Valery Gergiev
Foto: Marco Borggreve

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation will allocate 1 billion rubles (11 million €) for the reconstruction of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg. This was announced by RIA News with reference to a statement of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Chernyshenko. Read More →

Bei der Camerata Salzburg gibt es einen sogenannten Covid-19-Cluster. Sieben Mitglieder des Kammerorchesters wurden positiv auf das Coronavirus getestet.Alle Musiker sowie das Organisationsteam werden bei diesem Orchester vor dem Beginn jedes Projekts einem Coronavirus-Test unterzogen – so auch vor den für dieses Wochenende geplanten Saisonstartkonzerten. Dabei wurde das Virus nachgewiesen. Read More →

Zum Abschluss der Saison und zum Abschied von Generalmusikdirektor und Intendant Ulf  Schirmer wird die Oper Leipzig im Sommer 2022 alle 13 vollendeten Musikdramen von Richard Wagner präsentieren: WAGNER 22 findet vom 20. Juni bis zum 14. Juli 2022 statt.

After first cancellations, the Opera in Rouen has now canceled the remaining performances of Wagner’s Tannhäuser. In a press release the opera house says: « Following the discovery of an asymptomatic positive case at Covid-19, we had to observe a week of isolation to avoid the risk of creating an outbreak. The additional tests carried out today reveal a new asymptomatic positive case ». This artist being indispensable to the performance, the two forthcoming performances of Tannhäuser could only be cancelled, « and with them the immense work done by all the actors in this production. »

Russian viola player and conductor Yuri Bashmet was urgently hospitalized in Moscow with COVID-19. According to Russian media reports, Bashmet and his wife Natalia developed pneumonia. Their condition is said to be moderate.

John Axelrod

Organized at the initiative of conductor John Axelrod, the first Concert Culinaire de Chardonne in Switzerland was a resounding success, a press release says. Sold out and in high demand, the concert featured violinist Alexandra Conunova performing Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, with Maestro Axelrod conducting the International Orchestra of Geneva. Read More →

Kirill Karabits
Photo: Sussie Ahlburg

Due to the continuing quarantine restrictions on travel into the UK, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits will be unable to conduct the opening performance of the live streamed series on Wednesday 30 September. He is not only ‘devastated’, but also criticizing the UK regulations. Read More →

Minnesota Orchestra
Photo: Tim Rummelhoff

Today, the Minnesota Orchestra’s management and its musicians have approved an extension of the musicians’ collective bargaining agreement to run through August 2022. Read More →

The Belgian composer Frédéric Devreese died this morning at the age of 91. He was a versatile musician in various styles and genres. He is probably best known as a film composer. Read More →

The interior of the main hall after the fire

As Pizzicato already reported, a huge fire, whose cause is not yet known, destroyed much of the early-20th century National Philharmonic building in Chisinau, the Moldavian capital. The chief conductor and artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra at the National Philharmonic, Mihail Agafita, wrote on Facebook that the fire had consumed everything, including the musical instruments and the complete musical library with all the scores and orchestral parts. Read More →