The former head of BBC Radio, Helen Boaden, has been named in the Dail, the Irish Parliament, as an adviser who has been engaged by RTÉ to help it merge two orchestras into one.

RTÉ has announced an ‘independent review’ of its orchestras to be carried out by Boaden and a consultancy called Mediatique.

Labour TD Joan Burton said: ‘The symphony and concert orchestras, founded in 1948, are an intrinsic part of our culture… Are we just on the road almost to a plot you might see in an opera, where music and particularly classical and orchestral music in RTÉ, is going to be killed by death by a thousand cuts?’

Yuja Wang came out to play Prokofiev’s 5th last night with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.

One of our readers in the audience gives this description of her outfit: ‘all black, pantyhose, over-the-knee high heel boots, black bra and black very little and very tight shorts that look more like panties.’

Anne Midgette writes in the Washington Post: ‘The piano soloist was Yuja Wang, a brilliant artist who is fond of provoking conservative audiences with skimpy concert attire, and who on Thursday appeared to have forgotten her dress altogether and looked as if she were playing in her underwear.’

Photo: Scott Suchman/NSO

You kinda wonder why.

From the Scottish Chamber Orchestra:

We are emailing to inform you that very unfortunately, both our conductor Robin Ticciati and soloist Sir András Schiff are unable to be with us for next week’s performance on Friday 8 December.

Robin has been advised, by the neurosurgeon who has been treating him since his back injury 20 months ago, that in order to ensure the long-term, durable success of his ongoing treatment, he must reduce the number of his engagements at this time.

Ticciati is newly installed as music director of the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester, Berlin.

The soprano Agneta Eichenholz is aware that 700 of her colleagues in Sweden have suffered sexual harassment, ‘that means all of us’.

But now she is feeling the knock-on effects.

She is asked: Is #metoo influencing the new “Lulu” production?

Agneta: Not in the outcome, but in the work. We’ve talked a lot about it, how women should respond to abuse. But now we have almost the opposite problem: the men are so careful with me, they hardly dare touch me. But then I have nothing to work with. That’s hard. I have to make it clear: Please touch me!

A French auctioneer is crowing that last night he sold a François Xavier Tourte bow for 576,600 Euros, which is $686,973.88.

Add coffee, croissants and a pack of Gauloises and you get $700k.

This is a world record.

It is also madness.

The auctioneer was Millant.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has told the WDR Symphony he will leave in 2019.

The Finn, 61, has been in charge since 2010. ‘One should stop when it is most beautiful,’ he says.