Berlin Philharmonic News

One of the more interesting moments in London s musical life in 2006 must have been at the Ivor Novello Awards when opera composer Harrison Birtwistle weighed in against popular music, accusing it of sentimentality and cliche.

"Unlocking the Masters" is a series of publications by Amadeus Press of New York City.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the next concert on June 13 at 7.30pm at the Aspire Hall in the Aspire Zone, with Karl-Heinz Steffens from Germany as the guest conductor.

On Spoleto Today with Marc Overton & Jennifer Foster at 11 a.m. on WSCI-FM 89.3 in Charleston or online at www.spoletochambermusic.org : Highlights are: --When mandolinist Chris Thiele talks, we stop to listen, because the subject could be anything: Bluegrass, New Grass, Beethoven, Bartok ... or Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Bay Area-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, beloved around the nation for its faithful and ebullient performances of early music, has scored a true coup with the results of its search for a new executive director.

Jack Wickel prepares to play Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, one of his 200 classical and opera albums in need of a new owner.

Sir Simon Rattle will stay on at the Berlin Philharmonic until 2018, it was confirmed at a press conference this week to unveil the orchestra's 2009-10 season.

Is the CD made in Basra by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards really "the first album recorded in a war zone"? That depends on how you define "recording", "album" and indeed "war zone". Throughout the 20th century many classical musicians were brave to the point of recklessness about ensuring that "the band played on" when bombs were falling.

Simon Rattle left a lot of yearning in his wake after his last visit to the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He had just returned home from singing the title role in "Peter Grimes" with the San Diego Opera.

Emmanuel Pahud, principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic, is an Ionarts favorite, with our recent assessments of his playing including a striking Vivaldi album and an exclusive review of his 2007 concert here in Washington.

Susanna Malkki, here with the City of Birmingham Symphony, is conducting the Boston Symphony this week for the first time.

The Mark Morris Dance Group will perform "Mozart Dances" with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music.

Midwest Young Artists presents 'Starburst' Comments April 23, 2009 SRO: PEOPLE TO WATCH Welcome home Carrie: Highwood-based Midwest Young Artists will present Starburst: Part 1 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston.

No wonder that the Finnish conductor was feted generously in Los Angeles. He was the musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and was able to bring in more listeners, establish a more versatile programme and orchestra through "vigour, power, edge, warmth, and beauty". He was not necessarily seen as the deepest maestro and orchestra ...

Performances by the Berlin Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony orchestras, violinist Itzhak Perlman and London's Globe Theatre headline a 2009-10 season for Ann Arbor's University Musical Society that seems to defy the economic challenges that beset art organizations everywhere.

It was a quiet Friday afternoon the other day at the Maclean's Ottawa bureau, so I closed my office door, turned up the volume on my computer speakers and tuned in, live, to a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic.

An orchestra has often meant more than just music. Like those medieval European towns that built cathedrals so they could be attain the status of a "major" town or city, orchestras have often been seen as a statement of a city's cultural status, financial and demographic stability, and status as a "destination." Yes, it's a matter of civic pride ...

PROKOFIEV II: Gergiev and the LSO were breathtaking in the Fifth Symphony. Of the great international orchestras, perhaps the one that's most unfairly overlooked for, say, the Vienna or the Berlin Philharmonic is the London Symphony Orchestra.

This afternoon, I listened to my entire CD of the Berlin Philharmonic playing Beethoven's 9th - the supreme symphony of all time, directed by Herbert Von Karajan.