We hear that the current issue of Klassisk, the Norwegian music magazine, will be the last in print.

From January, the magazine will be available to subscribers online, with more frequent updates.

Mona Levin continues as editor.

The print edition of Klassisk was, in our view, the best-looking classical magazine in any language.

 

 

We’ve just heard from Boosey & Hawkes, the music publishers, that Igor Stravinsky’s Funeral Song for orchestra, composed as a memorial tribute to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, receives its first performance in 107 years, conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 2 December.

As we were saying a few minutes ago…

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That’s how Marc Adam is staging Strauss’s post-biblical opera at Linz.

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Right-click to enlarge image. More pics here.

A message from the star guitarist Milos Karadaglić, mostly known as Milos:

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Dear all
It saddens me deeply to need to write these lines. Performing is all I live for. There is nothing I love more than being on stage and sharing the gift of music. In two weeks’ time I was about to embark on the most exciting tour of my career. I’ve spent all these months preparing for it – just giving it my absolute best. And yet, despite all that, no matter how hard I tried, the physical condition I was suffering from in 2015 has most unfortunately returned.

My doctors have been very clear with me now – the kind of movement disorder I have is complex and uncompromising and it cannot resolve itself within a few weeks or months. Hence, I’ve been unanimously advised to withdraw from all concert engagements for at least this whole season and break the vicious cycle I have found myself in.

It is so incredibly hard for me to accept this, but sadly, I have no other choice but to comply. In the next year, while firmly on the quest to fully recover and play again, I am planning to focus my energy on other things that truly matter to me. I will continue to work with my chosen charities and education organisations and I will work with promising guitar students and guide them towards a fulfilling musical future.

I am adamant in my promise that I will be back on a stage near you, sooner than you think, stronger and better than ever before. However, for now, I can only say, once again, how desperately sorry I am for the disappointment that this news will bring in amongst so many of you.

Miloš

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Milos, 33, is a Montenegran who trained in London and still lives there. He is a Deutsche Grammophon recording artist.

 

We hear that the entire staff of the classical music department at BBC Television have been offered redundancy as part of the latest structural reorganisation.

When we sought conformation, a BBC press officer sent us this press release.

Pressed for a yes-or-no answer, she said: ‘Classical music programme (sic) on television is an important part of BBC Studios and we will continue to make them.  But in a new world where BBC television programming is open to 100% competition and a reduced licence fee, we are reshaping to be more flexible and able to compete.’

Pressed again, she said: ‘The process is still underway so I am unable to answer your original question on whether or not the entire department would be laid off.’

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Essentially, the BBC is having one of its periodic clearouts and the classical production team is in the front line.

The youngest entrant in the Ignacy Jan Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz won the first prize last night.

Hyuk Lee, 16, was the youngest in a field of 47. He is a student at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow.

Jakub Kuszlik, from Poland came second and Svetlana Andreyeva, a Russian, third.

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Last year, Seong Jin Cho was the first Korean to win the Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

The Mariinsky Theatre chief and Putin confidant has declared 2017 to be Stravinsky Year.

He said more than 90 percent of Stravinsky’s works were unperformed in Russia and now was the time to remedy the omission.

Why now?

Perhaps because a certain local event in 1917 led Stravinsky to be boycotted in his homeland for half a century.

Gergiev made no mention of that event.

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Based in Brooklyn, living among the Modzitz community, R’ Ben Zion Shenker was the foremost chassidic composer of modern times.

His melody for Eshet Chayil – Woman of Valour – is sung in thousands of Jewish homes every Friday night. Dozens of his works have the status of folksongs, existing as if they have exited forever.

Ben Zion Shenker died today at the age of 92.

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Here’s what Vice President-Elect Mike Pence told Fox News Sunday about facing a speech from the stage of the musical Hamilton about the election result:

‘First off, my daughter and I and her cousins really enjoyed the show. HAMILTON is just an incredible production and incredibly talented people. It was a real joy to be there. When we arrived we heard a few boos and we heard some cheers. I nudged my kids and reminded them that that’s what freedom sounds like. At the end, I did hear what was said from the stage and I can tell you – I wasn’t offended by what was said. I’ll leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.

‘I do want to say, that the basic element and center of that message is one that I want to address. And that is – I know that this is a very disappointing time for people that did not see their candidate win in this national election. I know that this is a very stressful time for some people. I just want to reassure people that what President-elect Trump said on election night, he absolutely meant from the bottom of his heart. He is preparing to be the President of all of the people of the United States of America. And, to watch him bringing people of diverse views, bringing people together that differed with him strongly, seeing him talk to foreign leaders around the world. I just want to reassure every American, that in the days ahead I’m very confident that they’re going to see the President-elect be the President for all the people. We embrace that principle and we’re going to work hard to make that principle every day that we serve.’

This is a reasoned response from a seasoned politician. So why did Donald Trump hit the Tweeter?

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Stephen Tavani, who’s still studying at Curtis, has been named concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He is 24 years old, and from North Virginia.

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The veteran film composer never took his fistful of dollars for writing music to order for a director’s cut. Here’s what he tells the Guardian:

I learned by observing the use of Mozart and Bach and Mahler in movies. I said, ‘This is solid, it has integrity; I want to do something similar.’ That is why I started writing my music before the film was shot.

He also kept himself informed of the techniques of the Second Vienna School and the innovations of John Cage.

Read the full interview here.

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The virtuoso Ida Levin, who played a concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at ten years old and at the White House when she was 18, has died of leukaemia at the age of 53.

At the White House, she was partnered by Rudolf Serkin, 60 years her senior.

A former faculty member at Harvard, Ida taught in recent years at Sandor Vegh’s international academy in Prague.

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