News

The composer and conductor Peter Eötvös has died in Budapest on 24 March 2024 at the age of 80. This was announced by his family on Sunday. With his death, the music world has lost one of the most frequently performed opera composers of our time. 

Aribert Reimann, one of the most distinguished composers of the post-war generation, has died at the age of 88. He passed away in Berlin on 13 March 2024. It is with great respect that we bid farewell to a great artist whose empathetic sense of humanity will continue to live on in his works.

Through more than a hundred published works and many recordings, Bernard Rands is recognized worldwide as a major figure in contemporary music. We send him our warm congratulations on this milestone birthday!

The education and training of a musician mainly focusses on working with the instrument. It is often forgotten, however, that playing a musical instrument requires certain physical abilities. We take it for granted that we have the strength to hold it and that we are able to play for hours. Only when health issues arise like tenseness, overstraining or pain, do we realise the high performance we demand from our musculoskeletal system. Warming up should therefore be a fixture in our practising routine.

The fascinating and diverse creativity of Peter Eötvös is fuelled by the triad of composition, musical practice, and educational enthusiasm.  We wish him a very happy 80th birthday.

It feels safe to say many of us play our instruments much less than we did when we were younger, how do people find the time within adult life? Here we have an interview style blog from Melanie Spanswick looking at relearning and revisiting the piano as an adult. Linking to her series Play it Again, Melanie talks about how music can fit into our adult lives and how this series can help you along your way.

After 253 years in private hands, Music Publisher Schott is to become the property of the Strecker Foundation, thus securing its independence forever. The historic house at Weihergarten 5 in Mainz remains the publishing house's headquarters, while more recent parts of the building are developed with the Molitor company to create a "House of Music" alongside apartments.

We congratulate Ludger Brümmer on winning the Honorary Award of the German Record Critics' Award.

Julian Anderson's Symphony No. 2, will celebrate its US premiere on December 7, 2023 at Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH. The Cleveland Orchestra will present the piece under the baton of Semyon Bychkov, who conducted the world premiere with the Munich Philharmonic at the beginning of last year. 

By carefully attending, nature and objects reveal their sounds. On November 22, 2023, soprano Anu Komsi will debut Sebastian Hilli's new song cycle. She will be joined by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and the Vaasa City Orchestra, led by Anna-Maria Helsing. The premiere of You Are the Earth Beneath You will be held at Schaumansalen in Pietarsaari, located on the west coast of Finland in the Swedish-speaking region.