Members of the ICMA Jury in Bad Ragaz
The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) held its General Assembly this weekend during the Next Generation Festival at the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. The Jury decided upon the Special Awards for the coming years and took important steps in order to get stronger promotion possibilities for young artists. Read More →
James Levine
Continuous health problems bring more cancellations for conductor James Levine (72). He cancelled in Philadelphia, and the Met in New York isn’t sure about him being at the podium for next performances. He suffers from a benign, yet progressive form of Parkinson’s, and for the Metropolitan, the decision about replacing him, is more than important, says the New York Times, invoking the opera house’s difficult financial situation.
Luciano Pavarotti
After failing to sell Luciano Pavarotti’s apartment in New York in 2014, the inheritors try it again. The sale price is $ 10.5 million, over three million less than two years ago.
London Music Forum
(c) Léon Krier
Criticizing plans by an « aesthetically dumb kultural nomenklatura » the Luxembourgish Architect Léon Krier, 69, has published his own ideas in this sensitive matter. Krier, a London resident, says: « Meanwhile there is a choice location for London’s unrivalled musical offerings that, as far as I know, is yet unconsidered – namely, Park Square and Crescent. Read More →
Dirk Kaftan
Der musikalische Chef der Grazer Oper, Dirk Kaftan (45), soll neuer Generalmusikdirektor in Bonn werden und dort ab Sommer 2017 das Beethoven Orchester leiten. Er tritt die Nachfolge von Generalmusikdirektor Stefan Blunier an, nach dem allerdings Christoph Prick interimistisch tätig wurde.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld will create the costumes for several productions of the Paris Opera. The ballet Brahms-Schönberg Quartet will be the first collaboration of Lagerfeld with the operas house. He will carry out the design in the spirit of the Vienna Secession.
The Grand Théâtre de Genève which is closed for renovation, will use for two and a half years a temporary wooden structure situated near the United Nations headquarters, and symbolically called Opera Nations. The elements of the structure were before used as Ephemeral Theatre by the Comédie Française in Paris. Yet, the theatre of 700 seats was expanded to accommodate 1100 spectators and an orchestra pit for 70 musicians was added as well. The first work to be performed will be Handel’s Alcina, on 15 February.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Contemporary Music category goes in this eighth edition to Greek composer Georges Aperghis (*1945) « for his reinvention of music theatre using sounds, gestures, space and technology, and involving performers in the compositional process ». Read More →
Oper Stuttgart
Die Findungskommission, die den Nachfolger für den Intendanten der Stuttgarter Oper benennen soll hat sich für Viktor Schoner entschieden und diesen dem Verwaltungsrat vorgeschlagen. Schoner ist zurzeit Künstlerischer Betriebsdirektor der Bayerischen Staatsoper München. Zuvor arbeitete er für die Salzburger Festspiele und die Ruhr-Trienale.
Sad news are coming from Long Island/New York: The Long Island Philharmonic announced that it will close effective immediately. The orchestra ceases operations after 36 years of musical success. Yet, the last five years it was financially in serious difficulties.
