The UK conductor Jonathan Bloxham has been chosen as chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. He succeeds Jonathon Heyward, who is now in Baltimore. Bloxham, in his mid-thirties is also Music Director at the Lucerne Theater and Resident Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Mozart Player. The post Two Brits called Jon hand over German baton appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

Last night’s conflicted concert is reviewed on Midlands Classical Music by Norman Stinchcombe: CBSO at Symphony Hall ★★★★ Did the CBSO’s chief executive Emma Stenning attend this concert? One hopes so because she would have been able to see the early fruits of the silliest of her new innovations. The orchestra and soloist Ian Bostridge were about a quarter of the way through Britten’s ‘Les Illuminations’ when the tenor motioned to conductor Gergely Madaras, raised his hand and halted the performance. He addressed a small group in the audience who had been filming him on their mobile phones. “T ..read more

The London-based agency is about to pop corks for the opening of AskonasHolt Berlin. In effect, they are taking over Opus3 Berlin with the consent of Opus3 New York. The Berlin office looks after the pianist Daniil Trifonov and conductors Ruth Reinhardt, Andrey Boreko  and Ingo Metzmacher, among others. The new AskonasBerlin will be run by Alexander Hollensteiner,  presently Managing Director of Kammerakademie Potsdam. He says: ‘Ich kenne und schätze meine neuen Kolleginnen und Kollegen bei Askonas Holt seit vielen Jahren und freue mich sehr, Teil der Familie zu werden und dieses neu ..read more

The Berlin Philharmonic chief conductor Kirill Petrenko has cancelled all of this weekend’s concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic at very shhort notice. No reason has been given. Crhstian Thielemann has stepped in. Freitag, 19. April, 6. Soirée Samstag, 20. April, 7. Abonnementkonzert Sonntag, 21. April, 7. Abonnementkonzert Montag, 22. April, Konzert der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien Richard Wagner: Vorspiel zur Oper „Lohengrin“, WWV 75 Richard Wagner: Vorspiel und Liebestod aus „Tristan und Isolde“, WWV 90 Pause Johannes Brahms: Symphonie Nr. 2 in D-Dur, op. 73 The post Just in: Kiri ..read more

The conductor Semyon Bychkov told his orchestra this morning that he will step back in 2028 after ten years as music director. Their has been the most successful musical partnership in the eastern half of Europe, with a fertile record deal and multiple tours. Here’s what Bychkov said: It’s been a remarkable season in every conceivable way, even if it is still continuing with enormous projects yet to come. I will come back to it later, but first I would like to talk to you about some of the very special events that we have planned for the next season. It is still the Year of Czech Music and so ..read more

We reported yesterday that Aigul Akhmetshina, everyone’s favourite Carmen, was the sweetener in the new ‘strategic alliance’ between the Tact agency and IMG. She now seems to be declaring she was an active participant in the business deal: I am extremely excited to share the news, something we had been working over the last months to build and develop two great companies. TACT Artists Management and IMG Artists start collaboration creating the biggest musical network in world, bringing together fantastic artists, managers and years of experience on both sides of the globe. Has she got shares i ..read more

We have received notification of a complaint filed against St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, its choir school and a named staff member, who is accused of grooming and seducing a student there some 20 years ago. The complaint reads, in part: 1 This action arises out of the sexual abuse of the Plaintiff by Defendan [name redacted], a paid choir member, professional singer, and lay clerk at Defendants Church and School, owned, supervised, controlled, and/or operated by or under Defendant Episcopal Diocese of New York, while Plaintiff was a minor…. 5. In and around the ages of approximately 10-16 yea ..read more

The tenor Ian Bostridge shocked Symphony Hall Birmingham last night by stopping agfter the third song in Britten’s Less Illuminations to denounce the CBSO’s new audience rules, which read: “We are very happy for you to take photographs and short video clips at our concerts, but please refrain from recording the whole performance.” Bostridge, a thoughtful, courteous man, stepped forward and – clearly fuming – requested that audience members turn off their phone cameras. He said taking photographs was ‘extremely distracting’ for a performer. The relaxation of concert etiquette has been a major r ..read more

Queen of the Night – ornithologically speaking One of the most difficult and effective soprano arias in the entire operatic canon is “Queen of the Night” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Many careers have faltered in the attempt to reach its heights. Here are excerpts of two versions. Do watch both. The first version is sung by Diana Damrau at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The second, well, judge for yourself. Read more The post Ruth Leon recommends… Queen of the Night – ornithologically speaking appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The ARD competition has sacked Liang Wang, principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic, from its jury. The starement reads: In view of the ongoing discussion centred on the person of Liang Wang, the management of the ARD Music Competition has decided to suspend collaboration with him until further notice. Liang Wang has been named, together with Matthew Muckey, in connection with the alleged rape of a former colleague in July 2010. Both are temporarily suspended from the orchestra. The post Germans drop NY musician appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more