On Saturday, December 6, pianist Jonathan Biss joins the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in an 8 p.m. performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22, K 482, in Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. Other works on the program are Haydn's Overture to L'infedeltà delusa, Ives's The Unanswered Question, and Elliott Carter's Symphony No. 1.

Tickets from $29 - $98 are available at the Carnegie Hall box office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at www.carnegiehall.org. All ticket-holders are invited to attend a pre-concert lecture at 6:45 p.m. in the Kaplan Space at Carnegie Hall given by Dr. Carl Leafstedt, associate professor of music history at Trinity University in Texas.

Earlier this year Mr. Biss and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recorded Mozart Piano Concertos 21 and 22 live for an EMI Classics CD that was released on October 14. In his liner notes for the recording, Mr. Biss describes his feelings about Mozart's piano concertos: "So much of the greatest music acts as an escape … from reality; Mozart simply is reality … every affect and every effect." Of Mozart's piano concertos, he writes, "Mozart's music is generally filled with miracles but the frequency and variety of the miracles are perhaps at their greatest in the piano concerti, and the two on this disc are almost absurdly rich in inspired and diverse material."

Tickets from $29 - $98. Read more about this at the Carnegie Hall website:

   www.carnegiehall.org

Online Pre-sale for Seattle Opera's Eagerly Anticipated 2009 Ring des Nibelungen Begins November 12

Phone and In-Person Sales begin November 15

Tickets for Seattle Opera's 2009 Ring cycles will go on sale to the general public in an online pre-sale beginning at 10:00 a.m. PST on November 12, and by phone and in person beginning Saturday, November 15 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Cycle tickets range from $302 to $1,508 for the four-opera package, and are already on sale to Seattle Opera subscribers and donors of $100 or more to the Ring fund. Tickets for this highly anticipated event are likely to sell quickly – for the 2005 cycle, tickets were sold out several months in advance, drawing operagoers from 49 states and 19 countries. Seattle Opera will present three full cycles of Wagner's four-opera saga from August 9, 2009, through August 30, 2009.

Seattle Opera has long been heralded as "America's Bayreuth" for its productions of the major works in the Wagner canon, especially the Ring cycle's four operas: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. In August the company will remount its stunning 2005 production, with the award-winning team of director Stephen Wadsworth, set designer Thomas Lynch, costumes by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting design from Peter Kaczorowski. Maestro Robert Spano, the distinguished music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who conducted the 2005 Ring also returns in 2009.

Read more about this at the Seattle Opera website:

   www.seattleopera.org

Julius Rudel to be Honored with Distinguished Achievement Award
by Opera Index at its Annual Winter Gala Sunday, January 11, 2009

On Sunday, January 11, 2009, Opera Index will present its 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award to Julius Rudel at its annual Winter Gala to be held in the Grand Salon at the Jumeirah Essex House, the luxury hotel on Central Park South. Opera Index is a non-profit organization that since 1984 has boosted the careers of more than 250 young singers through its annual vocal competitions. Each year it also recognizes the opera legends of our time with its Distinguished Achievement Award.

The Opera Index Winter Gala is the highlight of the organization's year of activities. Under the artistic direction of celebrated opera soprano Elaine Malbin and hosted by New York City Opera dramaturg Cori Ellison, the Winter Gala is a black tie affair where attendees, including many opera and theater stars, will celebrate the extraordinary career of Julius Rudel and have the opportunity to hear Opera Index's major competition winners – the opera stars of tomorrow – accompanied by James Besser. The Distinguished Achievement Award will be presented to Mr. Rudel by his son, Anthony Rudel, writer, broadcaster, and classical music expert, whose new book Hello Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio has just been published by Harcourt.

Tickets for the Opera Index Winter Gala range from $300 to $1000 and will be available beginning mid-November by contacting Opera Index Executive Director Robert F. Crosby at oirfc@aol.com or 212-721-9828. Read more about this at the Opera Index website:

   www.operaindexinc.org

A video game score performed by a major orchestra in a concert hall? How about a video game score sitting at #8 – with a "bullet" – on the Billboard Classical/Crossover Top Ten? Not likely, you'd say – but you'd be wrong. Husband and wife Emmanuel Fratianni and Laurie Robinson's music on EMI Classics' album Video Games Live, Vol. 1 has not only achieved these milestones, but is bringing a whole new generation into the world's great concert halls. As this week's Billboard ranking may suggest, not since Mozart's music was performed in the comic opera of Vienna, has the music of the vernacular crossed over to such popular demand.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised after all. These video gamers – and they aren't all just kids anymore – have sophisticated ears, and are listening as they play to works composed by artists like Robinson and Fratianni, themselves inspired by masters like Beethoven, Brahms, and Stravinsky. These gamers spend billions of dollars buying games and hundreds of hours playing them – and now want to hear this sophisticated, original music in concert halls, download it to their iPods, and listen to it doing their homework. Many even program their alarm clock settings with it, and buy the ring tones for their cell phones. And as Billboard's Top Ten attests, they are buying records.

Fratianni and Robinson – admittedly delighted to be part of this phenomenon – reflected that, as classically trained composer, "our community has been trying for decades to attract a new audience; new generations of season ticket holders. We're proud to be part of this historic moment."

Read more about this at the Video Games Live website

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, August 11, 2008 – On September 9 the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) will release a live recording of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the tenth installment of their Grammy Award-winning Mahler recording project, on the orchestra's own SFS Media label. This CD features baritone Thomas Hampson and tenor Stuart Skelton and was recorded in September 2007 in Davies Symphony Hall. The recording utilizes Sony's Super Audio 5.1 digital surround sound technology and has audio options for both traditional CD listeners and those with SACD players. SFS Media releases are distributed in the U.S. by Harmonia Mundi USA and in Canada by SRI and are available from shopsfsymphony.org and from Amazon, ArkivMusic & CD Universe among other retailers:

Since the project began in 2001, the San Francisco Symphony has recorded eight of the nine Mahler symphonies, Kindertotenlieder and the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony. Because of the commercial and artistic success of the Mahler recording project, the SFS has expanded it to include recordings of all Mahler's works for voices, chorus and orchestra, including a remastering of their earlier recording of Das klagende Lied. In 2007 Thomas Hampson and the SFS also recorded songs from Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn for the series. Additional works still to be recorded include Mahler's Rückert Lieder, Songs Of A Wayfarer and the balance of the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. A recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, is scheduled in Davies Symphony Hall this November 19-22. Soloists include sopranos Erin Wall, Elza van den Heever, and Laura Claycomb, mezzo-soprano Katarina Karneus, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, and bass-baritone James Morris. The performance includes the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under the direction of Ragnar Bohlin, the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the Pacific Boychoir. Other soloists will be announced at a later date. The Symphony of a Thousand is slated for release in the fall of 2009 and will be paired with Mahler's Adagio from his unfinished Symphony No. 10, recorded by the SFS in Davies Symphony Hall in 2006.

Read more about this at the San Francisco Symphony website.

LA Phil Presents
– Les Misérables In Concert –
August 8, 9, 10 at the Hollywood Bowl

Friday and Saturday 8/8-8/9: 8:30 pm
Sunday 8/10: 7:30 pm

Hear the People Sing! For three nights only, Boublil & Schönberg's Tony-winning Les Misérables, the world's longest-running musical, will be presented in a staged concert adaptation, featuring the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and an all-star cast, including Brian Stokes Mitchell, J. Mark McVey, Melora Hardin, Rosie O'Donnell, Lea Michele, and John Lloyd Young.

Log on to HollywoodBowl.com for tickets and information.

program page:

   http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/performance_detail.cfm?id=3534

Singers Gather in Seattle for "Wagnerian Idol"

Second International Wagner Competition to be Held at McCaw Hall August 16

Competition Includes Audience-Voted Prize

Seattle – Eight singers from around the world will compete in Seattle Opera's second International Wagner Competition on Saturday, August 16. The first competition held in 2006 was dubbed "Wagnerian Idol", reflecting the audience-vote component to the competition. Seattle Opera is internationally well-known for its focus on the works of Richard Wagner, including the company's signature performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The company's next complete Ring cycle will be performed in August 2009.

Each of the finalists – aged between 25 and 39 – will perform two arias accompanied by the Seattle Opera Orchestra conducted by Asher Fisch, Seattle Opera's principal guest conductor. Full program details are listed below. The finalists were selected via a series of international auditions. They are competing for two cash prizes of $15,000. In addition to the two main prizes, there is an "Audience Choice" prize and an "Orchestra Choice" prize.

The judges for Seattle Opera's second International Wagner Competition are an international group of authorities in all aspects of opera production – Hans-Joachim Frey, general director and chief executive officer of the Theater Bremen, which includes Oper Bremen; tenor Ben Heppner, well known for his acclaimed performances of the Wagnerian repertoire; stage director Peter Kazaras, a Seattle Opera Artistic Director of the company's Young Artists Program; Pamela Rosenberg, administrative director of the Berlin Philharmonic and former general director of San Francisco Opera; Stephen Wadsworth, frequent director of Seattle Opera productions, including its highly praised 2001 and 2005 Ring cycles and upcoming 2009 Ring; and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and an artistic advisor to the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

The second International Wagner Competition is once again made possible by a generous contribution from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

The first International Wagner Competition, held in August 2006, was created by Seattle Opera's General Director Speight Jenkins to identify and recognize qualified, emerging opera singers who demonstrate clear promise of an important career in the Wagnerian repertoire. The winners of the 2006 competition were soprano Miriam Murphy from Dublin, Ireland and baritone James Rutherford from Dulwich, England.

International Wagner Competition
Saturday, August 16, 2008
7:30PM
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Seattle, Washington

For tickets and information, call 800-426-1619 or 206-389-7676 or visit www.seattleopera.org

The Cleveland Orchestra announces Gary Ginstling as General Manager

CLEVELAND , July 14, 2008 – Executive Director Gary Hanson announced today that Gary Ginstling has been appointed General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Hanson said, "I am delighted to welcome Gary to the staff of The Cleveland Orchestra. His career in orchestra management and corporate marketing, alongside his experience as a professional musician, make him the ideal candidate to help lead our new initiatives in Cleveland and internationally."

As the General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Ginstling will have overall responsibility for management of the Orchestra, Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center, as well as the Orchestra's educational and community relations activities.

Gary Ginstling's career in orchestra management includes serving as Executive Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2006 and, most recently, as Director of Communications and External Affairs for the San Francisco Symphony since July 2006.

As Executive Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Ginstling was responsible for a number of initiatives that enhanced the orchestra's reputation for creative programming and innovative projects. Under his tenure, the orchestra and Music Director Kent Nagano gave many world premiere performances, received three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, and was a recipient of the inaugural Bank of America Award for Excellence in Music Education. Mr. Ginstling oversaw three consecutive years of balanced budgets, the elimination of all outstanding debt, and a significant increase in ticket sales.

In San Francisco , as a member of the senior management team, Mr Ginstling's responsibilities include the oversight and direction of public affairs, publications, and the organization's education/youth orchestra and community engagement activities. Previously, Mr. Ginstling worked for three years at Sun Microsystems as a marketing manager for multimedia and emerging markets.

Gary Ginstling is also a professionally trained musician. He served as principal clarinet of southern California 's New West Symphony for eleven seasons, and has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. He was a Fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida , from 1992 to 1996.

Mr. Ginstling is a board member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) and served as a board member of the San Francisco Opera BRAVO! Club for young professionals. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.

Gary Ginstling succeeds Jonathan Martin, who served as General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1999 to March 2008. Mr. Martin is now the Executive Director of the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina.

www.clevelandorchestra.com

The music of Kaija Saariaho will be widely heard in the United States this summer. Saariaho's second opera 'Adriana Mater' will get its U.S. premiere on July 26, 2008, at the Santa Fe opera. In August, Saariaho is featured as the composer-in-residence of the Mostly Mozart festival in Lincoln Center, New York. The festival programme includes for example the U.S. premiere of the oratorio 'La Passion de Simone' on August 13, as well as Saariaho's cello concerto 'Notes on Light' (Aug 14) and the string quartet 'Terra Memoria' (Aug 21).

Full news in more depth can be found at http://www.fimic.fi/news

Pianist Charles Rosen, the 81-year-old classical music legend and Musical America’s 2008 Instrumentalist of the Year, will perform four works by Elliott Carter in Tanglewood’s “Elliott Carter Centenary Celebration” all in Seiji Ozawa Hall. On Sunday, July 20, at 10 a.m. he will play Carter’s Double Concerto for Piano and Harpsichord with Ursula Oppens in a concert conducted by Oliver Knussen. The following day on Monday, July 21, he will perform Carter’s Piano Sonata in the Prelude Concert at 5 p.m. And on Thursday, July 24, he will play 90+ and will join cellist Fred Sherry in Carter’s Elegy in the 5 p.m. Prelude Concert.

For tickets and information, call SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200 or visit the Tanglewood Web site at www.tanglewood.org

Charles Rosen and Elliott Carter have been lifelong friends. It’s been said that there is no other pianist who understands Carter's music better, and in fact, Charles Rosen was one of four pianists who commissioned Night Fantasies from Elliott Carter (Ursula Oppens, Gilbert Kalish, and the late Paul Jacobs were the others), Charles Rosen, at 81 years of age, is one of the most widely respected pianists of our time, internationally acclaimed for his performances and recordings of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach to works by today’s most important composers. His combination of musical sensitivity and powerful intelligence produces interpretations of exceptional understanding and impact, as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted when it wrote: “Rosen’s piano playing is riveting in the way it combines formal clarity and musical insight with an uncommon gestural and speech-like expressiveness.”

PROKOFIEV AND HIS WORLD

Two summer weekends, august 8–10 and august 15–17, offer expansive survey of music by the great Russian composer and his contemporaries, with life and times of Prokofiev further illuminated by preconcert talks, panel discussions, and a symposium

"Prokofiev and His World," a centerpiece of the seven-week 2008 Bard Summerscape Festival, offers first close examination of composer's life and career since historical archives left behind in Russia were partially opened in 2003

"Part boot camp for the brain, part spa for the spirit" –New York Times

Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. – The last two weekends of Bard SummerScape 2008 will feature the world-renowned Bard Music Festival, returning in its 19^th annual season for an exploration of "Prokofiev and His World." The eleven summer programs of the Bard Music Festival will take place over two weekends on August 8–10 and August 15–17, to be followed by an autumn finale featuring two additional programs (October 24 and 25).

Szymanowski's opera King Roger and his "Pastoral Dance" Harnasie will be performed by the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, in productions designed and directed by Lech Majewski, for five performances opening July 25

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Bard SummerScape's exploration of "Prokofiev and His World" will be enriched by productions of two rapturous works by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski – a contemporary and friend of Prokofiev's – opening Friday, July 25 for a run of five performances through August 3. Under music director Leon Botstein, SummerScape's resident American Symphony Orchestra will play both the acclaimed opera King Roger (The Shepherd) and Harnasie, a pastoral dance by the composer who is widely considered the father of modern Polish music. The Wroclaw Opera Chorus will perform, with Polish vocal soloists, and a children's choir. Both works will be directed and designed by Lech Majewski.