Kasper Holten, the Director of Opera at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden since 2011, has announced that he will be stepping down from this role in 2017.
Sydney audiences will be familiar with his work from his direction of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin for Opera Australia in 2014.
Read the feature in Gramophone.
A superb performance by all in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, Monday 13th February 2012. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy with soloists Lorina Gore, soprano, Sally-Anne Russell, mezzo-soprano, James Egglestone, tenor, and Michael Nagy, bass, with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. http://bigpondvideo.com/classical/422089
Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara has died at the age of 87, following surgical complications. His output includes eight symphonies, nine operas, twelve instrumental concertos, a choral concerto and number of orchestral, chamber, instrumental, choral and vocal works. Read his obituary in The Guardian, in Gramophone magazine.
“….the entire issue of music education is becoming an ever bigger issue all over Europe. Apart from the obvious cultural value, employers want people who can work in teams, think laterally and not in straight lines, all of which music gives you in spades. A free music education was one of the glories of the…
Nominees for the 2013 Fine Arts and Artisan ARIA Awards have been announced. The categories include Best Classical Album, Best Jazz Album, Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album, Best World Music Album, Producer Of The Year, Engineer Of the Year, and Best Cover Art. Nominees for best Classical Album are Amy Dickson, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for Catch Me If You…
A fascinating feature on tuning – past, present and future – from Philip Clark of Gramophone magazine. He claims “The argument goes that equal temperament is becoming increasingly streamlined and corporate, and man’s capacity to hear and feel subtle inflections of tuning is in slow retreat.” http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/tuning
“Music was like an extra language in our family, one we all spoke.” The world-famous cellist Steven Isserlis comes from a long line of musicians. His Russian grandfather was accepted into the Moscow Conservatoire aged just 10. Steven Isserlis talks to the New Statesman about the pleasures and pressures of coming from an intensely musical…