Launched this year, the global ‘Music Against Child Labour Initiative’ links the ‘International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour’ (IPEC) with famous conductors, musicians and musicians’ organizations. The Initiative’s Manifesto calls on orchestras, choirs and musicians of all genres worldwide to dedicate one concert from now one until December 2014 to the struggle against child labour. More information here.

Before publishing their Awards 2013 on November 21, French Record Academy Charles Cros made available the list of their ‘Coups de Cœur 2013’ for contemporary music. The polygamous Jury is in love with the following long list of recordings: Read More →

Under the auspices of ‘Fondation de Luxembourg’, Luxembourg’s National Cultural Fund (Focuna) will shortly offer a series of scholarships for young musicians from Luxembourg and Europe. The objective is to favor research, creation and improvement by allowing the artists to have the necessary resources for their activities.

More information here.

Fabio Luisi

Etwas ist gewusst: Musikdirektor Daniel Barenboim verlässt die Mailänder Scala Ende Dezember 2014. Wer sein Nachfolger wird, ist noch nicht bekannt. Man weiß nur, dass Alexander Pereira, der am 1. Oktober 2014 sein Amt als neuer Scala-Intendant antritt, die Kandidatur des Mailänder Dirigenten Riccardo Chailly unterstützt. Jetzt veröffentlichten italienische Medien aber eine Umfrage, laut der der andere Name, der ins Spiel geraten ist, der des Genueser Fabio Luisi, mehr Gewicht bekommt. Read More →

Jean-Bernard Pommier

French pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier is the President of the Franciscan Theatre in Béziers (Languedoc-Roussillon/France), where his contract is running throughout 2014. Pommier said to a journalist of the newspaper ‘Midi Libre’ that the decision to extend his contract will closely depend on the results of municipal elections in spring 2014. He firmly declared that he will certainly not continue his work under a mayor of the far right ‘Front National’.

Die Jury des Berliner Opernpreises 2014 hat sich entschieden, ‘Go, Aeneas, go’ des katalanischen Komponistenkollektivs Bonfill/Garcia-Tomás/Magrané/Rumbau, sowie der Librettistin Cristina Cordero und des Regisseurs Jordi Pérez Solé mit dem ersten Preis und ‘luft¯schloss / erd_reich’ der deutsch-brasilianischen Komponistin Verena Marisa Schmidt mit einem Förderpreis auszuzeichnen. Read More →

Teddy Abrams
(c) Kenny Corbin

American Conductor Teddy Abrams has been appointed Music Director at the Louisville Symphony Orchestra (Kentucky). Abrams, who will begin a three-year contract in September 2014, studied conducting with Michael Tilson Thomas, Otto-Werner Mueller at the Curtis Institute of Music, and with David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival; he was the youngest conducting student ever accepted at both institutions. Read More →

Musicians of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (South Carolina) voted to quit their players union, Local 502 of the American Federation of Musicians, according to an article in ‘The Post & Courier’. The musicians are convinced that in this difficult times, the union did not the best for the Orchestra, and that it was better for them to have a collaborative working relationship with the board and management. The highly unusual step could be a signal for a new relationship between managements and musicians throughout the States. The union has often been criticized for their stubborn positions in labor conflicts.

After the bankruptcy of New York City Opera, Bloomberg reports that in opera circles there are discussions to revive the company under a new management in order to have an alternative to the Metropolitan Opera. One possibility could be to fix the new company 30 miles north of New York City at Purchase College, State University of New York, but no concrete plan has emerged so far.

Beim ersten Livestream aus der Wiener Staatsoper mit dem ‘Rosenkavalier’ von Richard Strauss am vergangenen Sonntag hat es technische Probleme mit einem Server gegeben. Bis zum nächsten Event am 27. 11. will das Opernhaus weitere Teststreams durchführen. Was Zahlen anbelangt, blieb die Oper vage. Die Rede ist von einigen Hundert Zuschauern. Ein On-Demand-Stream der aufgezeichneten Produktionen steht jetzt für fünf Euro bis kommenden Sonntag zur Verfügung.