Myung-Whun Chung

Next Thursday, Myung-Whun Chung, the Seoul Philharmonic’s former music director, has to appear at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office. The orchestra’s former CEO, Hyun-Jung Park, who was fired in 2014 over allegations of sexual and verbal harassment, has filed a lawsuit against Chung and his wife, on charges of defamation. Chung who has also been under investigation over embezzlement, had his lawyers issue an official statement. Read More →

Über 400 Musiker, die meisten davon Amateure sowie 47 Mitglieder des Kölner Gürzenichorchesters vereinigten sich am Sonntag auf dem Roncalli-Platz neben dem Kölner Dom zu einem ‘Symphonic Mob’. Dirigent Manuel Nawri leitete das riesige Orchester.

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
(c) Maxim Schulz

A total of 1,000 free tickets for the first two concerts on 11 and 12 January 2017 at Hamburg’s new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie were available. The concert house now says that more than 220,000 music lovers from all around the world registered for the draw. They came from 73 countries – from Finland and Spain to New Zealand, the USA, Antarctica, Namibia and Afghanistan. The largest number of entries originated in Germany, followed by Austria and Switzerland, from each of which 1,500 registered participants took part. The next countries in the list are France, Denmark, Great Britain, China, the Netherlands, USA and Luxembourg. Read More →

Das Petruzzelli Theater im italienischen Bari, das aufgrund von Arbeitskämpfen in eine prekäre finanzielle Lage geraten ist, soll von der Region Apulien einen außerordentlichen finanziellen Beitrag erhalten, um sein Budget ausgleichen zu können.

The 39th International Festival of Lanaudière in Quebec, Canada’s largest festival of classical music, featuring symphonic, choral and chamber music, receives this year a total subvention of $ 650,000 from the government.

7548 Musiker haben sich am Samstag in der Frankfurter Commerzbank-Arena versammelt und damit das größte Orchester der Welt gebildet. Den bisherigen Guinness-Rekord hielt seit 2013 die australische Stadt Brisbane mit 7224 Musikern. Dirigent Wolf Kerschek dirigierte das Riesenorchester in Auszügen aus Symphonien von Dvorak und Beethoven, einem Song aus dem Musical ‘Starlight Express’ und der Hymne ‘Music was my first love’.

When Sir Simon Rattle conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at Spanish Festival Internacional de Musica y Danza de Granada early in July, he made not only music, but he spoke to the audience. The Olive Press, a British expat magazine in Spain, reports that Rattle spoke to the audience and called the vote a ‘disaster’, a ‘self-mutilation’ and said that his country ‘shot itself in the foot’.

Nikolaus Bachler, Intendant der Bayerischen Staatsoper, hat in in einem Gespräch mit der ‘Süddeutschen Zeitung’ das Urteil, die österreichische Bundespräsidentenwahl zu wiederholen, scharf kritisiert. Die Annullierung der Wahl durch das oberste Gericht sei in keiner Weise ein Sieg der Demokratie, sagte Bachler. Read More →

Lang Lang
(c) Deutsche Grammophon

On Monday, July 11, 2016 the LA Phil will present 101 Pianists. 100 piano students from the Colburn School of Performing Arts and the Colburn School Music Academy piano students will gather on stage with Lang Lang to perform selected works in an exciting, collaborative setting.

Photo: twitter.com/@howgilb

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