Le Dimore del Quartetto’s innovative European project designed for the new generation of chamber music performers takes a new step. As of today, the MERITA platform is available online. Its main goal is to increase the visibility and mobility of emerging professional European string quartets, thus representing an important step forward for the European music industry. Read More →
The former head of Italy’s public TV broadcaster RAI, Carlo Fuortes, has been named artistic director of the must still be approved by Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano. Read More →
Today, Arts Council England (ACE) announced a grant of £24 million for the English National Opera (ENO) for April 2024 to March 2026, and a longer timeframe for the ENO to complete the establishment of a new main base outside the capital. Read More →
As part of the EU co-funded Creative Europe Project Butterfly a call is launched to engage composers who want to be a part of a movement to better understand and highlight the need for greater sustainability in Opera. « We are inviting composers resident in countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme to submit their applications to compose for an original, captivating and ecologically aware opera and participate more widely in an innovative and green project », the organizer says. Read More →
Bayreuth, Festspielhaus
Der Freistaat Bayern will künftig mehr für Geld für die Bayreuther Festspiele geben und zugleich weitere Anteile der Festspiel-GmbH übernehmen. Wie Kunstminister Markus Blume (CSU) mitteilte, soll der Freistaat von 2025 an 37 statt bis dato 29 Prozent der Gesellschafteranteile übernehmen.
Jonathan King
Opera Memphis has announced Jonathan King as Music Director. His contract is starting from August this year. Read More →
The Festival of Aix-en-Provence has ended its 75th edition counting 75,000 spectators, an increase of 5% over 2022 for a total of 57 performances in 10 venues, including 6 new opera productions with 2 world premieres, 3 operas in concert version and 15 concerts. The Festivals overall occupancy rate was over 90%.
Leonard Slatkin
The CMO Consortium is launching a new series of online conducting masterclasses. Three masterclasses are already announced: Leonard Slatkin will give two masterclasses on Copland and Gershwin masterworks in September 2023. Frédéric Chaslin will present a Puccini masterclass in November and John Axelrod will present Bernstein symphonies in December. More conductors are lined up for 2024. Read More →
The thriller about the new appointment of the rector of the Liszt Academy in Budapest has a new episode (first report, see below). There is now a new job advertisement, according to which a « distinction by the Hungarian state » is a prerequisite as a new criterion. According to Hungarian media, not even the candidate of the university boards, the former deputy director Kutnyánszky, fulfills this. So the new call for applications means a significant narrowing of the field. Read More →
Placido Domingo
Swiss newspaper Le Temps already warned readers from a concert Placido Domingo was scheduled to conduct at the Verbier Festival. Their contributor had comments from orchestra musicians: » ‘The conductor doesn’t know the works, he’s completely lost,’ mutters an instrumentalist. ‘It’s the assistant conductor who conducts behind the principal conductor to give the starts to the different desks,’ says yet another. Read More →
