American conductor Timothy Myers has been appointed Music Director of Austin Opera (Texas US). The 38-year-old conductor already worked with the Austin Opera as Artistic Advisor since 2018 and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor since 2020.

Georg Friedrich Händel: Chaconne, HWV 435; Fernando Sor: Duets, op. 34; Enrique Granados, Valses poéticos Fauré, Gabriel Dolly Suite, Op. 56 (arr. for 2 guitars); Scandinavian Guitar Duo (Per Palsso, Jesper Sivebæk); 1 CD Our Recordings 8.226917; Aufnahme 2022, Veröffentlichung 09.06.2023 (51'03) - Rezension von Norbert Tischer

Das dänische Scandinavian Guitar Duo, Per Palsson und Jesper Sivebæk, feiert mit dieser CD das 30-jährige Bestehen des Duos. Read More →

Kurt Weill: Propheten + 4 Walt Whitman Songs; Albert Dohmen, Kurt Azesberger, Michael Pabst, Gottfried Hornik, Bernd Fröhlich, Ursula Fiedler, Lluis Vila i Casanas, Elisabeth Ziegler, Wiener Jeunesse-Chor, Grumpoldskirchner Spatzen; Thomas Hampson, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Dennis Russell Davies; 1 CD Capriccio C 5500; Aufnahme 1998, Veröffentlichung 06.2023 (64') - Rezension von Norbert Tischer

Kurt Weills biblische Kantate The Eternal Road / Der Weg der Verheißung nach Texten von Franz Werfel war das letzte Werk, das Weill in Europa komponierte. Die Komposition hat eine komplizierte Entstehungsgeschichte, und erste Aufführungen in englischer Sprache sicherten keinen dauerhaften Erfolg. Diese musikalische Geschichtserzählung geriet quasi in Vergessenheit. Read More →

British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig is conducting Mahler’s Second Symphony on June 16 at the Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow, a Pizzicato reader found out,  asking: « If this is true, how can @festivalpuccini hire a conductor with ties with #PutinWarCriminal’s regime? Mayor Giorgio Del Ghingaro, President Luigi Ficacci, are you aware? » That’s the right questions, of course.   Read More →

Yannis Markopoulos, one of Greece’s most important composers, has died at the age of 82. Yannis Markopoulos was born in 1939 in Crete, where he took his first musical lessons in theory and violin, and developed his first influences from the local rhythms. He continued his studies at the Athens Conservatory, In 1963 he was awarded a prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for his music for the film Little Venuses by Nikos Koundouros and in the same year his ballets Theseus and Hiroshima were performed by new dance companies. Read More →

Fabien Gabel
(c) Maison Simons

Fabien Gabel übernimmt zur Konzertsaison 25–26 die Position des Chefdirigenten beim Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich. Er löst damit Yutaka Sado ab, der seit 2015 an der Spitze des Orchesters steht und ihm auch künftig verbunden bleiben wird. Gabel unterzeichnete heute im Palais Niederösterreich in Wien seinen Vertrag mit einer Laufzeit von zunächst vier Jahren. Read More →

Im Rahmen der bevorstehenden Parlamentswahlen legt L’Alliance Musicale, der Verband der professionellen Musikstrukturen im Großherzogtum Luxemburg, allen politischen Parteien die Sorgen und Wünsche vor, die innerhalb des professionellen Musiksektors festgestellt wurden. Read More →

The 3rd Annual International Stretto Piano Festival will place from July 15-23, 2023 – both online and in-person in New York City at Baruch Performing Arts Center. The festival celebrates the Stretto piano, which has narrower than conventional keys and makes piano playing more equitable, comfortable, and easy for all hand sizes. Read More →

Linus Roth
(c) Kaupo Kikkas

German violinist Linus Roth announced his new project SamBach which, following the live performances and the studio recording in Rio de Janeiro in March, will be released as an album in September. Read More →

Elia Cecino

The Iturbi Prize, organised by the Provincial Council or Diputació of Valencia, has announced the winners of the Valencia International Piano Competition. The Italian pianist Elia Cecino, born in 2001, wins the 2023 Iturbi Prize. The jury awarded the second and third prizes to the Americans Anthony Ratinov and Rachel Breen. Read More →