The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced that it hast to postpone the planned concert tour to Iran originally foreseen for late August or September. The tour will now be planned for an unspecified date during the 2014-15 season. Simin Yazdgerdi Curtis, president and CEO of the co-organizing American Middle East Institute, said to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, she hopes it will take place within two to six months of the original timing. A visit to Iran in 2014 would mark the 50-year anniversary of the last time the PSO performed in that country.
Osmo Vänskä
Photo: A Marsden
In an interview with the Minnesota Public Radio, former Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä said he’s in negotiations with orchestra management about a possible return to his old job. « We started negotiations last Saturday, and I think that the purpose of those negotiations is to try to find out if there is a way for me to come back, » he said. Vänskä resigned during the 16-month long lockout of the orchestra’s musicians. After the lockout ended, Vänskä said Orchestra President Michael Henson would have to step down, in order to allow his comeback. Last week it was announced that Henson will quit his job at the end of the current season.
Der ehemalige Opernsänger und einstige Intendant der Seefestspiele Mörbisch, Harald Serafin, soll die umstrittene Wörtherseebühne im österreichischen Klagenfurt retten. Die 1999 eröffnete Bühne geriet als ‘Millionengrab’ in Verruf, und der für Kultur zuständige Landesrat Wolfgang Waldner kündigte vor der Landtagswahl in Kärnten 2013 an, die Seebühne aufgrund der nicht finanzierbaren Betriebskosten in Höhe von 600.000 € pro Jahr, denen Einnahmen von 40.000 € pro Jahr gegenüberstehen, schließen zu wollen. Seither gibt es Versuche, die Bühne zu retten und dazu gehört eben nun der Plan Serafin, in den das Klagenfurter Stadttheater mit einbezogen werden soll.
David Aaron Carpenter
(c) Akos Simon
On a special performance at Sotheby’s New York, yesterday evening, David Aaron Carpenter became, effectively and for some moments, the most valuable musician in the world. He gave a performance on what he describes as “the most truly perfect viola ever made” and is about to become the world’s most expensive-ever musical instrument. The $45 million starting price for the Stradivarius, owned by the UK’s Baron MacDonald in the 19th century, is so far past the previous world record (recently set at something over $16 million by the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Giuseppe Guarneri “’Del Gesù’ violin) that it is likely to shift the entire global market for musical instruments. Read More →
Benjamin Britten
Indianapolis Opera canceled its fourth and final production of the season due to « financial challenges. » The management informed cast members that they would cut Benjamin Britten’s ‘Albert Herring’, planned for April 25 through May 4 at the Basile Opera Center. « Individual and corporate support for the arts has diminished, » the opera said. They also announced a major statement concerning the business plan and the 2014-2015 seaso
Bertrand de Billy
(c) Marco Borggreve
In der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Regisseur von Wagners ‘Lohengrin’ an der Wiener Staatsoper, Andreas Homoki, ist dem französischen Dirigenten Bertrand de Billy « der Kragen geplatzt“. Das sagte er dem Wiener ‘Kurier’, nachdem er das Dirigat der Oper abgegeben hatte, weil Homoki aus Regiegründen Kürzungen der Musik verlangte. Read More →
Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3 and Director the BBC Proms, has been named Chief Executive of Aldeburgh Music. He will leave the BBC in July and take up his new post in September. Tony Hall, Director General of the BBC, said that Wright ‘has been a fantastic champion of classical music across the BBC and has raised the profile of the Proms every year. » The BBC replaces him by Bob Shennan, the current Controller of BBC 2 and 6, who will become the broadcaster’s Director of Music.
Wilhelm Backhaus
2014 ist ein doppeltes Backhaus-Jahr: Der legendäre deutsche Pianist wurde am 26. März 1884, also heute vor 130 Jahren, in Leipzig geboren, und am kommenden 5. Juli werden seit seinem Tod 45 Jahre vergangen sein. Read More →
Ludovic Morlot
(c) Sussie Ahlburg
Following the lead of other orchestras, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra launches this year its own record label. The first releases on ‘Seattle Symphony Media’ will be available for download on 1 April, and as CDs on 29 April. They comprise recent performances of works by Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, George Gershwin, Charles Ives and Henri Dutilleux. Seattle Symphony recorded a lot under Gerard Schwarz, and most of it is available in the Naxos catalogue. Obviously the new music director Ludovic Morlot would like to be heard in a repertoire that Naxos has already published and will not record again.
Apollon Musagète Quartet
(c) Marco Borggreve
Borletti-Buitoni Trust announced their winners for 2014. Those are the Apollon Musagète Quartet String Quartet (Poland) – which has met with resounding success worldwide performing in concert halls and chamber music festivals worldwide -, British soprano Ruby Hughes, violinist Itamar Zorman (Israel/US). He completed his final studies at the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School and went on to win the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Another winner is Kate Whitley Piano/Composer (UK).
The winners of Fellowships 2014 are Benjamin Beilman, violin (US), Italian pianist Gloria Campaner, Alec Frank-Gemmill, Horn (UK) and Mark Simpson Clarinet/Composer (UK).
