The estimable chamber music venue on Wigmore Street has told the funding body that it is no longer fit for purpose, accusing Arts Council England of an ‘abandonment of excellence.’ Wigmore Hall’s John Gilhooly has […]
Opera North has advertised places on its less than coveted training programme: Applications are now open for next year’s Female and Non-Binary Conductor Traineeship. Spread the word! This intensive annual 10-week scheme was launched in […]
Wigmore Hall celebrates 125 years of extraordinary music-making in its 2025/26 season (September 2025 – July 2026). The season opens with a rare appearance by Matthias Goerne and Maria João Pires, alongside performances of Bach’s St […]
We’re hearing from Warsaw that the Polish tenor Piotr Beczala changed his recital programme at the last minute to eliminate a group of Russian songs. He said he was ‘furious’ at the deal the Russians […]
Message received from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: Today, Opera Theatre is excited to announce that we are under contract for the purchase of a 6.67-acre parcel of land upon which we plan to build […]
The Staatskapelle Dresden (est. 1548) has appointed Mariano Esteban Barco as its principal oboe. Mariano, 30, is from Calanda in the region of Aragón. He has been principal oboe for the ast three years with […]
On Tuesday 15 April, Radio 3 celebrates the 30th anniversary of Private Passions, the series in which guests from all walks of life share the music that matters most to them with presenter Michael Berkeley. Michael, […]
On March 24, 2015, we reported the crash of a Germanwings flight in which two opera singers – Maria Radner and Oleg Bryjak – lost their lives. They were among 150 victims of the disaster, […]
The music director of the Cleveland Orchestra has written a commentary on recent events for the Backstage Classical site. In it, the Austrian conductor spoke out strongly against artist boycotts, arguing that ‘culture must remain […]
The Swiss composer Pierre Mariétan died yesterday in his 90th year. A former associate of Boulez and Stockhausen, he leaves 300 instrumental, orchestral, vocal and electro-acoustic works. His pièce de résistance is Paysmusique (1991), which […]
