When Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Auschwitz opera The Passenger receives its Russian premiere next month in Yekaterinburg, 100 seats will be set aside for former prisoners of Nazi concentration camps.

It’s a lovely gesture, totally original. A pity we did not think to do the same when the opera had its London premiere.

Naomi Ives at MG’s London office has signed the promising Australian conductor Jessica Cottis.

Based in Scotland, Jessica is principal conductor of the Glasgow New Music Expedition.

Cool catch.

The final station on the vry section of the new Tramline 9 from Paris to Orly will be named after Germaine Tailleferre, the only woman in the post-1918 Les Six group.

The line is due to open in 2020.

Taillferre died in 1983.

Here’s some suggested platform music.

The Dutch Strauss King has been booked to kick off the Dresden 2017 ball at the Semper Oper in February.

It is the closest he has yet come to the heart of the German musical calendar.

The overall conductor of the Dresden evening will be Kristjan Järvi.

Hans Neuenfels, director of Bayreuth’s notorious Lohengrin with a chorus dressed up as rats, has been honoured with the 2016 German theatre prize for his achievements. Neuenfels is 75 this year.