Die amerikanische Sopranistin Judith Beckmann ist am Wochenende im Alter von 86 Jahren gestorben. 1935 in Jamestown (US-Bundesstaat North Dakota) geboren studierte sie an der University of Southern California und der Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Durch den Sieg bei einem Gesangswettbewerb  in San Francisco im Jahre 1961 erhielt sie ein Stipendium in Deutschland, wo sie 1962 am Nationaltheater Braunschweig debütierte. Read More →

The Brussels based Queen Elizabeth Competition has announced that the 2022 Cello Competition will take place from 9 May to 4 June, in Flagey and the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR). 152 cellists (aged 18 to 31) have applied. The age limit had been exceptionally raised by one year due to the postponement of the Piano Competition. Read More →

Migran Agadzhanyan

Armenian conductor, singer and pianist Migran Agadzhanyan has been named music director of the Perm Opera in Russia. Agadzhanyan, who turns 30 this year, is a graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg. As tenor, he won the Second Prize in the Operalia Competition 2018.

Barbara Hannigan
(c) Raphael Brand

The London Symphony Orchestra has announced that Barbara Hannigan is appointed LSO Associate Artist for a period of three years. Read More →

Ilan Volkov
(c) Astrid Ackermann

The Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov, 45, will be the new permanent guest conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic as of the 2022/23 season. Together with the orchestra, Volkov is supposed to further deepen and develop the trajectory of contemporary music, with a clear focus on both performance and research. Read More →

Lahav Shani
(c) Philharmonie Luxembourg

In der Philharmonie Luxembourg war das Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra mit einem durch und durch klassisch aufgebauten Programm, also Ouvertüre, Solokonzert und Symphonie, zu Gast. Was dieses Konzert trotz dieser konventionellen Gestaltung an Reizen zu bieten hatte, erlebte Uwe Krusch. Read More →

Russian pianist Yulia Turkina, died las Friday at the age of 101, Russian media reported. Born in Moscow on September 2, 1921 she studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Concert performances as part of a piano duet with her sister began when she was a student. She made a career as soloist too. Since 1954, Turkina has been a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory.

Elim Chan

According to the press kit delivered by La Maestra Competition in Paris, worldwide there are 62 women working as Music Directors or Chief Conductors in permanent professional orchestras, which corresponds to 7.9% out of 778 orchestras surveyed. This compares to 46 (5.9%) and 32 (4.3%) in 2019 and 2018 respectively for a grand total of 744 orchestras, the document says. Read More →

Philharmonie de Paris
(c) Remy Franck

The second edition of the women conductors competition La Maestra is to take place from 3 to 6 March 2022 at the Philharmonie de Paris which organizes this event together with the Paris Mozart Orchestra. In total, 202 candidates of 48 nationalities from 5 continents registered, with a quite high average age of 35. Whilst some of the 2020 candidates tried again this year, 132 women conductors applied for the first time. Read More →

Russian conductor Valery Gergiev cancelled his participation in tonight’s concert of the Vienna Philharmonic at the Wiener Konzerthaus « due to health reasons. » He is replaced by Franz Welser-Möst.