The City of London Corporation today voted £2.5 million towards the completion of a detailed business case for a new concert hall on the site of the Museum of London.
A spokesman said: ‘This decision re-affirms our commitment to transform the area surrounding the Barbican into a world-leading cultural hub for the arts, heritage and learning. We have a long history as a leading investor in the arts and we recognise that culture – open and available to all – is what attracts people to visit, work and live in London and the UK.’
The decision was made a day after Hamburg opened its magnificent Elbphilharmonie building.
Sir Simon Rattle has been demanding a new hall for London, but the new case for a hall will not be published before December 2018 and the ultimate cost of £400-500 million will not be easy to reach in straitened times.
MusicalToronto reports that a parliamentary competitions for composers to write pieces for Canada150 will award the winners C$400 or C$800 for a five minute work. Hardly enough to cover the plane fare to Ottawa.
It’s ‘a major new recording deal and multimedia partnership which celebrates his exceptional musicianship and unique style’.
His website says: ‘ In his unstinting efforts to break down barriers between classical music, fashion and pop culture, he is supported by Giorgio Armani and was recently featured in Vogue magazine.’
Ray says: ‘I’m super stoked to be joining forces with the awesome team at Decca Classics. We’ll be working together on a variety of projects which include the recordings of classic repertoire that everyone loves but I’m happy that I’ll have a partner which will help boost the multimedia side of things too.’
Konzertdirektion Schmid has swooped on the Dutch piano brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen, who are famous in the lowlands and have a DG contract but are in need of worldwide management.
The brothers, 23 and 19, have a Concertgebouw orchestral release coming out in April.
Anipo is a group of musicians who are working on a stop-thief implant that can be placed in all instruments.
It’s early days yet, but you can read the plans here (in French).
By containing the history of the instrument, the bow or the baton, the device will also help you avoid difficulties atb border control with, for instance, new ivory rules.
Fast forward to 3:30 for the firing.
The singer, Emin, is the son of Aras Agalarov, a Russian real estate developer who co-produced the 2013 Moscow Miss Universe show with the US president-elect.
Houston Grand Opera, announcing its new season, claims to be the first major US opera house to be staging Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story:
West Side Story: Francesca Zambello directs first major American opera house presentation of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins’s beloved musical, featuring soprano Andrea Carroll and tenor Norman Reinhardt (April 20–May 6, 2018)
Other season highlights: Christine Goerke as Elektra, Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Julius Caesar and the U debut of Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim.
ECM are releasing a set of Mieczysław Weinberg chamber symphonies with Gidon Kremer and friends, recorded in Vienna and Riga in June 2015.
The conductor is Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
At one in the morning on February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly and his tour band stood around a small plane at Clear Lake, Iowa, trying to decide who would fly to the next venue and who would have to take the rattly, cold bus.
Guitarist Tommy Allsup lost a coin toss to teenage star Ritchie Valens, who died with Holly in the subsequent air crash.
Allsup, who went on to become a successful producer, died yesterday, aged 85.
