At this year’s Leopold Mozart Violin Competition in Augsburg, Spanish violinist Julen Zelaia (*1995) won the special prize for the best performance of the commissioned work for solo violin and recording, Soleos, by Polish composer Elzbieta Sikora. Read More →

Gustavo Gimeno
(c) Alfonso Salgueiro

Gerade einmal zehn Tage ist es her, dass man Yuja Wang in der Philharmonie erleben konnte. Bei ihrem letzten Besuch ihrer Residenz hier vor Ort traf sie dann mit den heimischen Größen zusammen,  mit dem Philharmonischen Orchester Luxemburg (OPL) und seinem Chefdirigenten Gistava Gimeno. Wie dieses Zusammentreffen klang, beschreibt Uwe Krusch für Pizzicato. Read More →

After the Russian Ministry of culture initiated a discussion about their plans to stop the import of musical instruments in all the public institutions, musicians as well as organizations spoke out against such a bill. Some say, the Russian instrument industry would not be able to provide enough instruments. Read More →

Der Protest des Personals und der Musiker der Philharmonie in der westrussischen Stadt Kursk war erfolgreich: Der Manager des Philharmonischen Orchesters und der Philharmonie, Alexei Konorev, wurde nach seiner dubiosen Entlassung (Pizzicato berichtete) wieder eingestellt. Die Regionalverwaltung ging damit auf die Argumente der Protestierenden ein.

(c) Remy Franck

Since ancient times, philosophers have sought to cultivate happiness and well-being. Their intuitions about the benefits of shared creative experiences have now been confirmed by pioneering scientific research conducted by University College London (UCL) in partnership with Eric Whitacre and Music Productions. The detailed study, led by UCL Senior Research Fellow and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Dr Daisy Fancourt, shows how singing in a virtual choir delivers significant psychological benefits. Read More →

John Georgiadis, who was concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra in two periods from 1965-1979, has now published his autobiography Bow to Baton, a fascinating story about the musical life in general and about the one in London in particular, at that time. This means, of course, that the memories include conductors from the past which will interest above all those readers old enough to have known personalities like André Previn, Thomas Beecham, Malcolm Sargent, Colin Davis, Leonard Bernstein (Worst Side Story), Sergiu Celibidache, Jascha Horenstein, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy (The Thickest Skin), George Solti (The Screaming Skull), Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf (Much Ado About Nothing), and many more. Read More →

The Leopold Mozart competition in Augsburg has announced the 12 violinists who will take part in the second round (3-4 June). Read More →

Vlad Vizireanu

Romanian-born conductor Vlad Vizireanu has been named Music Director of the Knox Galesburg Symphony in Galesburg (Illinois), as a successor of  Bruce Polay, who was at the helm of the orchestra for 35 years. Read More →

Linus Roth, Künstlerischer Leiter des Wettbewerbs im Jahre 2019, und Jurymitglied Remy Franck

In der Deutschen Mozartstadt Augsburg läuft seit diesem Samstag die erste Runde des 10. Internationalen Violinwettbewerbs Leopold Mozart. 24 Kandidaten präsentieren sich der Jury aus Geigern, Managern und Journalisten. Die Mehrheit der Kandidaten kommt aus Asien und die Mehrheit ist weiblich. Read More →

Yury Revich

Austrian-Russian violinist Yury Revich, 27, Young Artist of the Year of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2015, pursues a brilliant international career. Together with the Italian pianist Fiorenzo Pascalucci he launched their own Beethoven Project for the upcoming Beethoven Year 2020. They have prepared all of the composer’s violin sonatas in a historical set up. Read More →