Jonathan Handman has been named Music Director of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. Handman was chosen by the orchestra’s Search committee, which had to evaluate four 4 candidates for the post. Read More →

Music Director of the Oviedo Philharmonic (OFIL) in Spain since 2011, Italian conductor Marzio Conti announced that he will leave the orchestra in June and not renew his contract. According to ‘Nueva Espana’ the 56-year-old musician will give a radical change to his life. He wants to focus on teaching and, moreover, dedicate himself to figurative art and begin to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. « I want to live without the concerts, to do other things in life … », he told the newspaper.

Das Orchester ‘Solistes Européens Luxembourg’ hat heute bei einer Pressekonferenz Pläne für mehrere Aufnahmeprojekte bekanntgegeben. So wird das Orchester die Symphonien der französischen Komponistin Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) für Naxos aufnehmen. Dieses Projekt mit dem Label Naxos kam durch Vermittlung von Pizzicato-Chefredakteur Remy Franck zustande. Read More →

Alexei Stanchinsky: Piano Works (12 Sketches for Piano op. 1, Piano Sonata No. 1 in F major, Songs without Words, Preludes; Ekaterina Derzhavina, Klavier; 1 CD Profil PH 17003; Aufnahme 2016, Veröffentlichung 03/2017 (59') – Rezension von Remy Franck

Als Alexei Stanchinsky 1914 unter ungeklärten Umständen tot aufgefunden wurde, war er gerade mal 26 Jahre alt. Er litt unter ‘Dementia praecox’ und lebte zeitweilig in einer Heilanstalt. Als Komponist hat er nur wenige Werke hinterlassen. Sie sind ungewöhnlich, sehr frei komponiert, haben einen Touch von Scriabin und bieten ein außergewöhnliches Hörerlebnis. « Hätte er etwas länger gelebt, würden wir jetzt mit Sicherheit vom ‘russischen Bach’ sprechen », findet Ekaterina Derzhavina, die Pianistin dieses Albums. Read More →

Chouchane, your family roots go back to Armenia. What does this mean for your music-making?
For sure, my roots have an influence on my playing and even in general on my life. My father is a well-known specialist of this music and his approach certainly had and has an influence on my own music-making. I was born in France, I have grown up in France, so I feel myself as being French, but I have several times been in Armenia and above all I have heard this music at home. When I was a child my grand-parents would sing Armenian folksongs! Read More →

Contents of Jessye Norman’s Country House, White Gates, including Artwork, Furniture, Decorations, Silver, Books, Autographs are to be auctioned on March 29 by Doyle at Home Auction. The 1945 born singer is moving from that house, Doyle says. Read More →

Frédéric Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1(mit Streichquintett); Ludwig van Beethoven: Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 (mit Streichquintett); See Siang Wong, Klavier, Szymon Marciniak, Kontrabass, Gémeaux Quartett; 1 CD RCA G010003269420H; Aufnahme 2016, Veröffentlichung 01/2017 (72') – Rezension von Remy Franck

Frédéric Chopin hat seine Klavierkonzerte zum Gebrauch in den Salons für Kammermusikensembles eingerichtet. Seine Fassung des Ersten Klavierkonzerts für Klaviersextett ging jedoch verloren, so dass die Interpreten für die vorliegende Aufnahme die Bearbeitung von Richard Hoffmann benutzt haben und diese selber noch einmal revidierten. Read More →

While the US are spending $10 millions of public money on each weekend trip of their current President, plus millions for the security of his wife and his children – even when his sons inaugurate a Trump resort in Dubai –  the arts sector managers position themselves in order to fight the announced measures of reducing or cutting fiscal advantages for arts funding. Read More →

Naxos has closed its streaming service ClassicsOnline « since our technology partner ceased operating the platform used for », the website announces. Yet, there is also a financial reason, since Naxos’s CEO Klaus Heymann says: « ‘I don’t feel that terrible about it because nobody offering streaming is making money. » Read More →

In a press release, Fort Worth Opera is profusely thanking their General Director « for his 16 years of dedicated service » and at the same time the board fires him over different views for the future. As Schiller would say: The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go. Darren K. Woods will be replaced by a new General Director the search of which has already started.