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Stella Chen, First Prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition

Stella Chen is the beaming young musician who has just been awarded the First Prize of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, violin 2019. She delighted us with her ...

The pianist Eva Gevorgyan, Discovery Award of the ICMA

Young Russian pianist Eva Gevorgyan has already played on many prestigious stages. A student of the Central Music School in Moscow and a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy ...

Gustavo Gimeno in Britten and Shostakovich with the Finnish RSO

One of the most immediately appealing aspects of cellist Tomas Nuñez-Garcés' performance was his understated confidence and assured virtuosity. Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich were two of the greatest composers of ...

One thousand and one lessons from la Nilsson

This autobiography of Madame Bertil Niklasson, stage name Birgit Nilssson, written in Swedish, translated into Danish, then German, then English, is solid, frank, direct, never reckless, always spontaneous and witty. ...

ICMA and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester announce terrific program for the Gala Concert

The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester have announced the program of the ICMA Gala Concert which will take place on 10 May 2019 at the iconic ...

Leonard Bernstein, Revealed

In the little game of drawing familiar analogies, always a bit foolish, it’s true, but still unavoidable, Charlie Harmon’s compilation quickly joins the leading ranks of works published in 2018 ...

Osmo Vänskä’s Americana with the Helsinki Philharmonic

Soloist Jonathan Roozeman handled Barber's fearsome technical demands with ease, particularly the seemingly inhuman left-hand acrobatics required in the outer movements.  One of the highlights of the current Helsinki Philharmonic season is the focus ...

The Winners of the International Classical Music Awards – ICMA 2019

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announced today the Awards for 2019. Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Spanish pianist Javier Perianes ...

Relishing the extremes : Hannu Lintu in Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 with the Finnish RSO

Both Lintu and the orchestra pulled out all the stops in the sprawling final movement.  The winters are long and dark in Finland. Coincidence or not, Mahler's Symphony No. 6, the composer's ...

ICMA 2019 – The finalists

In several rounds, the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has chosen the releases competing in the finals for the awards 2019. « Our initial list with a total ...

ICMA Jury nominates 319 releases for the 2019 awards

The ICMA nomination list for 2019 is available. For the 2019 awards the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has nominated 319 audio and video productions (321 in 2017, ...

Famous Father Girl, A powerfully successful Portrait of Leonard Bernstein

From the first lines of this Famous Father Girl, A Memoir of Growing up Bernstein, a passably inelegant, even frankly indigestible title, the reader quickly discovers little Jamie, oldest daughter ...

Outhere Chairman Charles Adriaenssen : « I am cautiously optimistic »

This year, the record label Alpha is Label of the Year of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). Alpha belongs to Belgian music group Outhere (Alpha, Ricercar, Fuga Libera, Ramée, ...

Samuel Hasselhorn, First Prize at Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition 2018

Samuel Hasselhorn has just been awarded First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, Voice, 2018. The 27-year-old German baritone graduated from the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien ...

Florence Bolton, dreamy baroque

Since its foundation in 2004, the baroque ensemble La Rêveuse has recorded a wide repertoire of both instrumental and vocal music, not only from France, but also from England and ...

In Helsinki, Mälkki’s cool-headed intensity in Mahler’s No. 9

Susanna Mälkki's take on Mahler's final completed masterpiece focused on tight control coupled with clear, unsentimental intensity. Nearing the end of her second year as music director of the Helsinki Philharmonic ...

Christian Lindberg in Allan Pettersson’s Symphonies No. 5 and 7

Like other releases in this series, Lindberg exposes every detail and every colour in Pettersson’s Symphony No. 7 while maintaining total control over the work’s overall structure. Christian Lindberg and the Norrköping Symphony ...

ICMA announce Recording of the Year

From the list of their 15 winning audio and video productions, the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has chosen the overall winner of the Recording of the ...

ICMA announce major awards for 2019

During the Award Ceremony of the ICMA 2018 prices in Katowice, Poland, ICMA President Rémy Franck yesterday announced two major awards for 2019 : Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, 73, will ...

Beethoven Year for the pianist Pavel Kolesnikov

Since becoming Prize Laureate of the Honens Prize for Piano in 2012, Kolesnikov has performed around the world. He is undertaking UK and European tours with the Czech National Symphony ...

Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra will host the ICMA Gala in 2021

Last Wednesday, in the Town Hall of Vaduz, in presence of mayor Ewald Ospelt, Dr. Ernst Walch, president of the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra and ICMA president Rémy Franck signed the ...

Denise Fedeli : « The Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana is ready for new challenges »

In the category DVD Performance, this year’s prize of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has been awarded to Rileggendo Brahms with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana conducted by Markus ...

ICMA create new ‘Composer Award’

To underline the importance of musical creation in today’s musical life, the International Classical Music Awards ICMA have created a Composer Award. During their General Assembly at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg, ...

The Winners of the International Classical Music Awards – ICMA 2018

For the International Classical Music Awards 2018, the ICMA Jury has once more selected musicians and organizations that have distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements. The independent and international jury has ...

An Exciting Biography of Toscanini, by Harvey Sachs

Toscanini : Musician of Conscience is a fascinating tome of 923 pages (in English) devoted to Toscanini. Fascinating, because it’s often brilliant and unquestionably deserves a place among the greatest ...

Happy New Year

ICMA 2018 – The finalists

In several rounds, the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has chosen the releases competing in the finals for the awards 2018. « Our list with a total of 357 ...

Passionate and virtuosic : Tianwa Yang in Britten’s Violin Concerto

Yang brought a devilish and almost unhinged quality to the dancing second movement of Britten's Violin Concerto, which further highlighted her amazing virtuosity. The current Helsinki season has been almost an ...

ICMA Nomination List 2018 Is Available

ICMA Jury nominates 357 releases for the 2018 awards. The ICMA nomination list for 2018 is available. To get the list, just click on our Nominations link which will lead you ...

The sea in many forms: the Finnish premiere of Matthew Whittall’s piano concerto

Matthew Whittall's new piano concerto, Nameless Seas, was effective in evoking not only literal but also metaphorical feelings of the sea. Respighi is best known for his ecstatically colorful symphonic portraits of Rome, which ...