The 31st edition of the Verbier Festival came to a close after 18 days of music. 2024 will go down as the second-best ticketing year since the Festival’s inception, with 11% growth over 2023. 20 concerts were sold out. Nearly 40,000 tickets were issued for this edition.

‘Musik und Gender in Luxemburg’ hat der luxemburgischen Sängerin und Komponistin Béby Kohl-Thommes (1923-2016) ein neues Portal gewidmet. Für den biografischen Text und die Aufarbeitung des Archivmaterials zeichnet der Musikologe Marvin J. Deitz verantwortlich, in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Dany Kohl. Read More →

Anja Bihlmaier
(c) Neda Navaee

German conductor Anja Bihlmaier, 45, has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, starting September 2024. Anja Bihlmaier has been Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest since August 2021.

Spanish conductor and composer Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez (*1949) died yesterday, 4 August 2024. At age of thirteen he got the title of piano professor at the Music Conservatory of Granada and at age of seventeen he won the ‘Extraordinary Prize’ in composition at the Music Conservatory of Madrid.[5] 1964 he moved to Madrid and he got the First Class Diploma and the Price of the Conservatory at the final course. Read More →

Gustavo Dudamel

After a concert with the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at Carnegie Hall in New York the Human Rights Foundation criticized Dudamel for engaging in shameless propaganda and providing cover for the Venezuelan dictator Maduro. Read More →

According to human rights activists, the imprisoned Russian pianist and war opponent Pavel Kuzhnir has died in a prison in Birobidzhan in Russia. The 39-year-old died as a result of a hunger strike, reported the civil rights portal OVD-Info. Read More →

Cellist Antonio Meneses passed away yesterday in Basel, Switzerland, at the age of 66. Born in Recife, Brazil, in 1957 to a family of musicians, Meneses began his cello studies at the age of ten. Read More →

Bayreuth, Festspielhaus

In Bayreuth hat sich Alain Steffen für Pizzicato die Produktion Der Ring des Nibelungen und Der Fliegende Holländer angesehen und angehört. Read More →

John Axelrod

Gestern, am 1. August, gab das Swiss National Orchestra (SNO) sein Debütkonzert im voll besetzten Casino Bern. Unter der Leitung des Dirigenten John Axelrod begann das Konzert mit Hans Hubers Tell-Sinfonie, gefolgt von Giacomo Puccinis Intermezzo Sinfonico aus Manon Lescaut und Tchaikovskys Polonaise aus der Oper Eugen Onegin – alle Stücke wurden in der Schweiz komponiert. Read More →

Der 50-jährige deutsche Chordirigent Philipp Ahmann wird Chefdirigent des WDR Rundfunkchors in Köln. Er wird zu Beginn der Spielzeit 2025/26 die Nachfolge von Nicolas Fink antreten, teilte der Westdeutsche Rundfunk mit. Sein Vertrag läuft zunächst über drei Jahre. Read More →