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 five news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
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Jane Austen, composer? (BBC Radio 3)
It’s widely known that Jane Austen was an accomplished pianist and music lover, but some believe the beloved novelist also tried her hand at composing. Pianist David Owen Norris sat down with BBC Radio 3 this week to take a look at the score of an unsigned piano sonata written out by Austen herself, which he believes was her own composition…
George Frederick Bristow, “Founding Father of the American Symphony” (NYT)
Chances are you’ve never heard of George Frederick Bristow but he was a fascinating figure and one of the pioneers of American classical music. To mark what would have been his 200th birthday this month, the New York Times looked at Bristow’s legacy as a founding member of the New York Philharmonic and fervent advocate for American composers (including himself) struggling for recognition in a musical culture dominated by European traditions.
The Trump Kennedy Center (CNN, Operawire)
The board of the Kennedy Center, chaired by Donald Trump, voted on Thursday to rename the institution the “Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”—a rebrand that was implemented just hours later on the institution’s website and Friday morning on the building’s façade. This comes after significant upheaval in the Center’s organizational structure since Trump began his second term in office. The backlash has been widespread and many members of the Kennedy family have spoken out, calling the change disrespectful and potentially illegal. ing in London—would write an opera set in Scotland in the Italian language.
Can Sky’s new Amadeus series bring new audiences to classical music? (The Guardian)
Just days before the release of the new Amadeus mini-series on Sky, the Guardian wonders whether the TV show will leave as much a mark on pop culture as its predecessor. The 1984 film—which, like the new series, was also based on Peter Shaffer’s play—was a smash hit, taking home multiple Oscars and inspiring millions of people around the world to listen to Mozart’s music. The 2025 version includes 115 excerpts of Mozart’s oeuvre, as well as other classical composers like Haydn, Bach, and of course, Salieri.
Gramophone editor Martin Cullingford is interviewed in the article and mentions a performance of the iconic Queen of the Night aria in episode 5: “I’d like to think that watching that will make people go: ‘Wow, that’s pretty epic.’” The most epic version we’ve got on medici.tv is undoubtedly Diana Damrau’s…
Carolin Widmann vs. Lufthansa, part 2
Earlier this month, we covered Carolin Widmann’s incident on a Lufthansa flight, which saw her travel a multi-leg journey with her Guadagnini violin in her arms. Her tale sparked considerable discourse online, as fellow violinists took to social media to share their stories as well. Widmann posted an update this week detailing the various complaints she has filed with the airline, including an open letter to its CEO, and the responses she’s received thus far, in the hopes of spurring concrete change to airline policies across Europe.
