Erwin Stürzer

Erwin Stürzer, seit vielen Jahren in der Klassikbranche tätig und langjähriger ‘Managing Director’ beim Klassikvideo-Label Arthaus Musik, wird ‘General Manager’ der neu geschaffenen ‘Audiovisual division’ der Naxos Music Group. Read More →

Jan Ignacy Paderewski

This Wednesday, 30 June, marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a Polish pianist, composer and statesman. At this occasion an open-air musical marathon has been scheduled along the so called Royal Route in the centre of Warsaw’s Royal Route, with a big number of performances and films about Paderewski. Read More →

Die deutsche Regierung hat gestern die Einrichtung eines neuen Förderfonds für zeitgenössische Musik bekannt gegeben. Read More →

Stefan Arzberger

Die Anklage wegen versuchten Mordes gegen den 43-jährigen deutschen Geiger Stefan Arzberger in New York ist fallengelassen worden. Die Staatsanwaltschaft beschloss nach 15 Monaten, keinen Prozess anzustrengen. Damit kann der frühere Erste Geiger des Leipziger Streichquartetts nach Deutschland zurückkehren. Read More →

Four scores by Italian composer Gaspare Spontini (1774-1851) have been discovered in the library of the Ursel Castle in Hingene, Belgium. Among them are three long lost operas, Il quadro parlante, Il geloso e l’audace and Le metamorfosi di Pasquale ossia Farsa as well as the cantata L’eccelsa gara. Presumably the music was brought there via the descendants of Spontini’s wife Céleste Erard. Now, a research group from the Royal Antwerp Conservatory will analyze the scores and prepare them for eventual performance and recording.

Fabio Luisi

Italian conductor Fabio Luisi (*1959), who was scheduled to become chief conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony in Copenhagen in 2017, will start his job earlier than planned, on 1 September 2016.

Opéra Bastille, Paris

The employees of the National Opera in Paris are on strike, again and again! The performance of Verdi’s Aida scheduled for today, Tuesday 28 June 2016 at 7:30 pm at the Opera Bastille is cancelled. The management apologises and propose either a ticket exchange for another performance of the same production, or a refund.

First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights, New York hosted the first concert of the Refugee Orchestra Project conceived by conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya. On the dedicated website one can read: « Lidiya Yankovskaya realized in the wake of the Syrian refugee crisis that many of her own closest colleague and friends were not aware that she and many others like her had come to the U.S. as refugees to seek asylum from violence and persecution abroad. Due to the traumatic nature of their experience, refugees are often hesitant to speak openly about their history, and it is common for people to be unaware that their neighbors, coworkers, and friends have been taken in by the United States as refugees at a time of crisis. »

Nicolas Mansfield, Manager of the Dutch Touring Opera in Enschede will soon have its own Brexit. The newspaper Turantia reports that the Brit who lives in the Netherlands for 28 years, has applied on Monday morning for the Dutch nationality.

The Department Council of Val-d’Oise (Ile-de-France Region) has voted a budget of €600,000 to support various festivals, including three devoted to classical music.  Among the beneficiariesare the Baroque festival of Pontoise, the Royaumont Festival and the Festival of Auvers-sur-Oise.