The Board of Directors of the Naxos Music Group has announced the appointment of Matthias Lutzweiler as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Naxos Music Group, effective immediately. Lutzweiler, who has been serving as Acting CEO since October 2024, will be supported by Jeffrey Lien, CEO of Naxos of America, who assumes the role of Global Deputy CEO, and Iwen Schmees, currently CEO of Naxos Deutschland, who will take on the position of Global Chief Operating Officer (COO). Read More →

Konzerthaus Wien,
(c) Victoria Coeln

Zwei Requien waren beim Gastspiel der Ensembles des Bayerischen Rundfunks, nämlich dem Chor und des Symphonieorchesters im Wiener Konzerthaus zu hören. Dabei gehörte das erste von Mark-Anthony Turnage mit dem Titel Remembering nicht zu den allgemein geläufigen Werken. Es erlebte vor Ort sogar seine Erstaufführung. Das zweite, Ein deutsches Requiem, von Johannes Brahms ist eines der bekanntesten und regelmäßig aufgeführten. Uwe Krusch erlebte für Pizzicato beide Werke, die sich auch in anderer Hinsicht deutlich unterschieden. Read More →

Ludwig van Beethoven

Das Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra vereint geflüchtete Musiker und ukrainische Mitglieder führender europäischer Orchester. Einen Tag nach dem dritten Jahrestag des russischen Angriffs auf die Ukraine setzt das Ensemble unter der Leitung seiner Gründerin Keri-Lynn Wilson im Warschauer Teatr Wielki ein musikalisches Zeichen gegen Krieg und Unterdrückung: mit Beethovens 9. Sinfonie – die wie kein anderes Werk für Freiheit und Menschlichkeit steht. ARTE überträgt das Konzert ab 20 Uhr im Livestream auf arte.tv, die Aufzeichnung ist am 9. März um 17.10 Uhr im TV zu sehen. Read More →

Yaniv Segal (left) with Krzysztof Penderecki, Rafael Payare & Jurek Dybal
(c) Bruno Fidrych

Muncie (Indiana) based Orchestra Indiana has announced Yaniv Segal as its new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, effective immediately. Read More →

Elbphilharmonie
(c) Remy Franck

The Elbphilharmonie Visions festival with orchestral music written in the 21st century, jointly organized by the Elbphilharmonie and NDR, came to a successful end. Over the course of just over a week, seven concerts attracted a total of 13,157 people, resulting in an impressive average attendance rate of 92%. The organizers were especially pleased to welcome around 6,000 first-time visitors to the Elbphilharmonie, with 23.5% of the audience being under the age of 30.

Nach einer intensiven Wettbewerbswoche fand die dritte Ausgabe des Internationalen Wettbewerbs für Operndirigenten ihren Abschluss. Nach Beratung gaben die Jurymitglieder unter dem Vorsitz des Künstlerischen Leiters Stefano Pace ihre Entscheidungen bekannt: Read More →

The Alfred Street Baptist Church in Washington has canceled its annual Christmas event at the Kennedy Center. Here is the press release: « The After prayerful consideration, and discerning, the Alfred Street Baptist Church , one of the oldest and largest African American Baptist churches in the nation, has made the difficult decision to cancel hosting its annual Christmas performance at the Kennedy Center. Read More →

In schools run by the American government, all books dealing in any way with diversity or inclusion are withdrawn. The list of books prohibited under AH Trump’s directives continues to grow. These include « books that are likely to promote gender ideology or the ideology of equality in the face of discrimination », it says. It has not yet been announced whether these books will be publicly burned. On the 10th May 1933, the Nazis had burned books in over 70 German cities.

Kennedy Center, Washington

Last week was a dark one for the arts life in the US. AH Trump took control of one of the most important and until now nonpartisan arts institutions in the country, the Kennedy Center in Washington. Read More →

Czech conductor Vladimír Válek has died at the age of 89. Válek led the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2011 and also conducted the Prague Symphony Orchestra. He was the Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic from 2004 until 2007. Over his career, he worked with top ensembles, including the Czech Philharmonic and Japan’s Osaka Symphony Orchestra. Read More →