A concert has been announced this Saturday in which four star chefs will prepare a meal on stage while the Minnesota Orchestra performs ‘matched’ symphonic works. Have they totally lost the plot?

Read here.

It is a tradition in the Royal Air Force to burn a piano in commemoration of fallen pilots.

Where does that come from?

A social engineering mechanism, apparently.

Read here. Absolutely fascinating.

Katy Perry has just been named the highest earning female performer by Forbes, with 2015 revenues of $135 million.

Who, we wonder, tops the classical field?

It could be Anna Netrebko, if only she was inclined to accept some of those pressing invitations to private oligarch parties. It could also be Angela Gheorghiu or Renee Fleming.

But, on the basis of statistics received, we believe it is Cecilia Bartoli, by far the highest selling female classical singer on record and a highly successful touring artist in her own productions.

No-one else, we believe, comes close.

Louly Psichouli, the first Greek woman to achieve an international conducting career, died on October 29.

A student of Hans Swarowksy in Vienna, Louly conducted at the Bolshoi in Mosow and many orchestras across the Balkans, as well as playing a prominent role in Greek musical life. In 1974 she founded the Maria Callas Grand Prix to support young artists.

The death has been announced of Richard E. Plaster, who played bassoon and contrabassoon in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops for 40 years.

Richard, who was in his 80s, studied at Juilliard with Simon Kovar. After U.S. Army service, he played in the New York Woodwind Quintet, before joining the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops in 1952. He was a faculty member at Boston University, the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory.