Daniel Barenboim
(c) Peter Adamik

Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim announced today he was stepping down as General Musical Director of Berlin’s State Opera due to deteriorating health. »Unfortunately my health condition significantly worsened in the last year, » Barenboim, 80, said in a statement. « I can no longer deliver the performance rightly expected of a general musical director. » Read More →

The Greek National Opera (GNO) announced that its Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis has been renewed for three additional years, from 2023-2026. Read More →

Die Kulturstiftung Meiningen-Eisenach hat die seit 2008 vom Staatstheater Meiningen genutzten Kammerspiele erworben. Das von den Stadtwerken Meiningen verkaufte Gebäude wurde am Donnerstag übergeben. « Mit dem Erwerb des Gebäudes durch die Kulturstiftung Meiningen-Eisenach von den Meininger Stadtwerken ist für diese wertvolle Arbeit Planungssicherheit geschaffen worden“, so die Stiftungsvorsitzende der Kulturstiftung. Read More →

The latest Karajan Community Letter focuses on Karajan’s interpretations of Mozart’s Da Ponte operas. Another interesting topic is the special relationship the conductor of the 2023 New Year’s Concert in Vienna had with Herbert von Karajan. Here is the link to this week’s Karajanist Community Letter. And here is the link, where you can subscribe to the Newsletter: https://www.karajan.community/

achtrack’s annual Classical Music Statistics 2022 announce signs of a gradual return towards pre-Covid activity levels. Overall the 2022 statistics show a classical music world that is gradually bouncing back from the disruptions of Coronavirus – and at the same time is responding positively to demands to show greater commitment to gender parity and the inclusion of living artists. Read More →

The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) will begin organizing a new award, the ICMA Classeek Award, presented for the first time in 2023, when the ICMA Award Ceremony and Gala Concert take place at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland. This new category has been created in close collaboration with Classeek, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Read More →

According to the Military Manpower Administration in Seoul, young Koreans will no longer be exempt from military service if they win the Tchaikovsky Competition, Moscow Ballet Competition, and Ballet Competition Arabesque, all hosted by Russia, and some other competitions which do no longer belong to the World Federation of International Music Competitions, International Dance Council and International Theater Institute.

Andrew Downes, former Head of School of Composition and Creative Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire from 1992 until 2005, died today at the age of 72. His music has been performed all over the world and broadcast on BBC, France Musique, Italian television, Austrian, Dutch, Czech radio and Beijing radio. There are 17 CDs with his music available.

French pianist Matthieu Acar passed away after an incurable cancer at the age of 34. An eclectic musician, whether as a soloist or a chamber musician, Matthieu Acar was constantly seeking to build bridges between eras and styles. Read More →

Christian Thielemann wird 2024 das Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker, dirigieren. Das teilten die Wiener Philharmoniker mit. 2019 hatte der mittlerweile 63-jährige Deutsche bereits diese Veranstaltung geleitet.

  • Pizzicato

  • Archives