The outstanding Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos has defected from Decca to Sony Classical, it was announced today.

Sony have tempted him with the chance to record the Beethoven concerto in Munich.

‘I am excited by the challenge of leading a national opera company and providing the artistic vision necessary to broaden the reach and relevancy of the art form and grow a new diverse audience through a balance of innovative and traditional approaches.’

The words belong to Thomas de Mallet Burgess, new general director of New Zealand Opera.

They are, of course, utter rubbish.

Every single phrase here has been crafted to tick a box of political correctness. Not one word here has meaning.

I am sure Mr Burgess knows that. So do his board. They are going through some kind of ritual rain dance in which no-one get wet.

What *is* the point?

The conductor, recovering from heart surgery, is having close encounters with the medical community.

After a couple days, I was told that it was time to take a little walk in the hallway. This was not easy, considering that I was hooked up to various medical devices, not to mention the pain from the surgery. There were others doing the same thing, all of us moving at the speed of the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. Most were accompanied by nurses and sometimes a friend or relative.

It was during one of these excursions that the person assigned to me for the day—they each take 12-hour shifts—asked me what I did for a living. I simply said that I was a conductor for symphony orchestras. And then came a question that was completely unexpected.

“How do you write music?”…

Read on here.

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The Ruhrtriennale, which last week cancelled a Young Father’s concert over the group’s support for an Israel boycott, has been notified by five other artists that they are pulling out in solidarity.

The five are Sharif Sehnaoui, Tony Elieh, Mazen Kerbaj, Hassan Khan and Raed Yassin.

The festival is designed to regenerate a region in industrial decline. Boycotts of any kind are the last thing it needs.

The orchestra has published a statistical survey of the 16 years of its outgoing music director.

During that period, the Philharmonic acquired 55 new players (out of 128).

It played 40 world premieres.

And among its most-programmed works, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was third and Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra came in sixth, just one performance behind Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

Read full survey here.

The German Chancellor has agreed to open the 25th Usedom Music Festival at the Peenemünde power station on 22 September, her office confirmed today.

(Her office was unable to confirm if she will still be Chancellor by then.)

It’s a big coup for the Baltic festival.

Kirill Karabits will cease to be Generalmusikdirektor in Weimar next year. His contract has not been renewed.

Vasily Petrenko will leave the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2020, it was announced today. He will have served seven years as music director.

In his latest legal submission against the Metropolitan Opera, the former music director seeks to discredit three of his accusers whom he claims to identify among seven anonymous victims interviewed by the Met.

His lawyers state: ‘Levine has nearly 200 personal letters that were sent to him by Individuals 1, 2 and 4 which demonstrate that each of their allegations against Levine of sexual misconduct are simply false.’

Some of the letters quoted in the document profess deep love for Levine and gratitude.

Among other claims: ‘As recent as on December 3, 2017, Individual 2 forwarded an email to Levine’s attention from someone expressing support for Levine – after the Post and the Times published articles alleging that Levine had committed sexual misconduct decades ago. Individual 2 wrote, “I wanted you to see this. Please call if you need any help. Much love.’

Levine further accuses Peter Gelb of making false statements about his health.

The counterclaims can be found from page 48 onwards of Levine’s amended complaint against the Met, filed in the New York Courts on June 7. The Met has yet to respond.

Terri-Jayne Griffin is leaving. The Coliseum will fall apart without her vitality as Producing Director.

Message this morning from the CEO, Stuart Murphy:

Hi everyone

Sorry to ruin your Sunday morning but thought I’d let you know some news as soon as I did, especially as we’ve been talking so much about how ENO has to dramatically improve communication within the company (one of the main pieces of feedback from our first staff survey in about 10 years)

Sadly the legend that is TJ Griffin is leaving us after an illustrious 19 years at the company.

She is going on to a career in musicals.

Recent message from Terri: In my wildest dreams as a young girl growing up in Brisbane, I’d never have imagined I would produce CHESS and work with Benny Andersson from ABBA. Beyond thrilling!!!

Theater Bremen has announced an audition for ‘professional singers from all over the world’.

The Theater Bremen (Bremen Opera House) is opening its doors for the first time to professional singers from all over the world, giving everybody the chance to audition! Any professional singer can present themselves to the Music director and the Artistic Directors with a repertoire of their own choice.

No-one’s getting any younger, but Eleanor Sokoloff is indestructible.

She joined Curtis in 1936 and has never missed a lesson.