classical

The Royal Opera informs us that Eva-Maria Westbroek has withdrawn from all performances of Festen ‘due to personal reasons’. The new opera by Mark Anthony Turnage, based on the Danish cult film, does not premiere […]

Message from José Miguel Pérez-Sierra: I am happy to be able to share with you my appointment as Musical and Artistic Director of the Royal Opera Festival in Krakow. In addition to the close collaboration […]

Today, Northern Ballet is performing Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon without its orchestra. Two of the nation’s core arts institutions have been stripped bare by Arts Council England. This is […]

The Czech Philharmonic has lost its music director for the opening of the season while he undergoes back surgery. The first three concerts will be conducted by Charles Dutoit. Bychkov, 71, will be incapacitated for […]

Five staffers have resigned and one has been fired for wearing pro-Palestine propaganda at work. The arts centre, founded in 1874 as a Jewish facility, hosts many classical music performances. Story here. The post Gaza […]

US violinist Mayumi Kanagawa (centre among the finalists) has won this year’s George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest with a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s 3rd concerto. Second was South Korea’s Hyeonjeong Lee, aged 13. Japan’s […]

From a correspondent: I am a retired full time chorister who worked at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from the mid-1970s until recently. When I started, I made $125/week for 13 weeks and about $4/hr […]

Dr Harry Brunjes, who has presided over ten years of destruction at English National Opera, is stepping down. He has resisted that move valiantly for a very long time. The good doctor may now enjoy […]

We hear that Elim Chan, the sought-after Hong Kong conductor, is leaving Classic Concert Management GmbH in Berlin to join Intermusica in London. No-one’s giving any reasons yet, but CCM have just three conductors on […]

The composer John Mackey has reported the death of his friend, Robert Carnochan, Professor of Conducting at the University of Miami and Chair of Instrumental Performance and Director of Bands at the Frost School of […]