28Jan

Maestro move: Florence names new man

Fabio Luisi is now officially music director designate of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, succeeding Zubin Mehta in 2108… oops, 2018. He will conduct three operas and several concerts a year. The company has undergone a management and financial overhaul. Franceso Bianchi is the intendant. Fabio is music director of the Zurich Opera and becomes principal conductor […]

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28Jan

I was accompanist to the ultimate violin teacher

Margaret Pardee, who died on Tuesday aged 95, taught violin and viola at the Juilliard School for 60 years until her retirement in 2008. She was a legend at the school, less formidable than Dorothy DeLay but no less devoted. The pianist Karen Schwartz, a student at the school, served as accompanist at her classes from […]

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28Jan

The golden ears of new Glyndebourne

The acoustician Derek Sugden, who achieved superb sound at Aldeburgh, Buxton and Glyndebourne, has died at 91. An amateur in the highest English tradition, Derek was a structural engineer with a passion for music and buildings. He never acquired a qualification in acoustics, relying on his innate sense of what works in music. Out of […]

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28Jan

US orch decides not to cut players’ wages

Having brought the musicians to their knees under threat of closure, the Fort Worth Symphony now says it won’t enforce the wage cuts it extracted. That’s a relief for the musicians. Their families can still eat. But the longterm future looks bleak in Fort Worth. Report here.

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28Jan

Why the New York Philharmonic must settle for less

When all is done and dusted, there is only one question to ask about the appointment of a new music director at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Simply this: If this was the last concert of your life, who would you get to conduct it?   Very few would come up with the name that […]

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28Jan

Police kick down opera singer’s door after reports of ‘terrifying screams’

Amsterdam police forced their way into an opera singer’s apartment after complaints from neighbours of a possible assault. The male singer, unnamed, was found singing along in headphones to a recording. The incident on Tuesday, in the Zuid-Buitenveldert district of the city, was reported by the police with a photo on their Facebook page. The singer […]

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27Jan

Wigmore Hall breaks a duck

It’s hall happening on Wigmore Street this week. Reading backwards, on Friday night a pianist of advanced years will make his belated debut. Simon Rattle, the name is. There has been a late programme change here. Thursday evening, the guvnor John Gilhooly will go live online to break the new season, including – for the […]

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27Jan

Maestro falls sick. Orchestra says: we want the assistant

Good vibes coming in from the philharmonic orchestra of Radio France. Mikko Franck, their music director, has come down with flu. There’s an all-star cast lined up for Saturday’s concert performance of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt – take a look here. Orchestra and cast were offered a replacement conductor, called in at short notice. They […]

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27Jan

In defence of New York’s new music director

Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony from 1985 to 2010, has posted this assessment of his former music director, announced today as next chief of the New York Phil: Jaap belongs to few conductors that I have met during my 40 years as an orchestra musician, 39 of which as Concertmaster I met only […]

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27Jan

Just in: Violinist wins $125,000

The winner of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2017 has just been announced. It’s the excellent Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. He gets to perform a couple of concerts in Copenhagen next January and goes home with DKK600,000, which he can change at the airport for EUR80,000, or US$125,000. The citation says: ‘Leonidas Kavakos is one of the most expressive […]

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27Jan

Why white Van man is so wrong for the New York Philharmonic

Five reasons the NY Phil got the wrong man. 1 Take a look at these names: Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Jurowski, Kirill Petrenko, Paavo Järvi, Daniele Gatti, Andris Nelsons, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding. All these outstanding interpreters were considered last year (some briefly) by the Berlin Philharmonic. None was invited to audition at the New […]

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