The musicians of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra (OSE) in San Sebastian will be on strike on November 18, to defend a collective contract that guarantees the employment and stability of the staff. The musician’s union said that the aim of the strike is also to put an end to the policy of economic cuts. The strike will hurt the Asociación Bilbaina de Amigos de la Ópera for their first performance of ‘Don Pasquale’ in Bilbao.

The French composer Philippe Manoury’s suitcase was stolen on 6th November on the train between Strasbourg and Mannheim. The suitcase contained 40 pages of drafts for a new work for string quartet as well as copies of the fourth movement of Pierre Boulez’s String Quartet ‘Livre pour Quatuor’. Read More →

Anna Netrebko
(c) Werner/Tsui

Für einen Opernabend mit Anna Netrebko und ihrem Ehemann Yusif Eyvazov im Tchaikovskys-Saal in Moskau kamen falsche Konzertanten noch vor dem offiziellen Verkaufsstart auf dem Markt. Die Tickets wurden außerdem zu sehr hohen Preisen angeboten. Der Veranstalter hat mitgeteilt, dass nur die offiziellen Eintrittskarten zulässig sind. Die betrogenen Käufer haben kaum Aussicht auf Rückerstattung.

The Menuhin Competition has today announced a record-breaking year for the number of young musicians applying to participate in the next edition of the Competition in Geneva in April 2018. The total number of violinists applying for the 44 Competition places in both Junior and Senior categories has risen to 317, a 6% increase in the number of applications for London 2016. The youngest is just 7 years old. Read More →

Teatro alla Scala, Milano

Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is building new spaces behind the old theatre, in Via Verdi, where a building which had been acquired years ago, has already been demolished to allow the new construction designed by architect Mario Botta. The annexe will cost between ten and fifteen million euros. Read More →

South Korean violinist Ji Won Song, 25, has been awarded First Prize at the 2017 Isang Yun International Violin Competition, in Tongyeong, South Korea. She is a former prize winner of the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition. Song currently studies with Ida Kavafian and Donald Weilerstein at The Juilliard School. Second and Thord Prizes were awarded to Nancy Zhou, 24, and Nigel Armstrong, 27, both from the United States.

Over ten members of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) paid a visit to Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA) from October 23 and 27, 2017, a press release of the Shanghai Conservatory says. During the five-day visit, young musicians from several European countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Bulgaria, performed alongside SOA students in routine rehearsals. In addition, SOA organized a series of cultural events, including an educational exchange lecture, giving the European visitors an extraordinary opportunity to learn about Chinese customs and traditions. Read More →

Italian conductor Alfonso Scarano was named Principal Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Thailand for the season 2017-2018. Scarano was already guest-conducting this orchestra since 2011. Read More →

Daniel Barenboim
(c) Peter Adamik

Zu Beginn, Warteschlangen an der Kasse, zum Schluss, wie nicht anders zu erwarten, Standing Ovations für Daniel Barenboim, der gestern als Solist mit dem Philharmonischen Ortchester Luxemburg auftrat. Der Applaus war mehr als gerecht, mehr als verdient, allerdings eher für die außerordentliche musikalische Persönlichkeit Barenboim denn für den Interpreten Barenboim, meint Alain Steffen in seiner Kritik. Read More →

Lucilin
© Jean Huot

« How does it feeI? » nennt sich das Festival für Neue Musik ‘rainy days’, das gestern in der Luxemburger Philharmonie begann und noch bis zum 19. November dauert.Es ist ein vielfältiges Programm mit Schwerpunkt auf avantgardistischer und experimenteller Musik, also nur ein Ausschnitt aus der Wirklichkeit der heute oft in Rückbesinnung arbeitenden Komponisten, oder, wie es die Programmchefin Lydia Rilling sagt, « …ein Einsatz für Musik, die es heute beim Publikum schwer hat ». Read More →