The latest Karajan Community Letter focuses on the Salzburg Easter Festival which Karajan founded in 1967.  P.R. Jenkins says: « He had in mind not only a platform for the best possible production of Wagner operas but also for the interpretation of the great sacred works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Verdi. » Read More →

Front view of Guarneri del Gesù’s ‘Baltic’
(c) Tarisio New York

A 292-year-old Guarneri violin known as the ‘Baltic’ sold for $9.44 million (€ 8.88 million) at Tarisio, the global auction house. The final sale price smashed the previous auction record of $3.6 million for any Guarneri instrument and marked the third-highest price ever achieved for a musical instrument at auction. Read More →

Ariel Lanyi
(c) Kaupo Kikkas

Curator Rudolf Buchbinder, together with initiator Adrian Flury, named 25-year-old Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi as this year’s Prix Serdang winner. Buchbinder says: « Ariel is at a crucial point in his career. I have come to know him as a serious young man who makes a very mature and authentic impression on me. I am convinced that the Prix Serdang can give him an important boost. » Read More →

Filippo Gorini

The winner of this year’s Franco Buitoni Award is Italian pianist Filippo Gorini in recognition of his Sonata for 7 Cities project which will be launched in 2025. The Award will be officially presented by Ilaria Borletti Buitoni at a special concert in association with Società del Quartetto in Milan on 22 June. Read More →

Elisabeth Leonskaja
(c) Jo Schwartz

Einen langen Kammermusikabend bot das Konzert der Pianistin Elisabeth Leonskaja zusammen mit dem Quartett der Staatskapelle Berlin. Die beiden ersten Klavierquartette von Johannes Brahms wurden dem Publikum und damit auch Uwe Krusch für Pizzicato dargeboten. Read More →

Christian Thielemann
(c) Matthias Creutziger

Der Dirigent Christian Thielemann hat seine Mitwirkung an den Richard-Strauss-Tagen in der Semperoper in Dresden aus gesundheitlichen Gründen kurzfristig abgesagt. Read More →

Euan Shields
(c) Alex Burns

24-year-old American conductor Euan Shields has won the Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition 2023 in Manchester. At the three-day competition, Shields came out on top among a pool of more than 200 conductors from six continents. The competition took place for the first time in 2020 and was held for the second time in March 2023. Read More →

The International Horn Society has informed that French horn player Daniel Bourgue (1937-2023) has died. Bourgue, so they say, « must surely be the last representative of the old school of French playing. » Read More →

Jordi Savall
(c) David Ignaszewski

Ob hin zur Seidenstraße, in den Orient, nach Armenien oder in den Balkan, Jordi Savall ist oft der perfekte musikalische Reisebegleiter. Am Dienstag, als er mit seinem Concerts des Nations in der Luxemburger Philharmonie gastierte, standen jedoch Werke von Jean-Férie Rebel, Georg Philip Telemann und Christoph Willibald Gluck auf dem Programm, Werke, die sich mit der Natur und den Elementen auseinandersetzen. Alain Steffen berichtet. Read More →

The Universal Music Group has acquired the now no longer independent classical label Hyperion Records, founded in 1980 by Ted Perry. Hyperion Records will remain a standalone recording label alongside the other labels of the group. Read More →