The ongoing renovation work in the complex of the tower Bel-Air in Lausanne is more and more disrupting the activities of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (OCL). The latter had to interrupt a recording session because of the noise. « We are very angry. The orchestra cannot work properly since several months, » Curchod Alexander, president of the Foundation OCL told the Swiss press. Read More →

Photo: Marco Borggreve

British conductor Robin Ticciati (33) who has already cancelled concerts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Santa Cecilia in Rome and DSO Berlin has withdrawn from his concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra up to March 18. His next activity is Wagner’s Meistersinger in May at the Glyndebourne Opera House. According to The Herald, Ticciati suffers from a herniated disc.

Philharmonie Berlin

Martin Hoffmann, Intendant der Berliner Philharmoniker, will bei Ablauf seines Vertrages im August 2017, also noch ehe im Sommer 2018 Kirill Petrenko als neuer Chefdirigent seine Arbeit aufnimmt, sein Amt zur Verfügung stellen. Das sagte er heute im Berliner ‘Tagesspiegel’. Read More →

Riccardo Chailly
Photo: ICMA

Riccardo Chailly, der neue Chefdirigent des ‘Lucerne Festival Orchestra’, hat heute in Luzern gemeinsam mit dem Intendanten Michael Haefliger erste Pläne zur zukünftigen künstlerischen Ausrichtung des Orchesters vorgestellt. Ab 2017 wird Riccardo Chailly jährlich zu Anfang des Sommer-Festivals drei Konzertprogramme dirigieren. Read More →

Japanese pianist Takuya Otaki, 29, who studies since 2013 at in Stuttgart, won First Prize at the 12th International Piano Competition Of Orléans, France. The Armenian pianist Marianna Abrahamyan and the French Philippe Hattat took consolation prices.

Markus L. Frank (*1969) wird neuer Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) der Anhaltischen Philharmonie am Anhaltischen Theater Dessau. Das teilte das Theater am heutigen Sonntag mit. Er tritt sein Amt am 1. August 2016 an. Zurzeit ist Frank GMD in Nordhausen/Sondershausen.  In Dessau war er bereits von 2003 bis 2008 Erster Kapellmeister und stellvertretender GMD. Er tritt die Nachfolge des Niederländers Antony Hermus an, der im Sommer 2015 nach sechs Jahren aus privaten Gründen seinen Vertrag beendete.

Jonathan Nott
Photo: Thomas Müller

Nachdem das ‘Orchestre de la Suisse Romande’ in Genf binnen kurzer Zeit zweimal den Intendanten gewechselt hat, häufen sich die Schwierigkeiten. Zwar wurde jetzt mit Jean-Pierre Rousseau – ehemals Musikdirektor bei France Musique und zurzeit Chef des Festivals in Montpellier – ein Interimsdirektor gefunden, aber das Ringen um einen neuen Chefdirigenten versinkt offenbar im Schlamm der Inkompetenz. Read More →

Award winning Boston Children’s Theatre (BCT) and Luxembourg’s UGDA Music School are planning a large scale Musical Theatre Project for 2017 & 2018 at the Paramount Theater in Boston (USA) and Grand Théâtre de la Ville in Luxembourg. In preparation for this major event a workshop with experienced theatre teachers will be organized in April 2016 in Luxembourg, addressing young people between 14 and 23 years. Online Registration: www.ugda.lu/ecomus

Hugh Wolff

The National Orchestra of Belgium has a new Music Director: American conductor Hugh Wolff will succeed Andrey Boreyko from the season 2017-2018. Hugh Wolff, 62, was chief conductor of the HR Sinfonieorchetser in Frankfurt and music director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota. In addition to his performing career, Wolff is Director of Orchestras and teaches orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Estonian conductor Eri Klas died today, 26 February, aged 76. Born in Tallinn, June 7, 1939, he studied at the Tallinn and Leningrad conservatories. Klas’s career began in 1969 at the Bolshoi Theatre, where he conducted for 10 years. He also collaborated with the Estonian National Opera where he was music director from 1975 to 1995. Read More →