A modern replica of the octobass built in Paris in 1849 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume has been loaned to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra by Canadian music patrons Roger and Huguette Dubois. The octobass plays more than an octave below a standard double bass and is the largest stringed instrument in the world, standing at 3.6 meters tall, with 131 kg. Like old double-basses, the octobass has only three strings. It made its first appearance at a concert in Montreal on Oct. 20.
Luzener Sinfonieorchester
(c) Christian Flierl
The oldest symphony orchestra in Switzerland, the Lucerne Symphony, has played a spontaneous concert in front of the city hall in Lucerne. It was the musicians’ very musical way to protest against the proposed cuts in the orchestra’s funding. From 2018 on, the Lucerne Region wants to reduce the funding by half a million Swiss Francs. The orchestra’s General Manager, Numa Bischof Ullmann, said, the reduction of such an amount is not imaginable and would mean the end of the orchestra.
Veriko Tchumburidze (Georgia/Turkey) is the winner of the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznan, Poland. Bomsori Kim (25, South Korea) and Seiji Okamoto (22, Japan) share the Second prize. Read More →
James Conlon concluded his 37-year tenure at the end of the 2016 Cincinnati May Festival. Now it was announced that Basque-born conductor Juanjo Mena, 51, will succeed Conlon and begin his three-year appointment in the 2017-18 season, the festival announced on Friday.
Alexander Liebreich
(c) Bruno Fidrych
Der Dirigent Alexander Liebreich wird mit dem diesjährigen Sonderpreis des Kulturpreises Bayern geehrt. « Blickt man nur auf das Alter von Alexander Liebreich, so könnte man ihn als ‘jungen Hupfer‘ unter den Dirigenten bezeichnen. Seine Vita verrät hingegen: Alexander Liebreich hat bereits in jungen Jahren erstaunlich viel vorzuweisen. Read More →
Martyn Brabbins
(c) Benjamin Ealovega
English National Opera (ENO) has announced that British conductor Martyn Brabbins will become Music Director of the Company with immediate effect. Brabbins’s appointment runs until August 2020, and Brabbins will plan the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons together with ENO’s Artistic Director, Daniel Kramer. Read More →
Christian Kluxen
(c) Nikolaj Lund
A 34-year-old Danish conductor, Christian Kluxen, has been named as the Victoria Symphony’s new Music Director. After a multi-year search that reviewed hundreds of applicants and interviewed dozens of candidates, the West Canadian orchestra announced now the appointment starting from the 2017/18 season. Read More →
Verbier chief Martin Engstroem quits as Council member of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, telling the Orchestra’s President, Florence Notter, that a long list of bad decisions have been take during the past years. He obviously alludes to the dismissing of no less than four managers by Notter. Read More →
Klaus Heymann
(c) Emily Chu
Am morgigen 22. Oktober 2016 feiert Naxos-Chef Klaus Heymann seinen 80. Geburtstag. « Heymanns Name steht als Synonym für den Plan, klassische Musik einem Millionenpublikum nahezubringen. Eine Vision, die vor der Gründung seines Labels Naxos im Jahr 1987 noch als fast unmöglich galt », heißt es in einer Pressemitteilung des Unternehmens. Read More →
Mehr Schauspieler, eine mehr oder weniger gleichbleibende Anzahl an Sängern und Tänzern und im Gegenzug eine Verkleinerung des Orchesters von 73 auf bloß noch 63 Musiker: So will der neue Intendant des Rostocker Volkstheaters, Joachim Kümmritz die Sicherung aller vier Sparten seines Hauses erreichen. Er hat das dem Aufsichtsrat vorgeschlagen.
