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 […]
classical
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 […]
Top quartet swaps violist
The award-laden Cuarteto Casals of Barcelona has lost its violist Jonathan Brown to a teaching vocation at Colburn in LA. Brown is replaced by his former student Cristina Cordero, 26, who was four years old […]
Death of a superb Violetta
The Italian soprano Elena Mauti Nunziata has died at the age of 77. She made her name internationally in a 1977 Madrid La traviata that is still considered a benchmark. She sang 26 times at […]
Scala Radio is cancelled
The UK younger-listeners station has been hustled into an urgent rebrand. From September it will be known as Magic Classical. Original, right? Fresh and attractive? Your call. Scala Radio hit a record low of 188,000 […]
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