Daniel Harding
(c) Julian Hargreaves

Daniel Harding has announced that he will not sign another contract with the Orchestre de Paris, whose ninth Music director he is since 2016. He will end his tenure in 2019 but, according to France Musique, he could possibly stay as Principal Guest Conductor. The conductor has not given any reason for his decision.Harding is also Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Riccardo Muti

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced that the contract for Music Director Riccardo Muti, 76, has been extended through the 2021/22 season. Muti became the CSO’s 10th music director in 2010 and his current contract continues through 2020. Muti’s new contract will begin in September 2020 and extend through August 2022. Read More →

Abteikirche Echternach

Die Gesellschaft ohne Gewinnzweck ‘Luxfestival’, die in Luxemburg das Echternacher Festival organisierte, wird aufgelöst, und das Festival wird in reduzierter Form von der Stadt Echternach übernommen. Nach ersten Fragen, die die Tageszeitung ‘Tageblatt’ vor einigen Tagen aufgeworfen hatte, wurden diese Informationen Pizzicato heute aus sicherer Quelle zugetragen, allerdings von offizieller Seite nicht bestätigt. Read More →

Jean-Philippe Tremblay

The Montreal based chamber orchestra Appassionata announces the cancellation of its activities planned until May, 2018. The press release says: « The Appassionata chamber orchestra announces the cancellation of its artistic activities planned until May, 2018. In a context of a drastic decrease of public subsidies, the economic situation does not today allow Appassionata to exercise its activities and to realize the remainder of the current season. » Read More →

Guests and performers at the House of Luxembourg
(c) Markus Hübner

In a celebration ahead of this year’s Grammy Awards, Luxembourg-born Grammy voting member Marco Battistella hosted a Luxembourgian Showcase last week at the House of Luxembourg in New York City. Read More →

Hansjörg Schellenberger
(c) Gerhard Winkler

Der deutsche Oboist und Dirigent Hansjörg Schellenberger, der dem ‘Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra’ (OPO) seit nahezu fünf Jahren als Chefdirigent vorsteht, hat seinen Vertrag mit dem japanischen Orchester zum zweiten Mal, nunmehr bis  2022 verlängert. Read More →

Yoel Gamzou

Der 1988 in Tel Aviv geborene israelisch-amerikanische Dirigent Yoel Gamzou, der seit Beginn dieser Spielzeit als Musikdirektor am Theater Bremen tätig ist, verlängert seinen Vertrag frühzeitig bis 2022. Zugleich fungiert er ab sofort unter der Bezeichnung Generalmusikdirektor. Read More →

Violinist David Garrett has suffered a herniated disc and thus has to cancel his upcoming concerts, the violinist announced on his website. Cancelled concerts should have taken place in Graz, Lucerne, Kiev and Sofia.

Marin Alsop
Photo: Grant Leighton

American conductor Marin Alsop, 61, has been appointed chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, from the 1st of September 2019 for an initial period of three years, a press release says. She is to succeed Cornelius Meister. Alsop is also chief conductor of the Sao Paulo (until the end of 2019) and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. Read More →

Taiwanese conductor Cheng Henry Hao-An has won the First European Union Conducting Competition held in Pazardijk (Bulgaria). He was selected among 80 conductors admitted after a preselection with initially 250 candidates. Second Prize went to Gil de Tejada Daniel from Spain, and Third Prize was awarded to Joanna Slusarczyk of Poland, a graduate of the Music Academy in Katowice.