It’s the first time any artist has cancelled on Hamburg’s new concert hall since the opening night.

But they have found a luxury replacement for flu-stricken Lang Lang this Saturday.

Igor Levit steps in.

Kurt and Melissa Cochran from Utah were visiting London to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

Kurt, 54, was hurled off Westminster Bridge during the terror attack and died soon after of head injuries.

Melissa suffered a broken leg and is expected to recover. Her parents live in London, serving as LDS church missionaries. A church spokesman said: ‘We express our gratitude to the emergency and medical personnel who have cared for them and ask for your prayers on behalf of Melissa and our family. Kurt will be greatly missed, and we ask for privacy as our family mourns and as Melissa recovers from her injuries.’

The Cochrans run Onion Street Studio in West Bountiful, Utah, a music and rehearsal studio.

Report here.

J&A Beare have bought the venerable London trademark of W E Hill (est. 1887).

Mike Huckabee, the former presidential contender and Arkansas governor, has written an op-ed in the Washington Post today, urging president Trump to abandon his abolition of the National Endowment for the Arts.

As aspiring musician, Huckabee benefited as a child from the NEA.

He reminds Trump:

If it seems unusual that a conservative Republican would advocate for music and the arts, don’t be so surprised. The largest increase in arts funding ever came under President Richard Nixon, and when budget hawks thought about cutting the minuscule funding of the NEA in the 1980s, it was no less than President Ronald Reagan who stepped in to make sure those in our poorest neighborhoods continued to have access to this road to academic success and meaningful way to express their creative gifts.

Brent Assink is winding down as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He will leave the organisation next week after 18 years in charge.

His departure coincides with Deborah Borda’s shock decision to leave the LA Phil and move back to New York.

That leaves both leading West Coast orchestras in search of new leadership.

Interview with Assink here.

The veteran Atlanta Symphony music director signed with Linda Marks at HarrisonParrott today with a view to expanding his footprint in Europe and Asia.

Kristjan Järvi will leave the MDR Symphony at the end of next season, after six years.

He’s busy now with his Baltic Sea Philharmonic.

The Indianapolis music director Krzysztof Urbanski has been named in an unfair dismissal suit by former principal bassoon John Wetherill, who claims he was ousted from the orchestra on grounds of his age.

Wetherill, 62, says he was ‘duped and ambushed’ in 2012 by the 29 year-old music director.

He argues that ‘the [ISO] is economically benefited by moving out older musicians and bringing in younger musicians below the protected age of 40… A number of older musicians resigned during the period from late 2012 and thereafter, as a result of Urbanski’s ‘move out and replace’ plan and action.’

Report here.

UPDATE: Indy hits back.

The final performance of Verdi’s Ernani was cancelled in Toulouse on Tuesday after the tenor Alfred Kim was arrested on charges of beating up a young woman in his apartment hotel.

Kim was brought to court the following day. He was given an eight months suspended sentence and a fine of 8,000 Euros. He then took a flight out of France.

The Korean is due to appear in Aida in Brussels in two months’ time, followed by Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The cancellation was announced three hours before curtain time ‘due to the unavailability of the tenor Alfred Kim.’

UPDATE: In court reports, Kim was accused of dragging a young woman by the hair and banging her head against the toilet bowl, to the point of breaking it. He claimed to have no recollection of the incident after drinking heavily. ‘I am not used to drinking,’ he said.

From Audition Cafe’s interview with Noah Bendix-Balgley:

In Berlin (and in many German orchestras), the entire orchestra listens to the audition, not just a small audition committee. So it is a bit intimidating to look out into the hall, and see the entire Berlin Phil sitting there. But on the other hand, one can think of it as more of a performance, rather than a test or exam.

Everyone played Mozart Concerto in the first round. I played the 4th concerto. I was nervous and a bit tight. I felt I played all right, but not great. I remember enjoying playing with the pianist. I didn’t have an expectation either way after the first round. I knew there were many other outstanding candidates there at the audition, so I tried not to get my hopes up.

Once I passed and had to play Brahms Concerto in the second round, I decided to just go for it: to enjoy the opportunity and really put everything out there, rather than taking a cautious approach.

Read the full interview here.