To avoid seeing Christophe Gayral’s staging, conductor Alberto Veronesi conducted La Bohème blindfolded at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago on July 14 for the opening night. In the end, Veronesi was removed from directing the upcoming performances. The staging set the opera against the backdrop of the 1968 uprisings, and Veronesi is known to be close to right-wing extremist party Fratelli d’Italia.
Chih Yuan Michael Chang
Bucharest Music Institute has announced the winners of the 5th edition of the BMI International Conducting Masterclass & Competition. First Prize was awarded to Taiwanese inductor Chih Yuan Michael Chang. Read More →
Romanian pianist Valentin Gheorghiu Gheorghiu died yesterday at the age of 95. Born on 21 March 1928 he was first a pupil of Constanța Erbiceanu at the Bucharest Academy of Music and then of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris, France. He was one of the leading Romanian pianists of the twentieth century. Read More →
Published on the Tous Citoyens blog, a press release from several associations criticizes the visit to Nice of Italian conductor Beatrice Venezi, described as « neo-fascist » and close to the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni. The city of Nice has invited the Italian conductor to lead its Philharmonic Orchestra, for the traditional Christmas Ballet and New Year’s Concert. Read More →
The Sydney International Piano Competition (The Sydney) has announced the six pianists proceeding to the Finals of the 2023 competition at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. The Finalists, in playing order, are: Yungyung Guo, Jeonghwan Kim, Uladzislau Khandohi, Yuanfan Yang, Vitaly Starikov and Wynona Yinuo Wang. Read More →
Martijn Dendievel
c) Wouter Maeckelberge
Ab der Saison 2024/25 wird der 1995 geborene Belgier Martijn Dendievel Chefdirigent der Hofer Symphoniker. Sein Vertrag wurde über zunächst vier Spielzeiten abgeschlossen. Die Position des Chefdirigenten der Hofer Symphoniker war über 20 Jahre lang nicht besetzt. Read More →
CAPE Ettelbrück
Zugänglichkeit von Kultur ermöglichen, sei es durch die Nähe zum Wohnort, durch die Sprachenvielfalt, die Preisgestaltung, aber auch durch ein abwechslungsreiches, niveauvolles Programm – so lautet seit über 20 Jahren das Credo des CAPE – Centre des Arts Pluriels Ettelbruck (Großherzogtum Luxemburg). Read More →
This week’s Karajan Community Newsletter is talking about on of Karajan’s favorite violinists, Christian Ferras, and their exploration of a similar violin repertoire. Another unimportant topic are Karajan’s performances of works by Ukrainian-born composer Sergei Prokofiev. Here is the link to this week’s Karajanist Community Letter. Read More →
The San Diego Symphony is pushing back until next year its return to Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center. The reasons for the postponement are due to unexpected construction problems that have emerged as the nearly 100-year-old hall undergoes a $125 million renovation. The orchestra now hopes to reopen the hall in early 2024. Read More →
American pianist André Watts died July 12 at the age of 77. Watts was born in Nuremberg, Germany, the son of Hungarian pianist Maria Alexandra Gusmits and U.S. officer Herman Watts. Read More →
