It’s the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Waterproofs recommended. Professor of Piano Salary Grade: £44.30 to £61.23 per hour (dependent on experience) Closing date: 12 Noon, Friday 7 June 2024 Interview date: Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June 2024 The RNCM is a leading international conservatoire with a reputation for excellence in preparing young musicians for a life-long career in the music profession. The School of Keyboard Studies has an enviable reputation as one of Europe’s leading Keyboard Departments with a highly acclaimed tutorial staff. The College boasts outstanding ..read more

The phenomenal blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii has considned his recording career to the yellow label. Nobu, now 35, reached the semi-finals of the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2005 and won the Van Cliburn four years later. He has tremendous stage presence. Whether that transfers to record remains to be heard. DG has also signed the LA-based Indonesian composer, pianist and producer Eunike Tanzil. The label says: Eunike is a leading social media creative, known in particular for her “Hum me a Melody” series. She uses her online presence to bring orchestral music to a wider audience ..read more

The latest guest on David Krauss’s weekly podcast is the Israeli mandolin virtuoso, Avi Avital. Avi has plucked the instrument from classical obscurity and thrust it into the maelstrom of contemporary music. ‘The smallest kid can pluck a mandolin and sound comes out,’ he confides. ‘It still charms me, excites me, moves me, til today. The entry point is relatively quick.’ ‘I am bored quickly, which is a blessing for an artist.’ Listen here. The post Speaking soundly: So good, they named him twice appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The Flanders Symphony has appointed Martijn Dendievel, 28, as its next music director. He has been associate conductor for the past two years and before that was assistant conductor. He succeeds the Estonian Kristiina Poska. Previous chiefs include David Angus, Etienne Siebens, Seikyo Kim and Jan Latham-Koenig. The post Maestro upgrade: Flanders Symphony picks Flem conductor appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The German tenor, in his first act as director of the Erl festival in the Tyrol, has chosen Asher Fisch as chief conductor. ‘We have succeeded in attracting an internationally renowned conductor with decades of experience, high standards and expertise, who cares about the work and development of the festival orchestra,’ Kaufmann told a press conference this morning. ‘He will regularly spend a lot of the year here in Erl with the orchestra and will combine this new task with his numerous international engagements.’ Kaufmann will sing Parsifal in his first season, with Irene Roberts as Kundry. I ..read more

This was last night after a performance of Ginastera’s violin concerto by Hilary Hahn. Apart from the conductor, Dudamel, there are no males in sight. The locker-room has certainly changed in the decade since the frat-pack times of two recently suspended players. The post New York Philharmonic: Mostly women appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The incoming Chicago Symphony chief has just published next season’s plans for one of his other orchestras, the Oslo Philharmonic. Among some bold and ingenious programming – the start of a Shostakovich cycle, a Rautavaara symphony and a new piano concerto by Anders Hillborg – the music director has put himself down to tour as cellist in the Brahms double concerto with violinist Daniel Lozakovich. The tour vists Amsterdam and Paris, two other cities where Mäkelä is music director. The post Klaus Mäkelä books himself as solo cellist appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

Washington National Opera has given its first True Voice Award to transgender singer Katherine Goforth (pictured). The award aims to ‘support the training of transgender and nonbinary opera singers, as well as increase their visibility in the industry.’ ‘Historically, opera has always played with gender,’ says WNO chief Francesco Zambello. ‘From Monteverdi on, there were contraltos playing men, men playing women. I think now, in contemporary works, the door is thrown wide open.’ Goforth, 33, has previously received a Career Advancement Award from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Women in Classica ..read more

From the press release: Last night, inside the newly renovated main hall of the King Fahad Culture Centre, Riyadh, the Saudi Theater and Performing Arts Commission officially premiered Zarqa Al Yamama – the first-ever Grand Opera produced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… The performance on Thursday 25th April also represented a milestone moment for world culture as the first Grand Opera to feature international and local artists performing a libretto exclusively in Arabic, written by the award-winning Saudi poet Saleh Zamanan and adapted into an original musical score by Australian composer Lee ..read more

In an informal chat with schoolchildren at the Salzkammergut Festival Week, the Cleveland Orchestra music director spared no blushes in describing how music was taught in that region when he was a kid. He remembers being hit with a ruler by a devoutly religious violin teacher at the Linz Gymnasium, and of vomiting into his violin out of terror of this teacher. His violin playing was ended by a car smash=up when he was 18. More here. The post Franz Welser-Möst: I was brutalised by violin teacher appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more