Christoph von Dohnanyi

Christoph von Dohnanyi, 88, continues cancelling concerts since the beginning of the year. The latest are his Nov. 3-5 concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This is the second time the comductor has cancelled an appearance with the PSO this year. In March, Gustavo Dudamel stepped in, tis time it’s Music Director Manfred Honeck.

Opera di Roma

Das Opernhaus der italienischen Hauptstadt meldet für den Zeitraum 2014 bis 2016 ein Plus von 51 Prozent bei den Einnahmen. Die Zahl der Zuschauer stieg gegenüber in derselben Zeit um 28 Prozent. 43% der Besucher gehen erst seit den letzten zwei Jahren in die ‘Opera di Roma’ und 30% der Gesamtzahl sind unter 30. Read More →

Dmitri Korchak

Russian tenor Dmitri Korchak (*1979) who is successful on the most impiortant stages in the world, pursues his conducting career and signed a contract as Principal Guest Conductor at the opera theatre in Novosibirsk. The contract runs through 2020. The first performance to be conducted under the direction of Dmitry Korchak, will be Gaetano Donizetti’s opera L’elisir d’amore.

The European Youth Orchestra has today announcing major news. The orchestra is planning an expanded partnership with Campus Grafenegg, and at the same time the Orchestra has accepted an offer from Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Culture, to establish a legal and operational seat in Ferrara and Rome, and a new broadcast partnership with RAI, alongside its current Italian work in Bolzano. The Orchestra is also announcing a new partnership in Brussels. Read More →

« Dmitry Hvorostovsky is alive », the Russian magazine Classical Music News says, responding to false news of the singer’s death in many Russian media last night. This is most embarrassing considering the heath state of Hvorostovsky who recently cancelled more concerts due to his brain tumour. Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, will officially apologize to Dmitri Hvorostovsky for reporting about his alleged death, managing editor of the paper’s website Olesya Nosova told the agency TASS.

Das ‘European Union Youth Orchestra’, das wegen des Brexits seinen bisherigen Sitz in London aufgeben muss, hat ein Angebot der italienischen Regierung erhalten, sich im Theater Abbado in der norditalienischen Stadt Ferrara niederzulassen, teilte Italiens Kulturminister Dario Franceschini am Dienstag mit. Bemühungen das Orchester in Österreich zu beheimaten gibt es aber auch seitens der Stadt Grafenegg.

According to Forbes magazine, POTUS Trump said he’s smarter than US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (consider the level politics at the WH have reached), and he suggested the two should ‘‘compare IQ tests.’’ « And I can tell you who is going to win, » Trump said to the magazine. If this would happen and if Trump would win, any IQ test in future would be senseless and void of significance.

Sir Simon Rattle

London’s The Centre for Music project has announced the team which it intends to appoint to develop a concept design for the new hall. This team will be led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, whose New York and London-based team will work in collaboration with UK-based architecture firm Sheppard Robson. Read More →

David Afkham
Photo: Chris Christodoulou.

The National Orchestra and Choir of Spain have announced that the number of subscribers for their season 2017/18 (14 concerts) has grown by 4 percent, to reach a total of 9,066. The increase is continuous since 2012 and in the last five years totalled 32 percent. The Principal Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus is the German conductor David Afkham.

Moscow’s Bolshoi and the Met in New York have announced a 3-year-cooperation plan to jointly create new productions of Aida, Salome, and Lohengrin, with performances to take place in both cities between 2019 and 2022. Read More →