Following a proposal by Mayor Luigi de Magistris, the Board of Teatro San Carlo in Naples approved unanimously Stéphane Lissner as the new superintendent and artistic director. The current General Manager of the Paris Opera will be the successor of Rosanna Purchia when her mandate expires on April 1 next year. Lissner’s contract in Paris runs through the 2020/21 season. The proposal from San Carlo has still to be validated by the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage Dario Franceschini.

Teodor Currentzis
(c) Anton Zavjyalov

Der griechisch-russische Dirigent Teodor Currentzis hat sich teilweise aus einem international angelegten Beethoven-Projekt seines Orchesters MusicAeterna zurückgezogen. Read More →

Yury Revich

Austrian-Russian Violinist Yury Revich, 28, Young Artist of the Year 2015, has arranged Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin and orchestra and will premiere this work with London’s Firebird Orchestra on October 22 at St George’s, Hanover Square in London Mayfair. The church is also known as Handel Church (the composer lived nearby and was a parishioner). Read More →

Jessye Norman
(c) Jessye Norman School of the Arts

The world will bid farewell to opera singer Jessye Norman this week in Augusta, Georgia, with a four-day celebration, Gwendolyn Quinn, a spokeswoman for the family said. Read More →

This year, the Geneva International Music Competition is dedicated to percussion and composition. From 8-21 November 2019, more than 30 candidates will be competing for one of the prizes. Juries are chaired by French percussionist Philippe Spiesser and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Read More →

Die Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern haben im Festspielsommer 2019 das zweitbeste Ergebnis ihrer Geschichte erzielen können. Vom 15. Juni bis zum 15. September besuchten insgesamt über 84.500 Besucher die 152 Konzerte an 83 Spielstätten. Zehn Orte waren dabei erstmals Gastgeber von Konzerte des Klassikmusikfestivals. 78 Konzerte waren dabei restlos ausverkauft.

The Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition has announced the candidates for the 2019 piano edition, for which Martha Argerich is jury-chairwoman, and Bertrand Chamayou vice-chairman and artistic director. Marie-Josèphe Jude, also a jury member, took charge of all the selections in 10 cities worldwide. Read More →

Schuurkerk in Zaandam
(c) Google Streetview

Violinist Maria Milstein and the members of the Busch Trio, Mathieu van Bellen, Omri and Ori Epstein, have realized an ambitious dream: the creation of a chamber music centre called MuziekHaven in Zaandam, a suburb of Amsterdam. « A sanctuary where musicians can dedicate themselves entirely to their music, our location aims to provide chamber musicians with the ideal conditions for development and discovery », Mathieu van Bellen says. The word sanctuary is well chosen though, because MuziekHaven is located in a historic church. Remy Franck attended the MuziekHaven’s inauguration. Read More →

Der russische Energiekonzern Gazprom und sein österreichischer Partner OMV  haben einen Vertrag für Projektsponsoring bei den Salzburger Festspielen unterzeichnet. Damit soll die russische Oper im Programm der Festspiele verankert werden. Read More →

The Spanish singer Placido Domingo, confronted with accusations of sexual harassment, was yesterday awarded the Mexican music prize Premio Batuta. This was announced by the organizers. Only one day before, they had suspended the awarding of the prize, waiting for the accusations to be clarified. The organizers did not give a reason for their renewed swing. However, Domingo was not present at the award ceremony.