Leonhard Baumgartner
(c) Andrej Grilc
Austrian violinist Leonhard Baumgartner won the Eurovision Young Musicians 2024 competition on Saturday evening in the northern Norwegian town of Bodø. He played the first movement of Henri Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5. Second place went to the Swede Hugo Svedberg, followed by Fabian Egger from Germany. Read More →
The San Francisco Symphony is planning an expensive renovation of Davies Symphony Hall, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The plan is to expand the concert hall’s ground floor and to add a recital hall. A complete makeover of the auditorium is planned as well. The cost could top $100 million.
The Melbourne Symphony, which had cancellede a performance by pianist Jayson Gillham because of his anti-Israeli remarks made during a concert, was heavily criticized by pro-Palestinian activists. Read More →
Moritzburg Festival
(c) Oliver Killig
Nun schon zum 32. Mal findet noch bis zum 18. August das von Jan Vogler initiierte und geleitete Kammermusikfestival Moritzburg vor den Toren Dresdens statt. Es zieht Künstler aus aller Welt an: junge, hoffnungsvolle neue und gestandene Wiederholungstäter, die immer wieder kommen wollen und sich zu ständig neuen Besetzungen in den einzelnen Werken vermischen. Michael Oehme berichtet. Read More →
Claudio Abbado
(c) DG/ Harald Hoffmann
Das Festival von Stresa widmet seine diesjährige Ausgabe dem Andenken an den Dirigenten Claudio Abbado, dessen Todestag sich zum zehnten Mal jährt. Zu diesem Anlass hat der künstlerische Leiter des Festivals, der Cellist Mario Brunello, beschlossen einen Abbado-Wald anzulegen. Read More →
Nachdem der Pianist Pawel Kuschnir in einem russischen Untersuchungsgefängnis an den Folgen eines Hungerstreiks starb, haben sich Musiker wie Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim und Simon Rattle sich in einem offenen Brief vor seinem Mut und seiner Menschlichkeit verneigt. Kushnir war im Mai verhaftet und wegen „öffentlicher Aufrufe zu terroristischen Aktivitäten“ angeklagt worden. Read More →
Mert Yalniz
Conductor Mert Yalniz has been selected by Esa-Pekka Salonen to join the San Francisco Symphony conducting staff in the 2024–25 season as an extension of his work as a Salonen Fellow in the Colburn School Conservatory of Music’s Negaunee Conducting Program. Read More →
Die italienische Opernsängerin Celestina Casapietra ist am 10. August in Genua verstorben. Sie war 84 Jährte alt. Nach ihrem Debüt 1963 in Mailand war Casapietra von 1965 bis 1993 erster Sopran der Berliner Staatsoper. Daneben gastierte sie u. a. an der Mailänder Scala, der Wiener Staatsoper, am Teatro Carlo Felice Genua, an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, der Hamburgischen Staatsoper und bei den Salzburger Festspielen. Read More →
Marie Jacquot
(c) Werner Kmetitsch
The French conductor Marie Jacquot will assume the role of Principal Conductor at the Royal Danish Theatre. Marie Jacquot was born in 1990 in Paris and raised in Chartres. As a child, she much preferred playing tennis over the piano, which her parents insisted she learn. Her tennis talent took her all the way to the Junior French Open, but she was also captivated by playing the trombone, and at the age of 15, she decided to fully commit to music. Read More →
Malaysian-born Australian tenor Steve Davislim died in Vienna, where he lived. He was only 57 years old. He was of Chinese and Irish ancestry. Read More →
