Yundi Li
(c) Uli Weber - DG

Chinese pianist Yundi Li, 39, has been arrested in Beijing allegedly for using the services of a prostitute, Assian media have reported. The news broke when the police in Beijing’s Chaoyang district posted an announcement (in Chinese) to their official Weibo account, saying that after receiving anonymous tips about illegal sex work in the area, they “launched an investigation” and arrested a 39-year-old man surnamed Li, along with a 29-year-old female surnamed Chen. Read More →

Louis Langrée
(c) Benoît Limero

Louis Langrée, 60, conductor and music director of the Cincinnati Orchestra (USA) and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York Louis Langrée becomes the new director of the Opéra-Comique for a five-year term.

Bernard Haitink
(c) Lucerne Festival/Deuber

Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink died Thursday at home in London, aged 92. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his wife and family. Haitink’s career began in the 1950s with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Concertgebouw Orchestra in his native Amsterdam, Haitink had a long association. He was chief conductor there from 1961 to 1988. Read More →

The latest Karajanist Community Letter focuses on two divas. One was born a hundred years ago, the other died on Monday. Sena Jurinac and Edita Gruberová: Both worked with Karajan but in different repertoires and one more often than the other. Read More →

Oksana Lyniv
(c) Oleg Pavlyuchkiy

Die 43-jährige ukrainische Dirigentin Oksana Lyniv ist zusammen mit dem von ihr gegründeten Jugendsymphonieorchester der Ukraine mit dem Sächsischen Mozartpreis ausgezeichnet worden. Das teilte die Sächsische Mozart-Gesellschaft mit. Gewürdigt werden damit ihr Einsatz für Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart und Franz Xaver Mozart u.a. beim Klassikfestival LvivMozArt.

After the result of the Chopin Competition was published, a number of people reacted, saying that a jury must be neutral! However, the winners of the six awards and several special awards are studying or have studied with members of this year’s Jury. Read More →

Bruce Xiaoyu Liu

The Chinese-Canadian pianist Bruce Xiaoyu Liu, 24, won First Prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Second Prize ex aequo went to  Alexander Gadjiev, Italy/Slovenia, and Kyohei Sorita, Japan. The Third Prize was awarded to Martin Garcia Garcia from Spain. Read More →

Dmitry Ablogin

Der russische Pianist Dmitry Ablogin (*1989) hat den mit über 20.000 Euro dotierten Internationalen Deutschen Pianistenpreis gewonnen. Der Internationale Deutsche Pianistenpreis steht seit nunmehr 10 Jahren im Zeichen der klassischen Klaviermusik und der Förderung junger Talente. Read More →

The historic development of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is told in a 44-minute film which is free to watch online on YouTube. It traces the orchestra’s history from Victorian times to today. Read More →

IRCAM and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France have joined forces to create the Élan Prize, a new international competition for orchestral composition, bringing together Île de créations (the orchestral composition competition created in 2010 by this orchestra) and IRCAM’s ManiFeste Academy. Read More →