53-year-old John C. Gawf Jr., Music Director of the Omaha Opera has been charged with « financial abuse of a vulnerable adult » for taking about $113,000 from his demential mother. The Omaha World-Herald reports that attorneys said the money was used to fuel the defendant’s gambling addiction.
Carlo Kalmar
(c) Michael Jones
The Oregon Symphony in Portland announced that Carlos Kalmar signed a three-year contract renewal as Music Director. Yet, the conductor says that he will be leaving the orchestra after this extension expires, at the end of the 2020/2021 season. He became music director in 2003. Read More →
The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) named Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura (*1946) as Music Director. He has been a music director of Tokyo Ballet, Kyoto Municipal Symphony and Nayoga Philharmonic. From 2012 until 2015, Fukumura appeared as guest conductor for PPO season concerts.
Der Dirigent Stefan Solyom hat für die Geigerin Irina Zwiener, eine Musikerin seines Orchesters, der Staatskapelle Weimar, eine Hilfsaktion gestartet. Im Text der Aktion heißt es: « Hendrik Zwiener, ein aktiver Humanist und Mitglied der Cellogruppe im Gewandhausorchester seit 2006, ist am 2.7.2016 bei einem Fahrradunfall, auf dem Heimweg, plötzlich und tragisch ums Leben gekommen. Read More →
The City Council of Paris has adopted the reform of the municipal conservatories as from September 2016. The reform package aims at meeting an increasing number of applications and caring at the same time about quality. Until 2020, the city wants to create 3800 new places for beginners, a large majority (2800) in the municipal conservatories, the other split between education centers and associative schools. This will almost double the current offer. Read More →
Hartmut Haenchen
(c) Marc Waymal/Studio St Honoré
Nach dem Ausscheiden des ‘Parsifal’-Dirigenten Andris Nelsons bei den Bayreuther Festspielen ist die Festspielleitung fündig geworden. Der Deutsche Hartmut Haenchen (73) ersetzt den 37-jährigen Letten Nelsons bei der Premiere am 25. Juli. Haenchen hat die Wagner-Oper in seiner Karriere schon mehrfach dirigiert – unter anderem in Paris, Brüssel und Kopenhagen.
Olivier Messiaen
The Messiaen Foundation has started a project to open Olivier Messiaen’s residence on the lake of Laffrey (Isère) as residence for young musicians. Read More →
Frank Peter Zimmermann
(c) Franz Hamm
Die nordrhein-westfälische Kulturministerin Christina Kampmann hat gestern (4/7) einen Vertrag unterzeichnet, der den Ankauf für knapp 30 Millionen Euro von 297 Kulturgütern aus dem Besitz der Portigon AG durch das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen regelt. Die Objekte, darunter Werke international renommierter Künstler sowie die Stradivari ‘Lady Inchiquin’, werden von einer unselbständigen Stiftung ‘Kunst im Landesbesitz’ übernommen, die an die Kunstsammlung NRW angegliedert ist. Read More →
The Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia is held at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Sydney Opera House from the 6th – 23rd July 2016. 32 candidates have been admitted to the contest which takes place every four years. In 2016, the competition experienced record growth with 283 nominees – nearly doubling the previous field of applicants in 2012.
Valery Gergiev
(c) Marco Borggreve
Due to his Palmyra concert, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. At the same time the Director of Saint Petersburg House of Music, Sergey Roldugin received the same decoration.
