The accomplished Italian opera director Paolo Trevisi, head of the Arena di Verona from 1975 to 1982, has died of lung cancer at the age of 74 in his home town, Treviso.

In 1989 he took a huge initiative in the cultural thaw by creating Puccini’s Chinese opera in Beijing.

Away from Verona, Paolo was technical director of Lisbon’s São Carlos theatre and of the international music festival in Macau.

The French culture minister Fleur Pellerin has announced in the l’Assemblée Nationale that she has set aside 3.5 million Euros to help venues that were forced to cancel performance in the present state of emergency and half a million for rights organisations to cover creative artist losses.

Dylan Corlay, 31, has won the sixth edition of a competition founded by the influential conducting teacher in the Finnish town of Vaasa to discover the next baton generation.

Dylan wins 11,000 Euros.

Second prize (€8000) went to Elena Schwarz (Switzerland) and third (€6000) to Harish Shankar (Germany).

The somewhat fragile violinist, who recently performed in Germany, has cancelled one (or perhaps both) dates of a mini-US tour. She was due to perform the Korngold concerto in Lincoln, Nebraska and Erie, Pennsylvania. She has been replaced in Erie by Michael Ludwig. We are not sure of the status of the Lincoln engagement.

UPDATE: We understand she did play Lincoln.

Through this year Midori, 43, has cancelled residencies in Bangor, Rochester and a London festival, along with an extensive US tour. An updated list of her engagements and cancellations can be read here.

We wish her a full recovery.

Her new Bach album has just been published by Onyx. Next week’s she’s due to play in Rosenheim, Linz and Aachen.

Canada’s Opera Lyra, which summarily ceased operations five weeks ago, last night filed for bankruptcy.

It is the first arts casualty under a new government that is pledged to double its arts investment.

Here’s the bit of the bankruptcy statement the new culture minister, Mme Joly, needs to absorb:

Ottawa, November 16, 2015

After Opera Lyra ceased operations on October 14, the company’s volunteer Board of Directors worked diligently to attract alternative sources of revenues, with the goal of resuming activities and programs. Unfortunately, no new major revenues have been found. Therefore, with profound regret, the company has filed for bankruptcy. The trustee is Ginsberg, Gingras and Associates.

As explained in our cessation announcement, Opera Lyra has been badly affected by shortfalls in four revenue streams. These are: reductions in federal and provincial arts grants; weak corporate sponsorship; no growth in personal philanthropy; and, most important, disappointing ticket sales for recent performances. Inadequate revenues have accumulated to the point where there is no money left to operate the company.

During the past 31 years, Opera Lyra has been a star in the cultural life of Ottawa and Gatineau. It has produced high quality, professional operatic productions that filled a gap created when the National Arts Centre ceased its own opera program.

A rehearsal of the Rite of Spring by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra turned more feral than usual today when percussionist Lenny Sakofsky burst right through the skin of his drum.

It’ll be all right on the night, we hope.

Ann Maguire was stabbed to death last year by a pupil while teaching a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds, northern England. Ann was 61.

Now, a fund raised by family and friends has given £10,000 to Opera North to assist youngsters to discover opera.

Read here.