Esa-Pekka Salonen

The London based Philharmonia Orchestra has announced that Esa-Pekka Salonen will end his tenure as principal conductor and artistic advisor at the end of the 2020-21 season. The 60-year-old Finnish conductor and composer has been in this position since 2008, when he took over from Christoph von Dohnanyi. Read More →

Daniele Gatti
Photo: Marco dos Santos

Italian conductor Daniele Gatti is the new musical director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. The contract is starting ad hoc and runs for three years, until 31 December 2021, the press release says. The decision to hire Gatti was taken by superintendent Carlo Fuortes together with the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, who is the president of Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. According to Raggi, Gatti is one of the most important conductors in the world and he will raise the prestige of the opera house. Read More →

Süher & Güher Pekinel

Since many years, the Güher & Süher Pekinel Piano Duo attracts exceptional attention in the international music scene. Their orchestral engagements include performances with distinguished orchestras such as the Berlin, Vienna, New York, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Read More →

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
(c) George Lange

43 year old Danish violinist and conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider will assume the position of Music Director of Orchestre national de Lyon in September 2020 for an initial contract of four years. He succeeds Leonard Slatkin, Music Director from 2011 – 2017 and who now holds the title of Honorary Conductor. Read More →

Tetsuro Ban
(c) Takashi Imai

The Yamagata Symphony Orchestra has appointed Tetsuro Ban as Chief Conductor from April 2019 on. Ban was born in Kyoto City in 1968. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Read More →

Kirill Petrenko
© Wilfried Hoesl

Giuseppe Verdis ‘Otello’, eine Neuproduktion der Bayerischen Staatsoper, wird am 2. Dezember unter der Leitung des Generalmusikdirektors Kirill Petrenko mit Jonas Kaufmann in der Titelpartie und Anja Harteros als Desdemona auf ‘STAATSOPER.TV’ live übertragen. Der Stream kann zusätzlich vom 3. Dezember, 12 Uhr bis 4. Dezember, 11.59 Uhr als Video-on-demand (VOD) abgerufen werden. Read More →

Gasteig München

Der japanische Akustiker Yasuhisa Toyota wird bei der Generalsanierung des Münchner Gasteig die einzelnen Säle akustisch renovieren. Das haben die Geschäftsführung und der Aufsichtsrat der Gasteig München GmbH heute beschlossen, wurde mitgeteilt. Die Akustik des großen Konzertsaals war einer der ständigen Kritikpunkte.

Jan Lisiecki
(c) Sébastien Grébille

Murray Perahia, Pianist und Erster Gastdirigent der ‘Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ hatte sein Beethoven-Konzert am Donnerstag in der Luxemburger Philharmoni krankheitshalber absagen müssen. Der junge Pianisten Jan Lisiecki  ersetzte ihn, was sich als ein wirklicher Gewinn herausstellte, meint Alain Steffen. Read More →

Colin Davis

French composer Hector Berlioz died on 8 March 1869, so 2019 will be the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of his death. ‘Berlioz 2019’ being launched not in France but in the United Kingdom, it may not surprise that one of the first publications comes from London. Today, on 30 November, the label LSO live presents a 10 CD + 6 SACD box with the Complete Sir Colin Davis Recordings under the title Berlioz Odyssey. Read More →

Mstislav Rostropovich

A sale of items from the private collection of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya brought a total of €4.7 (£4.2m) last Wednesday, Sotheby’s announced. Read More →