On the way to Birmingham for a Why Mahler? talk, followed by Das Lied von der Erde, I hear that Magdalena Kozena, mother of the youngest Rattles, has cried off.

The Czech mezzo had difficulty with the voice, I’m told, at the first performance in Aldebuurgh on Friday and Jane Irwin had to drive 250 miles to get there as there as standby. Here, she’s the main act.

Madge is out, Jane in. Should be interesting. Will let you know.

The rightwing Dutch Cabinet has overruled a commissioned report from its arts council and decided to go ahead with hard-nosed cuts to the culture budget.

The overall reduction will be in the order of 25 percent – compared to 15 in the UK – and, contrary to Britain, there will be closures.

Among those facing the chop are the Dutch Music Information Centre and the Theatre Institute, both of which act as essential archives for their art forms.

There is a proposal on the table to merge the Rotterdam Philharmonic (cond. Nezet-Seguin) with the Residentie of the Hague (Neeme Jaervi).

The worldclass Holland Festival will lose one-fifth ot its budget. No wonder its director is leaving for Australia. Others will surely follow.

This season’s tulips are uniformly black.

Here’s a brief English summary.