Naomi Ives at MG’s London office has signed the promising Australian conductor Jessica Cottis.

Based in Scotland, Jessica is principal conductor of the Glasgow New Music Expedition.

Cool catch.

The final station on the vry section of the new Tramline 9 from Paris to Orly will be named after Germaine Tailleferre, the only woman in the post-1918 Les Six group.

The line is due to open in 2020.

Taillferre died in 1983.

Here’s some suggested platform music.

The Dutch Strauss King has been booked to kick off the Dresden 2017 ball at the Semper Oper in February.

It is the closest he has yet come to the heart of the German musical calendar.

The overall conductor of the Dresden evening will be Kristjan Järvi.

Hans Neuenfels, director of Bayreuth’s notorious Lohengrin with a chorus dressed up as rats, has been honoured with the 2016 German theatre prize for his achievements. Neuenfels is 75 this year.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has hired Conrad Jones as principal trumpet and Riley Giampaolo as bass trombone.

Conrad is 27, Riley 20.

A leading figure among Berlin’s Christian Democrats has admitted that a member of his staff was selling his complimentary Staatsoper tickets.

Stefan Evers said the staff member had been identified and the abuse stopped.

Martin Roth, the Dresden curator who heads the Victoria & Albert Museum, will leave his job in the coming weeks, saying the Brexit vote felt like ‘a personal defeat’.

Roth, 61, said: ‘What happened to tolerance, solidarity and charity?’

Read here.

Eleonore Büning, chief critic of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, asks the question.

She qualifies: ‘I am not an expert on gender issues, only an opera critic’. But she goes on to argue that ‘the essence of opera is ambivalence.’

Read her essay here (auf Deutsch).

gay men’s chorus, Washington DC

The British conductor Daniel Harding, incoming chief of the Orchestre de Paris, has been signed by Harmonia Mundi, now owned by the Belgian record company Pias.

ENO’s problems are legion. This publicity stunt won’t fix any of them.

press release:

English National Opera are thrilled to announce Yamaha as the Official Piano Partner of ENO. Yamaha is now the exclusive supplier of pianos to ENO and will collaborate with the Company to support ENO’s continued commitment to musical excellence.

As part of this exciting partnership, English National Opera will be the first opera company to use the revolutionary TransAcoustic™ piano, which is now located in the orchestra pit in the auditorium.  A fleet of grand and upright pianos across the company’s rehearsal studios in West Hampstead and in the bar spaces at the London Coliseum have also been installed.

Martin Fitzpatrick, ENO’s Head of Music said “At ENO we give our pianos a thorough workout. Creating the orchestral colours on a piano requires an instrument of artistry and reliability, delicacy and toughness, depth and precision. I am delighted that, through this new partnership, Yamaha have provided ENO with pianos that fully meet the demands we place upon them”.

Each model of Yamaha piano installed at ENO was selected following rigorous testing and evaluation by professional staff alongside ENO répétiteurs and music staff to ensure they had the correct tonal flexibility and durability required for its specific use, be that in the pit, a rehearsal room or a bar in the London Coliseum.

Charles Bozon, Director of Classic Division, from Yamaha Music UK commented “Yamaha pianos are to be found in many of the world’s finest venues and studios; this is the first time we have had the opportunity to partner a major opera company and we look forward to combining in introducing and inspiring many more people to music making with ENO.”

For more information and to see a short film of pianos in action, see: www.eno.org/yamaha

The maestro dropped by the gorgeous Capodimonte Museum in his native town Naples on Sunday and couldn’t resist a challenge to play one of its historic pianos.

Graham Spicer has the story – and the video – here.

John Neschling has been removed from his post as artistic director of the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, as a result of investigations by the city’s prosecutor.

The authorities say he may face both civil and criminal charges. Neschling, 69, has been in charge at the theatre since 2013. Before that, he was music director of the Sao Paolo Symphony for 11 years.

The move is part of the general instability following the removal from office of President Dilma Rousseff.

First report here.

John Neschling, in a statement, says that he left the post of his own free will.

COMUNICADO DO MAESTRO JOHN NESCHLING

Fui hoje (5/9/2016) afastado da Direção Artística do Theatro por ato que unilateralmente pretendeu extinguir de forma ilegal e arbitrária o contrato antes celebrado e que, como tal, assim será objeto de providências legais, sujeitas a avaliação conjunta com meus advogados.

Mantenho-me com altivez, de cabeça erguida. Não participei de nenhum esquema, de nenhum tipo de falcatrua. Reitero a minha inocência. Sempre julguei que aquele que é inocente deve permanecer onde está para aguardar com tranquilidade a investigação em todos os âmbitos. Meu compromisso é com a verdade e com o meu público e permanecer no Theatro é a melhor forma de ser fiel aos meus compromissos.