Remember flashmobs? This was the best
Ten years ago, the musicians and people of Nuremburg capture the spirit of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Forty million people watched the video. It was an innocent, trusting time. The post Remember flashmobs? […]
Slipped Disc
Half a quartet gets wed
Francesca Fiore, cellist of the Archos Quartet, has married its first violinist Filip Jeska. We wish them great happiness. The quartet was founded in 2009 by four students at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. The post Half […]
The nightmare moment of a mighty pianist
The Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires, 80 today, became a global legend when, at a lunchtime concert in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 1998, she heard the orchestra start up a different Mozart concerto from the one […]
Who’s conducting the Olympics?
The Romanian Cristian Măcelaru will conduct the Orchestre National de France at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on Friday. ‘I never believed in my life that I would have this opportunity. It’s […]
Summer’s a time for wearing silly hats
The University of Exeter has awarded a degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) to Dougie Scarfe (centre), chief executive of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The award is for his ‘commitment to breaking down barriers […]
Just in: Mother of 3 wins conducting competition
The Spanish conductor Noemí Pasquina has been pronounced winner of the Bucharest International Conducting Competition, directed by John Axelrod. Pasquina, a grduate of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, is married with three small children. […]
Katharina Wagner to direct in Beijing
Journalist Sebastian Hammelehle gets some strong news breaks out of an interview with the Bayreuth chief in Der Spiegel. Katharina Wagner says Christian Thielemann will return in 2027 to conduct Parsifal, having resigned as music […]
Bayreuth loses its Brangäne
The Russian mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova has missed too many rehearsals with illness to take part in Tristan und Isolde, the festival has announced. She will be replaced as Brangäne by Christa Mayer. It is still […]
Bridgerton makes stars of UK string quartet
If you’ve watched more than ten minutes of Bridgerton – or are forced to admit it under torture – you will be aware that the background music to the early-q9th century social events consists of […]
When Walt Disney faked a meeting with Prokofiev
The Hollywood illusionist made a film of himself meeting, supposedly, the composer of Peter and the Wolf. You don’t have to look too closely to see that it’s not Prokofiev but a body double. He […]
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