Die großen bekannten Konzerthäuser und Orchester veröffentlichen im Moment regelmäßig Streams von Aufzeichnungen ihrer Konzerte ohne Publikum. Diese Kontaktmöglichkeit nutzen aber auch lokale Ensembles. Das in Luxemburg ansässige Kammerorchester Estro armonico hat diesen Weg nun mit Unterstützung des Kultusministeriums von Luxemburg gewählt, um seinem Publikum die Wartezeit auf weitere Auftritte zu verkürzen. Read More →

After the death of British-Chinese pianist Fou Ts’ong, tributes are coming from many people. The Chopin Institute in Warsaw says on its website: « It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of the legendary Chinese pianist Fou Ts’ong. His departure brings to a close a crucial page in the Chopin tradition; we bid farewell to a master, musician and philosopher with a unique gift for conveying Chopin’s greatness to the world both in words and, above all, through his playing. Read More →

British-Chinese pianist Fou Ts’ong (also Fu Cong) died yesterday in London from COVID-19, aged 86. Born in Shanghai in 1934, he was one of the first Chinese-born pianists to achieve international fame. In 1955, he won the third prize and the Polish Radio Prize for the best performance of mazurkas in the International Chopin Piano Competition. Read More →

A petition has been launched in the UK to ask the Johnson Government to negotiate « a free cultural work permit that gives us visa free travel throughout the 27 EU states for music touring professionals, bands, musicians, artists, TV and sports celebrities that tour the EU to perform shows and events & Carnet exception for touring equipment. » Read More →

The once opera-loving philanthropist Alberto Vilar, 80, is seeking financial relief from what his lawyers describe as a destitute existence following his 2018 release from prison, an AP report says. Read More →

Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis has died in Paris yesterday, aged 98. He was born in 1922 in Haifa to Jewish parents who had left what is now Ukraine. Read More →

Metropolitan Opera New York

On 6 February 2021, as part of their 90th consecutive broadcast season, the Met is leaving the choice of which historic opera recording to feature that Saturday up to listeners. The voting process is straightforward and all the details are presented on their metopera.org/radiovote page. Read More →

After a violinist lost his 263-year-old violin on a Toronto subway train (Pizzicato report), the instrument has has been recovered. The police retrieved the violin when a man, shown on the video images published by the authorities, tried to sell the violin to a cab driver.  The suspect managed to escape, when the constables arrived. The violin will now be returned to the owner.

Christian Thielemanns Vertrag als Musikdirektor der Bayreuther Festspiele endet zum 31. Dezember 2020. Wie die Festspiele jetzt bekannt gaben, wollen sie ihn weiter an sich binden. Wie der neue Vertrag aussehen soll, ist aber, der gegenwärtigen Informationstage zufolge, nicht klar. Thielemann ist seit 2015 Musikdirektor der Wagner-Festspiele.

Since, today, we might think of the Holy Night which inspired so many composers, it is interesting to focus on the origin and meaning of the word ‘night’.In many European languages, the word ‘night’, is formed by the letter N followed by the slightly adapted number 8 in the respective language.The letter N is the mathematical symbol of infinity (indeterminate rank of an element in a sequence of order ‘n’), while the number 8 written horizontally symbolises infinity too. Read More →