Grace Bumbry
(c) Remy Franck

American singer Grace Bumbry, 85, has been hospitalized after a stroke. According to a press release, she is currently in recovery in Queens, New York. Read More →

The Czech conductor Libor Pesek has died at the age of 89. After appointments at the opera houses in Pilsen and Prague from 1958 to 1964, he founded a chamber orchestra in Prague. In the 1970s he led orchestras in Pardubice, Leeuwarden and Enschede. Read More →

Seit vor zwei Tagen das Ergebnis des diesjährigen Wieniawski-Wettbewerbs in Poznan feststeht, haben sich bei uns mehrere Leser gemeldet, darunter auch ganz bekannte Geiger, die ihrer Verärgerung über das Ergebnis Ausdruck gegeben haben. Read More →

String players all over the world are worried about the possible classification of pernambuco wood in Appendix I of the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The launched an international petition which was signed already by over 5000 people. Read More →

The First Prize of 50,000 Euro at the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznan, Poland, went this year to Hina Maeda from Japan. Meruert Karmenova from Kazakhstan won Second Prize, Qingzhu Weng from China Third Prize. Read More →

The latest Karajan Community Letter focuses on the year 1959, when Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic went on a World Tour and Mendelssohn would have celebrated his 150th birthday. So, of course this composer and the recordings Karajan made is another topic here. Here is the link to this week’s Karajanist Community Letter.  And here is the link, where you can subscribe to the Newsletter: https://www.karajan.community/

After 40 years as a charitable service organization for Canada’s musicians, the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists is ceasing operations November 30. Eleanor Friedland, president of the IRCPA Board, made the announcement. Read More →

Klaus Mäkelä
(c) Heikki Tuuli

The Norwegian Sibelius Society has awarded the Sibelius Prize 2022 to the Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä. Mäkelä will receive the prize at the Oslo Philharmonic’s concert at the Oslo Konserthus on 4 November. Read More →

The Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition  – for non-professional pianists age 35 and older – announced the winners of this year’s edition. First Prize was awarded to Jon Lee, 41, a software engineer from the United States. The second prize went to Michael Slavin, 71, a retired neuro-ophthalmologist from the US. Third place went to Xavier Aymonod, 46, a marketing director of Public transportation in France.

Quatuor Modigliani
(c) Luc Braquet

Begeisterung und Spielfreude zeichneten das Konzerts des Modigliani Quartetts aus, das am Montag in der Luxemburger Philharmonie Streichquartette von Beethoven und Schubert spielte. Alain Steffen berichtet. Read More →