Léo Marjane, star of the collaborationist Radio Paris from 1941 to 1944, has died at an immense age.

Her greatest hit was Seule ce soir, written by Charles Trenet.

The Wiener Symphoniker have persuaded Philippe Jordan to sign on for a second term as music director until 2021.

The sought-after Swiss is also music director at the Opéra de Paris.

The Roman violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi has been chosen to succeed Ivor Bolton in Salzburg, from the New Year.

Minasi, 38, has been principal conductor of il pomo d’oro and has worked in major opera houses.

Meet Malika Maminova from St Petersburg, percussionist at Mami Nova.

These are not tattoos. Malika tells us she draws on a different design for every piece she performs.

See: Not your regular concertmaster.

The Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, whose Madama Butterfly opened La Scala’s season this month, had ended talks with Bayreuth over a 2018 Lohengrin, the festival announced today.

There seem to have been political differences.

His likely replacement is the Los Angeles-based Yuval Sharon.

One of my favourite stories of the late Sir Neville Marriner is of the time he was told that a refugee violinist had been taken off the Academy’s train during the night and was being held by police in Salzburg while his papers were checked.

As soon as the train reached Vienna, Neville called the Musikverein, where he was booked in for sold-out concerts, and told them not a note would be heard until the missing violinist was restored to his rightful seat. Hours later, he was.

Not every conductor shows such care for musicians, especially when he also the entrepreneur and owner of the touring company. Most impresarios would replace the missing musician without a second thought.

So hats off today to André Rieu, the popular Dutch violinist, who has called off a fully-booked UK tour after one of his musicians was felled by a heart attack and taken to hospital in critical condition. 

The shows could have gone on, but Rieu let humanity take precedence over entertainment values. He said: ‘Many of my orchestra members have been with me for more than 25 years. We are a family. We are deeply saddened by this tragic event and it is impossible for us to continue our tour as planned.’

Neville would have approved (and there’s no higher praise in my lexicon).

The conductor and administrator Christian Lorenz has been named artistic director of Beethoven 250, the year-long national Beethoven bash in 2020.

Lorenz, 54, a former head of the orchestra academy at the Schleswig-Holstein festival, went on to run the International Bachakademie Stuttgart for Helmut Rilling before setting up his own management firm.

He starts work on January 1. The Beethoven Year has been allocated a federal budget of 27 million Euros.

Eugene Shepherd, concertmaster of the Santa Rosa Symphony for 33 years, was the regular tennis partner of the cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, originator of the Peanuts strip.

Schulz often engaged his characters in classical music discussions. Guess where he got the ideas?

Eugene Shepherd has died in Santa Rosa at the ripe old age of 96.

The tenth anniversary of the death of the great cellist and the ninetieth of his birth in March-April 2017 will be marked in Moscow by the dedication of a square in his name, close to the House of Composers.

The square, at the junction of Yeliseyev and Bryusov streets, already features a bust of the greatly beloved master.

The Dutch violinist-entrepreneur has cancelled Christmas-week concerts in Nottingham, London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow after a long-serving musician in his orchestra suffered a heart attack. The musician remains in hospital in a critical condition.

André Rieu Productions has posted:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Following the postponement of his Nottingham show on Saturday it is with great regret that André Rieu is forced to postpone the remaining shows on his UK Arena tour as well. A musician, who has been with the Orchestra for more than 20 years, suffered a severe heart attack on Saturday. Unfortunately his condition remains critical.

A statement from André Rieu:

UPDATE: In praise of André Rieu

UPDATE: How André Rieu handled a very human crisis

Job specs:

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki is looking for a new General Director. The current General Director, Päivi Kärkkäinen, will retire in spring 2018, and her replacement will be expected to take up the post at the beginning of 2018. The recruitment process will begin in January 2017.

Applicants are expected to be have management experience, vision and an appreciation of culture. The principal duties of the General Director will include implementing strategy, achieving a solid funding base, securing the operational potential of the FNOB and identifying future opportunities. The General Director of the FNOB is also a major opinion leader in the field of Finnish culture. The General Director is responsible for overall management of the entire organisation; the Artistic Directors of the Opera and the Ballet report to him or her.

“The FNOB is in excellent shape artistically, financially and administratively. Päivi Kärkkäinen has done a great job in reforming and leading the company, and her contribution to the wonderful state the FNOB is in today is exceptionally remarkable,” says Leena Niemistö, chairman of the Board of Directors. Päivi Kärkkäinen took up her post nine years ago, in December 2007.