Francis Ford Coppola, a well-known music lover, is summering with Wagner.

Photo: Ronald Wittek/NB-Kurier

At the Salzburg Festival this afternoon, Riccardo Muti gave both concertmaster Rainer Küchl (pictured) and first violinist Eckhard Seifert solo bows after the concert, which appears to be their last.

The first half was Richard Strauss Le bourgeois gentilhomme, apparently programmed for Rainer to float his trademark solos.

Second half was Bruckner 2nd symphony.

Peter Pastreich, 77, has been named  interim executive director of American Conservatory Theater.

Peter was successively executive director of the Nashville Symphony (1962-66), St Louis Symphony (1966-78), San Francisco Symphony (1978-1999) and Philharmonia Baroque (2009-11).

He’s considered one of America’s best mentors to music administrators.

Now, he’s taking a break from musicians.

Luca Pisaroni used to be scared of dogs.

Nor he’s inseparable from his dachshund, Tristan, and Lenny, his golden retriever.

Tristan even got a walk-on part at the Salzburg Festival. The dogs even have their own Facebook page.

Interview (not recent) here.

The jury for the first Isaac Stern violin competition in Shanghai, which opens today, includes three judges with conflicting interests.

Zakhan Bron (pictured) is renowned for choosing his own students as winners and Boris Kuschnir, also suspected of favouritism, chaired the Joseph Joachim competition in which the Russian winner had been his student; the same young man is now competing in Shanghai.

Elmar Oliveira recently opened his own violin competition.

The results will come under close scrutiny.

The Portuguese pianist will be taking part in a concert celebrating the philosophy of Krishnamurti.

She will perform Beethoven’s opus 111 at London’s Cadogan Hall. Very quietly.

Details here.

In this interview, she says Claudio Abbado held similar views.

Fyvush Finkel, who played three roles – Innkeeper, Butcher and Tevye – in Fiddler on the Roof, on and off Broadway for the past 50 years, has passed away at 93.

Funeral this Wednesday, August 17 at 12 noon at Sutton Place Synagogue, 225 East 51 Street NYC.

The Danish culture minister Bertel Harder has written an article extolling his country’s recent triumphs in global television and architecture:

‘Outside Denmark, Danish culture goes like hot cakes. Danish TV series are popular and world renowned designers and architects are in demand – and the Danish art world now refers to a new golden age, because there are so many excellent break-through artists.’

All the more reason, he proceeds, to inflict another 1 percent budget cut. ‘We must make the most of the remaining 99 percent,’ he argues, adding that he wants Danish funding to drop to Italian levels.

What was it Hamlet said about the state of Denmark?

The outgoing Berlin Philharmonic conductor has been sharing some of his German experiences with journalists of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin (not online).

Sir Simon says he quickly got to like the Chancellor, who loves coming to concerts.  But he was even more impressed by her husband, Professor Joachim Sauer, who can speak with authority on serialism and modern music and was clearly th one who bought tickets to the more adventurous concerts.

The Chancellor came to dinner at his place in Berlin. The conductor cooked lamb with aubergine.

Wonder what’s on his menu for Theresa May.

From the Department of Canadian Heritage:

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, took advantage of a concert at the Montreal Symphony House to announce $525,000 in funding for the National Youth Orchestra Canada’s pan-Canadian signature initiative, Edges of Canada Sesquicentennial Concert Tour.

Thanks to this support, provided through the Canada 150 Fund, the National Youth Orchestra Canada (NYO), featuring young musicians from all across Canada, will tour the country presenting 14 concerts in 28 days in 2017. NYO will travel to several communities in the North for the first time and will include Indigenous artists in their performances. The organization will offer a mentoring and outreach program for aspiring young musicians in every community it performs in.