The Elgin Symphony Orchestra in the Chicago area has raised enough money to finish its 2017/18-season, the management said. Over $140,000 have been raised, and will go toward the 2018-19 season and an endowment. The orchestra says that it is still in acute need and will continue fundraising. Read More →

Das Auswärtige Amt der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hat den Antrag auf Anerkennung der deutschen Theater- und Orchesterlandschaft als Immaterielles Kulturerbe der Menschheit offiziell der UNESCO übergeben. Read More →

Auf seiner Musikplattform ‘ARTE concert’ überträgt der deutsch-französische Fernsehsender ARTE die diesjährige ‘Menuhin Competition’ 2018 live aus Genf. Vom 12. bis 22. April 2018 nehmen dort 44 junge Violinisten aus 16 Ländern am Geigen-Wettbewerb teil, der zum ersten Mal in der Schweiz ausgetragen wird. Read More →

Erina Yashima

Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announce the extension for Erina Yashima as the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice through the 2018/19 season. Yashima was appointed to the position in 2015 for a two-year term covering the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. Read More →

Linus Roth
(c) Dan Carabas

German violinist Linus Roth is the Artistic director of a new music festival, Ibiza Concerts, on the island of Ibiza, the musician’s « favorite destination ». The profit of all concerts will go to the Spanish ONG Mans Unides. The volunteers of this organization fight to eradicate hunger and poverty in developing countries. Read More →

Buffalo Symphony & Joan Falletta
(c) Bruno Fidrych

Am Osterwochenende ging in Warschau das 22. Ludwig-van-Beethoven-Festival zu Ende. Die zweiwöchige, von Direktorin Elzbieta Penderecka initiierte und geführte Reihe mit insgesamt 18 Konzerten unter der Überschrift ‘Beethoven and Great Anniversaries’ widmete sich u.a. dem Schaffen der Komponisten-Jubilare Krzysztof Penderecki (85), Leonard Bernstein (100), Henryk Gorecki (85) und Claude Debussy (100. Todestag). Im Gespräch mit ‘Pizzicato’ zieht Musikpublizist und ICMA-Jury-Mitglied Martin Hoffmeister Bilanz. Read More →

French tenor Michel Sénéchal is dead. Born in 1927, he died on 1 April 2018 at the age of 91. Michel Sénéchal made his debut at La Monnaie in Brussels in 1950. Two years later he sang at the Paris Opéra and the Opéra-Comique, where he took one great French tenor role after the other. His reputation grow fast, and soon he was engaged by the Vienna State Opera and the festivals of Salzburg and Glyndebourne. Read More →

Simon Rattle
(c) Sébastien Grébille/Philharmonie Luxembourg

Simon Rattle, 63, has been named honorary conductor of the German National Youth Orchestra (Bundesjugendorchester BJO), a position that will allow him to maintain an active connection to the country’s music scene after his final appearance as the Berlin Philharmonic’s music director on June 20. Read More →

Hungarian pianist Livia Rév died in Paris on 28 March 2018, aged 101. Born in Budapest, Livia Rév studied with Leó Weiner and Arnold Szekely at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, with Professor Robert Teichmüller at the Leipzig Conservatory, and with Paul Weingarten at the Vienna Conservatory, having left Hungary in 1946. She performed across Europe, in Asia, Africa, and in the United States.

Vladimir Jurowski
(c) Sheila Rock

Die diesjährige Ostertournee des Gustav Mahler Jugendorchesters mit Musik aus den Zeiten der beiden Weltkriege führt das Orchester zu zwölf Auftritten in zehn Spielstätten. Wie der zweite Auftritt, für den die Philharmonie in Luxemburg den Rahmen bot, gelang, berichtet Uwe Krusch. Read More →