Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will have its funding from the City Council cut by 25% from April 2017. In a press release the Orchestra says: « A cut of this scale equates to a reduction of £228,000 from the current year’s level. Coming on top of the £1.47 million real-terms public funding cuts which the orchestra has already absorbed since 2010, it means the CBSO’s public funding will drop below that currently received by any other regional symphony orchestra in the country, with its Birmingham City Council grant falling to levels last seen in the 1980s. » Read More →
Jonas Kaufmann
Photo: Mathias Bothor
The series does not end: Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from his appearances in the Grand Opening concerts of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 11 and 12 January 2017. Following the advice of his doctor, Kaufmann has made the difficult decision to postpone his return to the stage, so that he can fully recover from illness. In the second half of January, Kaufmann is scheduled to sing Lohengrin at the National Opera in Paris.
In Hamburg, Pavol Breslik steps in for the cancelling singer.
Das Theater Trier wird nach dem Weggang von Intendant Sibelius zunächst ohne Intendant von einem Führungsteam geführt, in dem Verwaltungsdirektor Herbert Müller, Generalmusikdirektor Victor Puhl, Spartenleiter, Chefdisponent und der Chef der Technik das Sagen haben. Im Frühjahr 2017 soll die Suche nach einem Intendanten beginnen. Das teilte die Stadt am Mittwoch mit.
KKL Luzern
Zu Ende 2016 zieht ‘Lucerne Festival’ Bilanz und verzeichnet starke 90 Prozent Gesamtauslastung der Kaufveranstaltungen mit 85.400 Besuchern bei den drei Festivals zu Ostern, im Sommer und am Piano. Zu den zahlreichen Gratis- und Nebenveranstaltungen kamen zusätzlich rund 20’400 Interessierte, das sind insgesamt 105’800 Besucher. Read More →
The idea is as charming as symbolic: a would-be tenor who would sing for the inauguration of a would-be President. According to the New York Post, Andrea Bocelli « is being personally approached by President-elect Donald Trump to perform at the inauguration ». Trump, obviously, did not find anybody else…. Read More →
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony
(c) Bill Swerbenski
The San Francisco Symphony announced the cancellation of two planned performances in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, planned for April 2017 in response to that state’s House Bill 2 (HB2), a law that bans discrimination on the basis of “race, religion, color, national origin or biological sex,” leaving purposely out sexual orientation and gender identity as categories protected from discrimination. Read More →
Die eminent musikalischen und lyrischen Qualitäten eines Marimba Ensembles zeigte das ‘Wave Quartet’ gestern Abend im Zyklus ‘Camerata’ der ‘Solistes Européens Luxembourg’ in der Luxemburger Philharmonie. Remy Franck war für Pizzicato im Publikum. Read More →
Zum Ende des Jahres blickt das ‘Musiktheater im Revier’ (MiR) auf eine erfolgreiche Spielzeit 2015-16 zurück. Trotz einer verkürzten Spielzeit, infolge der viermonatigen Baumaßnahmen im Großen Haus, lagen sowohl die Anzahl der Besucher als auch die Kartenverkäufe deutlich über den Vorjahreswerten: Die Einnahmen im Kartenverkauf erhöhten sich um €250.000 auf insgesamt €2,16 Mio. Die Zuschauerzahlen konnten um rund 3.000 Personen oder 2,5 % gesteigert werden. Das MiR hatte damit 122.000 Besucher bei 270 Vorstellungen in der Saison.
After the Regional Council of Île-de-France announced to cut the funding of the Festival d’Île de France by 68 % from 2017 on, the festival eventually faces closure. The festival is a major cultural event in Île de France since more than 40 years, organising annually over 30 concerts and reaching an audience of 20.000 with an average occupation of 87%. The Festival asks the Region to tack back its decision and organizes a petition which can be signed here.
French conductor Benjamin Levy has been appointed Music Director of the Orchestre Régional de Cannes Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, with a contract of three years. Levy studied in Lyon and Paris as well as at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen (USA) with David Zinman, Yuri Temirkanov and Jorma Panula. He was the assistant of Marc Minkowski in many concerts and operatic productions and currently he is the Music Director of the chamber orchestra Pelléas, a young, independent orchestra, founded and managed by the musicians themselves. In Cannes he is the successor to Wolfgang Doerner who joined the orchestra in 2013.
