François-Xavier Roth
(c) François Sechet

Due to heavy snowfalls in the greater Boston area, with schools closed and public transportation on an emergency schedule, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has cancelled today’s performance. The concert has been postponed to Sunday, January 7 at 5 p.m., the orchestra says in a news release. François-Xavier Roth conducts Méhul, Mozart and Beethoven featuring British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.

Sebastian Lang-Lessing

The San Antonio Symphony will play concerts this weekend and cancel the remainder of the season, the Board decided yesterday, when the negotiations over a new contract for the musicians failed. The orchestra’s financial problems rose in December, when a group of donors backed away from their plans to manage the symphony in a new structure. In a statement, the Board Chair said, that « this is not the end of the symphony. » The orchestra’s current Music Director is German conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

Charles Dutoit
(c) Bruno Fidrych

French soprano Anne-Sophie Schmidt has outspoken on sexual abuse by the conductor Charles Dutoit. In an article of the newspaper L’Alsace, the singer tells how Dutoit harassed her sexually back in 1995. Dutoit, then Music Director of the French National Orchestra, had engaged Schmidt as Mélisande for a production of Debussy’s opera at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Read More →

Georges Bizet

While in the original version Carmen is stabbed to death by Don José, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s new production of Bizet’s opera is ending differently. Concerned by the daily violence against women in Italy, opera director Leo Muscato wrote a new finale for Bizet’s Carmen which will premiere on January 7. In his new version, Carmen is not murdered, but shoots Don José with a gun.

Sydney Opera House

The opera theatre at the Sydney Opera, the Joan Sutherland Theatre, reopened on Sunday with Opera Australia’s production of The Merry Widow, starring Australian-born soprano Danielle de Niese. The theatre was closed from May to December 2017 for the most significant renovation since the inauguration in 1973. The project was completed over just seven months while the rest of the Opera House remained in operation. Read More →

Christian Thielemann
(c) Deutsche Grammophon

Der deutsche Dirigent Christian Thielemann, 58, wird 2019 am Pult des Neujahrskonzerts der Wiener Philharmoniker stehen. Der Chefdirigent der Sächsischen Staatskapelle Dresden und künstlerische Leiter der Salzburger Osterfestspiele dirigiert das Konzert zum ersten Mal.

Mariss Jansons
Photo: BR

Am 14. Januar 2018 wird Mariss Jansons, seit 2003 Chefdirigent von Chor und Symphonieorchester des BR, 75 Jahre alt. Der Bayerische Rundfunk würdigt den Maestro mit vielen Sendungen im BR Fernsehen, 3sat und ARD-alpha, im Radio und im Internet: Highlights, wie bisher noch ungesendete Konzerte, ein neues Filmporträt, nterviews, ein ganzer Sendetag in BR-Klassik/Hörfunk mit dem Titel ‘Ein Tag mit Mariss Jansons’, sowie Geschichten über den großen Musiker online auf br-klassik.de. Read More →

Daniel Oren

Israeli conductor Daniel Oren(*1955) has been named Music Director of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Georgian Ministry of Culture announced. Oren began his brilliant international career in 1975, winning the first prize at the Karajan Competition Award. Oren, is Artistic Director of the Teatro Verdi in Salerno, Italy, and has conducted at venues like the Vienna Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House and New York’s Metropolitan.

Happy New Year from the Pizzicato Team! On the eve of the New Year, we take a quick look back at the last twelve months. As you have seen, we have been widely covering international music news and published well over 1.000 reviews of new audio and video releases. Our reader statistics show that during the year 2017, our readership has further increased and we counted over 1,7 million visitors at the website, with an average of 5,6 pages read by every visitor. We expect to keep up this development speed and quality level and wish you happiness and musical enrichment in 2018.

Statsoper Unter den Linden

Die Staatsoper ‘Unter den Linden’ in Berlin hat im Jahr 2017 eine positive Entwicklung gekannt. Sie steigerte zunächst noch im Ausweichquartier ‘Schiller-Theater’ und ab Dezember im wiedereröffneten Stammhaus die Auslastung von 88 Prozent (2016) auf 94 Prozent. Read More →