Georges Bizet

The council of the French department Yvelines has announced to acquire the house of Georges Bizet in Bougival for one million €. The council says that it will put « all the expertise of its services at the disposal of the development of the ambitious cultural and tourist project of Bougival ». On this site will be created a European Music Centre (CEM) designed and chaired by Portuguese baritone Jorge Chaminé. Read More →

Dieter Oehms
(c) Dorothee Falke

Das deutsche Label OehmsClassics ist jetzt Teil der Naxos-Gruppe. Eine entsprechende Vereinbarung zur Übernahme der Geschäftsanteile wurde bereits unterzeichnet, teilt das Label mit. Read More →

Seine Musicale
(c) Insula Orchestra

In November, rumours said, the Artistic Director of the new hall La Seine Musicale in western Paris, Jean-Luc Choplin, would possibly quit his position only a few months after the hall’s inauguration. Read More →

Russian bass Alexander Vedernikov is dead, his son, conductor Alexander Vedernikov told Russian media. Alexander Vedernikov Sr. was born on December 23, 1927 in the village of Mokinino in the Kirov region. After he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1955, he was soloist of the Leningrad Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg). He won First Prize at the International Schumann Competition in Berlin in 1956. Read More →

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
(c) Maxim Schulz

The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg opened on 11 January 2017. One year later it publishes impressing figures. Some 850.000 people attended over 600 concerts, more than 4.5 million visited the Plaza terrace that offers a fabulous panorama of the city. Nearly 70,000 visitors took part in guided tours of the concert halls, and the Elbphilharmonie’s music education programme attracted over 60,000 people of all ages as participants.

Sergei Rachmaninov: Cellosonate; Dmitri Shostakovich: Cellosonate; Audun Sandvik, Violoncello, Sveinung Bjelland, Klavier; 1 CD Lawo LWC 1131; Aufnahme 03/2016, Veröffentlichung 11/2017 (67'16) – Rezension von Uwe Krusch

Schon die Wikinger hatten enge Beziehungen zum Rus, also dem Vorläufer des russischen Staates. Diese nachbarschaftlichen Kontakte haben sich über die gemeinsame Grenze immer erhalten. So ist es kein Wunder, dass auch im künstlerischen Bereich enge Beziehungen in beide Richtungen bestanden. Read More →

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Symphonische Serenade B-Dur op. 39 + Sextett D-Dur op. 10 (Arr. für Streichorchester von Hartmut Rohde); NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Hartmut Rohde; 1 CD cpo 555136-2; Aufnahmen 2016/17, Veröffentlichung 12/2017 (61'55) – Rezension von Remy Franck

Nur knapp 20 Jahre alt war Erich Wolfgang Korngold, als 1917 eines seiner komplexesten Werke, sein Streichsextett, vom ‘Rosé Quartett’ uraufgeführt wurde. Read More →

Irish National Opera (INO) launches tonight (9 January) with a gala concert at Dublin’s National Concert Hall. The new company which was created through the merging of Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company, will present seven operas in its first year, five of them new productions, and tour to 13 venues in Ireland and London’s Barbican Centre. Read More →

America is home to five of the 10 busiest orchestras in the world, according to Bachtrack’s yearly statistics, the New York Philharmonic being the most in-demand with an impressive 135 performances. Germany and the UK also represented strongly, each with 2 orchestras in the top 10. Read More →

Ensemble Esperanza

The central idea of the Festival Next Generation organized by the International Music Academy Liechtenstein at the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, has been the promotion of young musicians who are on the verge of an international career and whose talent has proved that they will develop into promising personalities. This year, from 16 to 23 February, the audience can experience for the eighth time music played by a large number of very good young musicians from all over the world. Read More →