lanze für Sasha Waltz und ihre Tanzcompagnie, die Berlin unbedingt halten sollte.
New York Times