Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
(c) Maxim Schulz

The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg opened on 11 January 2017. One year later it publishes impressing figures. Some 850.000 people attended over 600 concerts, more than 4.5 million visited the Plaza terrace that offers a fabulous panorama of the city. Nearly 70,000 visitors took part in guided tours of the concert halls, and the Elbphilharmonie’s music education programme attracted over 60,000 people of all ages as participants.

Irish National Opera (INO) launches tonight (9 January) with a gala concert at Dublin’s National Concert Hall. The new company which was created through the merging of Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company, will present seven operas in its first year, five of them new productions, and tour to 13 venues in Ireland and London’s Barbican Centre. Read More →

America is home to five of the 10 busiest orchestras in the world, according to Bachtrack’s yearly statistics, the New York Philharmonic being the most in-demand with an impressive 135 performances. Germany and the UK also represented strongly, each with 2 orchestras in the top 10. Read More →

Ensemble Esperanza

The central idea of the Festival Next Generation organized by the International Music Academy Liechtenstein at the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, has been the promotion of young musicians who are on the verge of an international career and whose talent has proved that they will develop into promising personalities. This year, from 16 to 23 February, the audience can experience for the eighth time music played by a large number of very good young musicians from all over the world. Read More →

Igor Stravinsky

‘Lucerne Festival’ hat die Weltersteinspielung von Igor Stravinskys ‘Chant Funèbre’ angekündigt, die am 12. Januar bei Decca veröffentlicht wird und die erste gemeinsame CD von Riccardo Chailly und dem ‘Lucerne Festival Orchestra’ ist. Read More →

A new Board has been appointed for the financially struggling San Antonio Symphony (Texas, USA), and this team has a clear goal: save the orchestra from closure. Since the financial troubles were announced, the orchestra received a large amount of community gifts. The city allocated some $600,000 dollars for the 2018 fiscal year.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
(c) George Lange

Neujahrskonzerte sind in. Als Modell steht natürlich immer  das bewährte Wiener Neujahrskonzert mit den Wiener Philharmonikern und der Musik von Johann Strauss & Co. Die Luxemburger Philharmonie und das ‘Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg’ versuchen seit Jahren eher erfolglos, auf diese Schiene aufzuspringen, kommentiert Alain Steffen, der die Ausgabe 2018 besucht hat. Read More →

Gustav Kuhn
Ph. T. Benz/Tirolerfestsp. Erl

Die Tiroler Festspiele Erl beendeten am gestrigen 7. Januar ihren 6. Festspielwinter und melden erneut eine Steigerung der Besucherzahlen gegenüber dem Vorjahr. Opernvorstellungen und die großen Konzerte hatten eine hundertprozentige Auslastung. An insgesamt 14 Aufführungstagen nahmen knapp 9.000 Besucher das vielseitige Programmangebot wahr. Read More →

Christoph von Dohnanyi

Ein jugendlicher Einspringer ist er nicht: Christoph von Dohnanyi, 88, übernimmt im Februar und März Opernvorstellungen und Konzerte in Berlin, die Zubin Mehta wegen einer Schulteroperation absagen musste. Dies betrifft die musikalische Leitung bei der Neuproduktion von Richard Strauss’ ‘Salome’ in der Staatsoper ‘Unter den Linden’ (Premiere am 4. März) sowie das 5. Abonnementkonzert der Staatskapelle Berlin. Read More →

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Considering that not so many people from the Detroit suburbs are keen on attending concerts at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s main venue, the orchestra goes to meet them in their neighbourhood. Music Director Leonard Slatkin will conduct the DSO from 11 January on in Southfield, Clinton Township and Beverly Hills. The conductor will give a pre-concert lecture about the program one hour prior to each performance. After each show, he will meet fans and sign copies of his new book, Leading Tones. Read More →