The Macon Symphony Orchestra, led by music director and conductor Gerald Steichen, is playing its last concert tonight at The Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia. The MSO concludes a 40-year run and end its existence due to decreasing ticket sales and declining corporate support. Read More →

Herbert Blomstedt
(c) Accentus

Anlässlich der Verleihung der Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Leipzig an den schwedischen Dirigenten Professor Herbert Blomstedt für seine herausragenden Verdienste um das kulturelle Leben der Stadt würdigte die sächsische Staatsministerin für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, heute den Künstler, dessen « sechs Dekaden des Schaffens für mehrere Musikergenerationen Inspiration und Vorbild“ gewesen seien. Read More →

Lang Lang
(c) Deutsche Grammophon

Lang Lang has cancelled his November 2017-tour in Europe and Asia with the Berlin Philharmonic due to a tendinitis in the left arm. According to a press release of the Berlin Philharmonic, Lang Lang will need more time to cure the disease. As a consequence the recital scheduled for April 9, 2018, is also cancelled and will not be replaced.

Gustavo Dudamel

After the cancellation of another concert tour by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra by Venezuela’s dictator Maduro, Gustavo Dudamel has published a very emotional message on his Facebook page.

« My heart is broken by the Venezuelan government’s cancellation of another tour by an El Sistema orchestra. Read More →

One of Obama’s big mistakes was the cancellation of funding for the Paris-based UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization. And it was probably the only Obama decision that POTUS Trump endorsed. Today his administration announced that it would end its membership because of its “anti-Israel bias.” The United States withdrawal goes into effect at the end of 2018. However the US want to keep an observer status. The International Counceil of Music (CIM) is part of UNESCO.

Christoph von Dohnanyi

Christoph von Dohnanyi, 88, continues cancelling concerts since the beginning of the year. The latest are his Nov. 3-5 concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This is the second time the comductor has cancelled an appearance with the PSO this year. In March, Gustavo Dudamel stepped in, tis time it’s Music Director Manfred Honeck.

Opera di Roma

Das Opernhaus der italienischen Hauptstadt meldet für den Zeitraum 2014 bis 2016 ein Plus von 51 Prozent bei den Einnahmen. Die Zahl der Zuschauer stieg gegenüber in derselben Zeit um 28 Prozent. 43% der Besucher gehen erst seit den letzten zwei Jahren in die ‘Opera di Roma’ und 30% der Gesamtzahl sind unter 30. Read More →

Dmitri Korchak

Russian tenor Dmitri Korchak (*1979) who is successful on the most impiortant stages in the world, pursues his conducting career and signed a contract as Principal Guest Conductor at the opera theatre in Novosibirsk. The contract runs through 2020. The first performance to be conducted under the direction of Dmitry Korchak, will be Gaetano Donizetti’s opera L’elisir d’amore.

The European Youth Orchestra has today announcing major news. The orchestra is planning an expanded partnership with Campus Grafenegg, and at the same time the Orchestra has accepted an offer from Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Culture, to establish a legal and operational seat in Ferrara and Rome, and a new broadcast partnership with RAI, alongside its current Italian work in Bolzano. The Orchestra is also announcing a new partnership in Brussels. Read More →

« Dmitry Hvorostovsky is alive », the Russian magazine Classical Music News says, responding to false news of the singer’s death in many Russian media last night. This is most embarrassing considering the heath state of Hvorostovsky who recently cancelled more concerts due to his brain tumour. Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, will officially apologize to Dmitri Hvorostovsky for reporting about his alleged death, managing editor of the paper’s website Olesya Nosova told the agency TASS.