Daniel Barkley was a young Irish composer whose life ended on January 11.

Here is his final blog.

His family write: Danny was a beautiful and fragile soul whose being, company, wit and foremost music brought happiness to so many. It is in memory of him that his family ask you to support MindWise, a mental health charity, rather than send flowers or cards.

The death is reported of Deen Larsen, 74, founder of the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden.

An American who moved to Austria in 1973, he was an outstanding authority and enthusiast for romantic music.

Gabor Kali, 35 and 1st Kapellmeister in Nuremberg, was declared winner of the first Hong Kong conducting competition.

He takes away close to US$20,000 and a few dates with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

At the so-called EU conducting competition in Bulgaria, the winner was Hao-An Henry Cheng from Taiwan.

His prize is about 5% of the Hong Kong envelope.

Mathieu Gallet, president of Radio France, was given a one-year suspended sentence today and a 20,000 Euros fine for exercising favouritism in his previous job as head of the National Audiovisual Institute.

Gallet says he will appeal.

In the meantime, there is no threat to his position at Radio France. On the contrary, he is heading for promotion to a joint radio-TV role.

It so happens that he is a good friend of President Macron.

Read Le Monde.

Plus ca change.

Newly available in paperback from Joshua Tree Publishing in Chicago.

The promising Rory Macdonald, 37, has dumped his agent, Intermusica, for acquisitive IMG.

A former assistant to Ivan Fischer and Mark Elder, Macdonald has a mainly freelance career.

They must have promised him a job.

IMG has announced that it has quietly staged a touring performance of Shadowland in Riyadh last month.

They claim this as:
– The First Performance by an International Dance Company in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

– The First Performance of Any Kind with a Male and Female Cast Performing Together

– The First Performance of Any Kind with a Female Lead Character.

We have received sad news of the death yesterday of Paul Dunkel, brilliant flute player, co-founder of the American Composers Orchestra and all-round live-wire.

After a solo career on the flute, Paul Dunkel became music director of the Denver Chamber Orchestra and a busy guest conductor with a strong interest in contemporary music.

In 1978, Dunkel co-founded and picked the players for Dennis Russell Davies’s American Composers Orchestra. He acts as both manager and principal flute, later a resident conductor.

In 1983 he founded the Westchester Philharmonic, which he conducted until 2008. Since then he has been principal flute with New York City Ballet.

The Met launched its much-substituted Tosca at New Year’s.

Vienna rolled out its new cast last week.

Tonight, it’s Covent Garden’s turn with Adrianne Pieczonka, Joseph Calleja and Gerald Finley, conducted by Dan Ettinger in Jonathan Kent’s production.

Almost anywhere you go this month, Tosca’s on the menu.

And you wonder why people complain that the repertoire has gone stale.

AskonasHolt have signed Fatma Said, an Egyptian soprano who has come up through Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule and the singing academy at La Scala.

She’s currently on of the BBC New Generation artists.

The list of contenders for this year’s competition was published this morning. There is not a single UK player at either senior or junior level.

Menuhin would have been appalled.

The result must surely reflect on declining standards of British string teaching. Past winners include Tasmin Little and Jennifer Pike.

Here are the 2018 contenders: