Dortmund Konzerthaus has been designated a Coronavirus test centre as infections rise across Germany.

From next week, the hall will offer tests for between 50 and 120 euros with results in 20 minutes.

Konzerthaus director Raphael von Hoensbroch said he was delighted ‘to reopen the hall to the people of the city under these unusual circumstances.’

The hall will continue to be used for closed reheasals and filming.

Garsington Opera has called in the American soprano Madison Leonard to sing Sophie opposite Miah Persson’s Marschallin.

The intended Sophie – British soprano Soraya Mafi – will be having a baby around that time.

In these dark days of Holocaust remembrance and Covid losses… a hymn of consolation.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in upstate New York has appointed Andreas Delfs, 61, as its next music director.

Delfs had a spell with Milwaukee in the early part of the century and has been guesting ever since. He succeeds Ward Stare who served seven years at Rochester.

The experienced Russian director Michael Fichtenholz is leaving Zurich Opera after just three years as artistic director.

The official line is this: Michael Fichtenholz has decided to leave Zurich Opera House at the end of the current 2020/2021 season after three successful seasons…. We are very sorry to see Michael leave the Opera House, but we support his artistic aspirations and wish him all the best for the future. Until the end of this season, Michael Fichtenholz will remain responsible for all ongoing tasks and for further planning.

Not a word has been reported in the Swiss press.

Behind the departure, we hear there were a number of human relations issues with younger members of the company.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has announced the death of its long-serving harpist Mair Jones.

Mair joined the orchestra in 1955 when John Pritchard was in the podium. She served six principal conductors until her retirement in the 1990s.

The supremely capable studio musician, orchestra leader, producer and arranger Sonia Slany died on January 14 after a long illness.

Among other feats, she played the monochord on Howard Shore’s haunting Lord of the Rings soundtrack with the London Philharmonic.

Listen carefully.

Originally from western Australia, Sonia studied at the Royal Northern College of Music before making her career in London. She was greatly loved.

The former president of the Munich Academy for Music, Siegfried Mauser, has yet to see the inside of a jail, a year after he was ordered to report to start a sentence of two years and nine months for sexual assault.

Mauser, 66, is using two passports – German and Austrian – and every trick in the book to stay free and shame the legal system.

Latest here.

Did anyone actually buy this?

The release date was 2007.

In those days, conductors got cover approval. Did Edo sign this off?

More awful album covers here.