BACKIn today’s news: Jessye Norman gets RPS gold, first ever saxophonist signed to Decca Classics, Spotify stop promoting or recommending music by artists whose content or conduct it deemed to be offensive, Keith Saunders on photographing musicians for a living, Music festival Lunalia, and winners decided at the German Choir Competition in Freiburg.
Classic FM
Who actually was Jenny Lind, the real-life opera singer in The Greatest Showman?
Nicknamed the ‘Swedish Nightingale’, Jenny Lind was a soprano whose voice was admired by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann.
Jessye Norman awarded Royal Philharmonic Society gold medal at a star-studded ceremony
The legendary American soprano was honoured at the 2018 RPS Music Awards.
The Independent
Can George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence follow the success of Written on Skin?
The perfectionist composer is again working with director Katie Mitchell and librettist Martin Crimp, to tell the story of Edward II and his lover Gaveston.
Gramophone
Saxophonist Jess Gillam signs for Decca Classics
19-year-old Gillam becomes the first saxophonist to sign for Decca Classics in the label’s history.
The Guardian
Sharks love jazz but are stumped by classical, say scientists
A study at Macquarie University in Sydney found that sharks could recognise jazz – if there was food on offer.
The Washington Post
Levine’s recordings withdrawn from Met Opera radio channel
Performances by James Levine were withdrawn from the company’s Sirius XM satellite and online radio channel, a large percentage of the company’s history.
The New York Times
Spotify Pulls R. Kelly and XXXTentacion From Playlists, Stirring a Debate
Spotify, the music industry’s leading streaming service, said on Thursday that it would stop promoting or recommending music by artists whose content or conduct it deemed to be offensive, hoping to quell a furor over the singer R. Kelly but immediately starting another debate over who qualified for the ban.
Limelight
Keith Saunders on shooting musicians for a living
The photographer, whose images will be familiar to anyone who’s been to a Musica Viva concert, takes us behind the scenes in a new exhibition
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Musik-Festival Lunalia: Mit der Kraft des vollen Mondes
Zeitloses in Flandern: Das Stimm-Festival Lunalia entdeckt unter Leitung von Jelle Dierickx die bezaubernde Stadt Mechelen und feiert den Gesang in all seinen Formen.
Welt
Das beste Mittel gegen Sexismus? „Aufhören, Arschlöcher zu hypen“
Christopher Rüping, 32, steht für eine neue Art von Theaterregisseuren: allürenfrei, politisch, mit einem Herz für flache Hierarchien. Nun ist er zu Gast beim Berliner Theatertreffen.
Der Tagesspiegel
Nemanja Radulovic im Konzerthaus: Unbändige Energie
Der serbische Geiger Nemanja Radulovic und sein Ensemble Le Trilles du Diable überzeugen im Konzerthaus.
SWR2
In Freiburg treffen sich bis zum 13. Mai die besten deutschen Laienchöre zum Deutschen Chorwettbewerb.
Nemanja Radulovic in Dresden © picture alliance / dpa / Arno Burgi