As medici.tv’s Chief Content Officer I spend a lot of time thinking about classical music—and a lot of time on the internet. Here’s my selection of the top four news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
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A new era at The Leeds with Sir Stephen Hough (The Guardian)
Sir Stephen Hough was announced last week as the new artistic leader of the Leeds International Piano Competition. The Leeds also revealed significant changes to the competition structure, which will be implemented for the next edition in 2027, including considerable artistic freedom in the repertoire selection. Speaking to the Guardian, Hough said: “Too often competitions become like an extension of your final exam at music college. But we want to know what are you going to programme when you are asked to do your Wigmore Hall or Carnegie Hall debut? Give us a programme, show us your best side so that we can see the best of you, not the sort of mediocre sort of half best of everything.”
“At 250, has America delivered on its classical music promise?” (NYT)
As the United States celebrated their 250th anniversary this Saturday, Joseph Horowitz reflected in the NYT on classical music’s trajectory since the founding of the first batch of New World orchestras at the turn of the twentieth century: “the classical music tradition in the United States is borrowed from Europe. But few could have anticipated how European it would remain.”
Hillary Clinton’s surprise performance at Carnegie Hall (NYT)
Former secretary of state, US senator, and first lady Hillary Clinton is accustomed to speaking to large audiences but she made her Carnegie Hall debut this past week narrating Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” alongside the Arcadia Symphony New York. Clinton’s role was actually a surprise: in order to mitigate security concerns, her staff had asked the orchestra and the venue to leave her presence out of all promotional materials.
Jakub Hrůšaon what a young conductor needs to succeed (Gramophone)
The Mahler Competition wrapped up this weekend and so did Rebecca Frank’s behind-the-scenes blog for Gramophone. I enjoyed her discussion with conductor and jury chair Jakub Hrůša about what a conductor needs to succeed on the podium and specifically in this competition. This weekend, the finalists worked with the Bamberg Symphony—watch them here performing Mahler 2 with Hrůša, their music director:
