Jonas Kaufmann
Photo: Mathias Bothor

After his almost three-month long pause due to vocal problems, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann was due to restart his career in Gütersloh on November 13. He cancelled the recital and he has cancelled now another one, foreseen for next week, 22 November,  at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

The New York Philharmonic has awarded the $200,000 Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music to the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. The orchestra will commission a new orchestral work by Andriessen to be premiered during the 2018–2019 season, led by Jaap van Zweden in his first season as Music Director.

The Scottish independent record label Linn Records is partnering with Belgium-based Outhere Music. The collaboration is to allow both  brands to  explore further opportunities from a wider roster of musicians. Additionally, Outhere Music will re-launch www.linnrecords.com in 2017, allowing consumers to access and explore even more high quality music from Outhere Music’s catalogue, all through a new cutting-edge download service.

Niklas Benjamin Hoffmann

The German Niklas Benjamin Hoffmann, 26, has won the Donatella Flick conducting competition in London. A student of Nicolas Pasquet at the Franz Liszt University of Music, Weimar, Hoffmann is chief conductor of the Academic orchestra in Göttingen.

In 2017, the Queen Elisabeth competition is holding for the first time in its history a competition devoted to cellists. It will take place from 8 May – 3 June 2017. Applications are now open, application deadline is fixed at 11 January 2017. Candidates must be born after 31 December 1986. Read More →

Petra Müllejans, die seit über zwei Jahrzehnten das FBO künstlerisch geleitet hat, legt diese Aufgabe zum Ende der Spielzeit 2016/17 nieder. Sie bleibt weiterhin festes Mitglied des Ensembles. Read More →

Oh, Boy! Mozart & French Opera Arias; Chabrier: O petite étoile (L’étoile); Gluck: Amour, viens rendre à mon âme (Orphée et Eurydice, after Bertini arr. Berlioz); Gounod: Versez vos chagrins dans mon âme (Faust); Depuis hier je cherche en vain mon maître...Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle (Roméo et Juliette); Hahn: Un jour de plus...Alors, adieu donc, mon amour! (Mozart); Massenet: Allez, laissez-moi seul...Cœur sans amour, printemps sans roses (Cendrillon); Meyerbeer: Nobles seigneurs, salut! (Les Huguenots); Mozart: Pupille amate (Lucio Silla), Voi che sapete (Le nozze di Figaro), Dunque Sperar Poss'io...Il Tenero Momento (Lucio Silla), Và pure ad altri in braccio (La finta giardiniera), Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio (Le nozze di Figaro), Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio (La Clemenza di Tito); Offenbach: Vois sous l'archet frémissant (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Voyez dans la nuit brune (Fantasio); Thomas: Non, ne la suivons pas...Sommeil, ami des dieux (Psyché); Marianne Crebassa, Mezzosopran, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Marc Minkowski; 1 CD Warner Classics 0190295927622; Aufnahme 01/2016, Veröffentlichung 28/10/2016 (72'36)

Erste Feststellung: mit 72 Minuten Musik hat die junge französische Mezzosopranistin Marianne Crebassa keine Mühe und Zeit gescheut, um dem CD-Käufer für sein Geld ein umfassendes Arien-Programm anzubieten. Read More →

Jonathan Sheffer: The Conference Of The Birds; Joyce DiDonato, Erzählerin, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Sheffer; 1 CD Navona Records NV6037; Aufnahme 6/2015, Veröffentlichung 05/2016 (52') – Rezension von Remy Franck

Auf eine Erzählung des persischen Dichters Farid ud-Din Attar aus dem 12. Jahrhundert hat der New Yorker Komponist Jonathan Sheffer sein exquisit tonmalerisches Orchesterwerk ‘Die Konferenz der Vögel’ komponiert. In Attars Dichtung begeben sich die Vögel auf eine lange Reise, um einen illustren Führer zu suchen, eine Art König oder Präsident, der ihnen bessere Lebensbedingungen bringen soll. Read More →

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is behind plans to build a new concert hall in Edinburgh. The £45 million 1000-capacity complex is to be built in the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town just off St Andrew Square. The SCO has made a joint venture with a new charitable trust, IMPACT Scotland, to draw up the plans.

The League of American Orchestras has published an overview of the activities of its members over a nine-year period from 2006 to 2014. The key elements of the report show that in 2014, there were 1,224 U.S. orchestras, distributed widely across all 50 states. Read More →