When Lincoln Center's newly renovated Alice Tully Hall reopened in February, it was classed by critics as an outstanding success. The acoustics have been improved in subtle yet palpable ways, adding brightness, clarity and intimacy in the 1087-seat hall. The $159m makeover, overseen by architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, took 22 months to complete and is part of Lincoln Center's continuing transformation.

Rather surprisingly, it has been announced that Mark-Anthony Turnage's next project for London's Royal Opera House will be an opera based on the life of model Anna Nicole Smith. Less surprising is the choice of librettist — Richard Thomas, whose previous hits include Jerry Springer: The Opera. The work, set to detail Smith's marriage to a man 63 years her senior, her legal battles for a share of the estate and her own early death, will debut in 2011.

The Southbank Centre's 2009-10 season features a return to the Thames-side arts complex of Daniel Barenboim in a Beethoven cycle. The performance of the five piano concertos, with the Berlin Staatskapelle (January 21-February 2), follows Barenboim's Beethoven sonata cycle last year. An extensive Beethoven focus will also see the Tak6cs Quartet, Southbank Centre Associate Artists, perform the complete string quartets.

Nigel Short, founder and director of the choir Tenebrae, has been named as the new director of music at the Priory Church of Saint

Bartholomew the Great, in the City of London. He succeeds David Trendell, who has held the post since January 1996. Short spoke of the "privilege and honour" of working "in one of London's oldest and most beautiful churches".