We hear that the entire staff of the classical music department at BBC Television have been offered redundancy as part of the latest structural reorganisation.

When we sought conformation, a BBC press officer sent us this press release.

Pressed for a yes-or-no answer, she said: ‘Classical music programme (sic) on television is an important part of BBC Studios and we will continue to make them.  But in a new world where BBC television programming is open to 100% competition and a reduced licence fee, we are reshaping to be more flexible and able to compete.’

Pressed again, she said: ‘The process is still underway so I am unable to answer your original question on whether or not the entire department would be laid off.’

Essentially, the BBC is having one of its periodic clearouts and the classical production team is in the front line.

The youngest entrant in the Ignacy Jan Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz won the first prize last night.

Hyuk Lee, 16, was the youngest in a field of 47. He is a student at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow.

Jakub Kuszlik, from Poland came second and Svetlana Andreyeva, a Russian, third.

Last year, Seong Jin Cho was the first Korean to win the Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

The Mariinsky Theatre chief and Putin confidant has declared 2017 to be Stravinsky Year.

He said more than 90 percent of Stravinsky’s works were unperformed in Russia and now was the time to remedy the omission.

Why now?

Perhaps because a certain local event in 1917 led Stravinsky to be boycotted in his homeland for half a century.

Gergiev made no mention of that event.