A trustee of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is so excited by the new music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, that he has given quarter of a million pounds to support her position.

The man’s name is John Osborn.

Mirga will be known henceforth as the Osborn Music Director.

Details here.

The newspaper is seeking voluntary redundancies in editorial staff after annual losses of £58.6 million.

It is the last surviving UK newspaper with a core commitment to the arts and intellectual affairs.

Read here and here.

We have received reports from Israel of the death of Richard Lesser principal clarinet of the Philharmonic from 1968 to his retirement in 2002.

A Curtis graduate with a Los Angeles background, Richard toured with European ensembles in the early 1960s until Zubin Mehta asked him to play in Israel. He joined the Philharmonic in 1966 and became principal two years later, as well as professor at Tel Aviv University.

Clio Gould, who broke the glass ceiling when she became leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002, led her final rehearsal today.

She told the players: ‘It has been an immense privilege to be here and work with you all. However, I feel it’s now time to hand the privilege over. I’ve had an absolutely amazing time here. This orchestra has such heart, soul, spirit and courage. I’ve loved working with you all so much – thank you all for these happy years.’

Clio also leads the London Sinfonietta and the Royal Academy Soloists.

Message from the Rector at St Thomas’s:

A very special concert

I am excited to announce a special extra concert at Saint Thomas Church. At the time of John Scott’s death I was in touch with a number of his friends and former colleagues. I asked one of them if he would be willing to conduct a concert in John’s memory and I am delighted to tell you that he has agreed. Sir Simon Rattlewill conduct our choir and the Orchestra of St Luke’s in the final memorial concert of the season. The program includes Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and Vaughan William’s exquisite The Lark Ascending. Our new Director of Music, Dan Hyde, will have just arrived and so this will also be his inaugural concert at the Church and he will work with Simon Rattle and play the organ. By happy coincidence, Simon Rattle’s nephew is a chorister at Magdalen College. This special concert will honor the memory of John Scott and begin a new chapter in the life of music here at Saint Thomas Church. All money raised will go towards a scholarship to support a chorister in need.

The evening concert is on Sunday, September 18. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to welcome one of the world’s leading orchestral conductors to our church. When I talked to Sir Simon after the Matthew Passion performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker in New York a year ago, at which our boy choristers sang, he told me that they were the best choristers with whom he had ever worked; praise indeed! Sir Simon has requested that the last piece to be performed in the concert will be the Fauré Requiem.

A coroner ruled yesterday that Keith Emerson took his own life by means of a gunshot wound. He had been suffering from muscular pain and a possible heart condition that made it hard for him to carry on performing. Keith was 71.

This morning, the pianist Jeffrey Biegel sent us an unreleased video from Wayne H. Lipton, manager of the South Shore Symphony Orchestra on Long Island.

Jeffrey writes: ‘Wayne put it together last night with the recording engineer for the all-volunteer orchestra which thrives on Long Island. These three new string quartets composed by Keith Emerson had their world premiere at the 70th birthday concert in October 2014.

‘A little after 11 minutes, Keith makes a quiet entrance to jam with the quartet for the third short piece. For sure, this is a side of the Keith Emerson millions of his fans never knew–except for those who attended those two evenings.’

In memoriam Frank Jr., who died last night.

This may be the best maestro surprise you’ve ever seen.

It’s the Stuttgart Radio orch and Roger Norrington . Watch here.

Police were called to the Lyric shortly before midnight last night. They are not naming the instrument that’s missing.

Let’s hope it’s not another Steinway grand being walked out of the artists’ entrance – as happened twice at London’s South Bank.

The conductor and four unnamed friends have undertaken to repair the composer’s retreat in the village of Nikolina Gora, outside Moscow. Gergiev is leading 125th anniversary commemorations for Sergei Prokofiev.

He’s being very discreet about the dacha. Details (the few he’ll give) here and in Tass.