Das Bachfest Leipzig hat  mittels einer internationalen Crowdfunding-Kampagne fast 60.000 Euro für die Aufforstung des Bach-Waldes in Stormthal bei Leipziggesammelt. (Pizzicato berichtete). Read More →

Luxembourg’s Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled to make a recording of music for the Luxembourg Pavillion at the World Expo in Dubai. The Orchestra will be conducted be Gast Waltzing.

Die Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben hat in diesem Herbst 13 Violinen, 5 Bratschen, 8 Violoncelli und 5 Kontrabässe an Preisträger von ‘Jugend musiziert’ vergeben. Zwei der jüngsten Teilnehmer waren der 11-jährige Ianto Hien aus Burghausen, dem ein ½ Pöllmann-Bass aus dem Besitz der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben verliehen wurde, und der 12-jährige Sebastian Dietrich aus Mülheim, der sich über eine echte Rarität freuen konnte, ein ¾-Violoncello aus der Stainer-Schule um 1700. Read More →

Omer Meir Wellber
© Felix Broede

39-year-old Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber is to be Music Director at Volksoper Wien from 1 September 2022. In addition to directing new productions and repertoire performances, for five seasons he will be chiefly responsible for the musical life of the Volksoper and for the development of the ensemble, the orchestra and the chorus. From as early as spring 2021 he will be involved in the preparations for the new directorship. Read More →

Andrea Marcon
(c) Marco Borggreve

Der italienische Dirigent, Cembalist und Organist Andrea Marcon, 57, erhält 2021 den Händel-Preis der Stadt Halle (Saale), vergeben durch die Stiftung Händel-Haus. Read More →

Nathalie Stutzmann

The Philadelphia Orchestra, now and through June 2021 on the Digital Stage only, has appointed French conductor and singer Nathalie Stutzmann, 55, as Principal Guest Conductor for three years, beginning in the 2021–22 season. Stutzmann, who made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut as a vocalist in 1997. Read More →

NY Philharmonic's David Geffen Hall
(c) Remy Franck

The New York Philharmonic has announced that its musicians have agreed to a four-year contract that includes salary cuts of 25 percent of their base pay through August 2023. Pay will then gradually increase until the contract ends in September 2024, though at that point the players will still be paid less than they were before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The cuts will amount to more than $20 million in musicians’ wages over the course of the contract, the players’ negotiating committee said in a press release. Read More →

French Cellist Maxime Quennesson has won First Prize in the second annual Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition for strings.  A student of Gary Hoffman and artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Belgium since 2019, Quennesson was born in Orsay, France and began studying the cello at age 6. Read More →

Ingo Metzmacher
(c) Harald Hoffmann

Der Festakt ’40 Jahre Ensemble Modern’ am morgigen 9. Dezember 2020 um 19 Uhr in der Alten Oper Frankfurt findet ohne Publikum statt. Jedoch wird der Festakt per Livestream kostenfrei auf der Website des Ensemble Modern übertragen und steht auch im Anschluss zum Nachhören drei Monate lang im Internet zur Verfügung. Read More →

A group of concert and opera singers, conductors, instrumental soloists and musicians from leading symphony and opera orchestras had planned to file an application to the Bavarian Administrative Court on December 7, in order to have the complete closure of concert halls and opera houses ordered to combat the COVID-19 pandemic legally reviewed. Following the proclamation of a state of emergency in Bavaria on Sunday, the artists put their request temporarily on hold. Read More →