Paul Haas

American conductor Paul Haas has been named music director of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Ontario, Canada. He officially takes over July 1. Paul Haas, a graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School has previously served as the head of the New York Youth Symphony and is since 2010 Music Director of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas.

The musicians and singers of the opera house in Toulon, Southern France, began a strike on Sunday and refused to play and sing this evening (6/6). The reason is, according to the unions, insufficient salaries and a total lack of negotiation from the city. The strikers also say, they are very worried about the future. The Opera in Toulon suffered a strike already in April 2017.

Marin Alsop
Photo: Grant Leighton

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians have ratified a one-year contract with the management three months before the current one expires. Read More →

Rund 12.400 Besucher aus 42 Nationen sind zu den Pfingstfestspielen 2017 nach Salzburg gekommen. Dies ist ein Besucherplus von über 8% gegenüber dem Vorjahr. Read More →

Victor Julien-Laferrière

French cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière (*1990) has won the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Cello competition! The other prizewinners are:  Yuya Okamoto (Second Prize), Santiago Cañón-Valencia (Third Prize), Aurélien Pascal (Fourth Prize), Ivan Karizna (Fifth Prize), Brannon Cho (Sixth Prize). Read More →

The problem with child Trump and his middle-finger politics is that his deplorable behavior generates followers. It’s spreading out like cancer. Probably relying on POTUS’s opinion that culture is waste, Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott has cut $500,000 in funds to help the Florida Orchestra pay for their new outreach program Beyond the Bay for schools and community orchestras across Florida. Read More →

Marek Janowski

Nachdem die Baden-Badener Pfingstfestspiele mit einem Klavierabend von Andras Schiff und einem Opernrezital mit Diana Damrau und ihrem Mann Nicholas Testé begonnen hatten, folgte Richard Wagners ‘Rheingold’. Es war die letzte von vier Aufführungen mit dem NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester auf seiner Deutschland-Tour. Alain Steffen berichtet. Read More →

Hélène Boulègue
Photo: Eric Chenal

French flutist Hélène Boulègue has won the Kobe International Flute Competition, Pizzicato learned from the Luxembourg Philharmonic, of which the musician is a member. Read More →

William Christie
(c) Denis Rouvre

Conductor and musicologist William Christie has announced that he is setting up a new Public Foundation to which he will leave his heritage. Among the properties is a villa and garden in Thiré (Vendée). Born in New York in 1944, Christie settled in France in 1971 and acquired the French nationality in 1995. He created the instrumental and vocal ensemble Les Arts Florissants in 1979.

British conductor Sir Jeffrey suddenly died from a stroke today at the Carrara Academy in Bergamo. He was 74 years old. Read More →