Lindsay Stirling has made it big time. After a self-released crossover hit - 100,000 sales and counting - and a new deal with Lady Gaga's manager, Lindsay made it last night onto the show that introduced Katherine Jenkins to couch-potato America. Just watch those moves. Next top - we kid you not - Vienna. Mit Violine und Dubstep, as they say. … [Read more...]

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We have received the following communication from C L Scheurer about the Minnesota Orchestra lockout, now in its fifth month: This is NOT what my grandfather Karl Scheurer had in mind when he came from Germany to build this Orchestra in 1909!   A pupil of Joachim in Berlin, not even 20 years old, he - first in Boston, after Joachim passed in 1907 - and eight members of my family once graced this stage. My heart is broken over what has taken place! I opened the 100 year … [Read more...]

A doctor friend was telling me of his experiences playing in Walter Bergmann's recorder group in the early 1970s. Bergmann (1902-1988) was a German lawyer who came to England as a refugee in 1938. Unable to practice law, he practised music instead, and with infectious wit and enthusiasm. He taught and played the recorder and directed choirs all over London, especially at Morley College where his ideas had a lasting influence on Michael Tippett and on the nascent early music movement. Working … [Read more...]

Matthew Ruggiero, sometime principal bassoon of the Boston Pops, has died in a city hospice. He was assistant bassoon in the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1961. In 1974, Seji Ozawa and Arthur Fiedler promoted him to the first seat in the Pops. Philadelphia born, he taught and played five summers at Marlboro with Rudolf Serkin and Marcel Moyse. Aside from his music, Matthew held several degrees from Harvard including an MA in Italian literature. May he rest in peace. Here's an … [Read more...]

The Tonhalle orchestra of Zurich, which is undergoing major generational change, had a pretty good year according to its annual accounts, just received. It gave 104 concerts and broke even on a budget of 39.6 million Swiss francs, of which 16.3 million came as city subsidy. Looking good, except that the number of subscribers fell from 6,342 to 5,997. That's in line with the rest of the sector, says the orch's management. Is it, really? Hmmm... New conductor Lionel Bringuier will have a … [Read more...]

Here's the cinema trail for Stéphanie Argerich's forthcoming film, Bloody daughter, also titled 'Argerich'. ARGERICH de Stéphanie Argerich from Intermezzo Films on Vimeo. … [Read more...]

Swiss soloist Rachel Kolly d'Alba was having trouble at the top with her 1732 Stradivarius. So she took it back to the shop. … [Read more...]

The last three years' worth of Lebrecht Interviews have been put on-line for free listening by the BBC. You should be able to hear the Richard Rodney Bennett interview by clicking right here. … [Read more...]

Among all the year's sad and bad news, this may not twang your heart strings. But I find a certain sic transit value to the news that Damien Hirst is parting company with gallery impresario Larry Gagosian. And all these years I thought: they so deserve each other... The FT has the scoop. … [Read more...]

The influential orchestral manager and mentor Stephen Gray, who died at the weekend, was a man of great discretion, so much so that hardly anyone has seen a picture of him. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, which he managed for 23 years with five principal conductors, has come up with an historic image. Here is its tribute: Tuesday, 4 December, 2012   Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Remembers  Stephen Gray OBE   All associated with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic are … [Read more...]

The Cliburn Foundation, which runs the competition, has been in temporary hands since 2009, when Richard Rodzinski stepped down after 23 years. Alann Sampson, a lifelong loyalist stood in as interim president and CEO. Today she quit, suddenly. The next competition is in May. It's all to play for. Read all about it: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/11/15/4416734/top-cliburn-foundation-executive.html … [Read more...]

Peter Witte, dean of the conservatory of music and dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, sent the following heartfelt letter to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. They failed to publish it. We do so instead. Read, and weep. Atlanta Journal-Constitution Letters to the Editor  letters@ajc.com   Dear Editors: With a reported $600,000 distance on a roughly $40M budget, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s management and musicians are in accord on 98.5% of their next … [Read more...]

The opening night at the Teatro Real - a high-wire performance of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron - suffered disruptions from ten workers dismissed as part of the theatre's economic cuts. The workers and their union distributed a leaflet with the following message: "Dear Royal Theatre audience: at the end of last July, the Royal Theatre workers decided not to vote on the latest proposal of the FIR to change our working conditions. The company claimed that we decide something as important when … [Read more...]