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Zurich Opera has announced that its next general manager will be Andreas Homoki, currently general manager of Berlin's Komische Oper. He will take up the post in 2012. "1 am greatly looking forward to my new work in Switzerland, where the great opera traditions of Italy, France and the...

Deutsche Grammophon and Decca will launch their first Blu-ray titles in October. The initial batch features 12 high-definition DVDs, most of them existing releases. Newcomers include DG's Manon starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, conducted by Daniel Barenboim; Decca Royal Opera House...

Venezuela's renowned system of youth orchestras has been extended to encompass some of the country's most hardened prisons, writes Simon Romero. "Hundreds of ..prisoners .prisoners are learning a repertory that includes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and folksongs from the Venezuelan plains. They...

The Times, UK "Choirs are becoming cool, spurred by the success of choirmaster Gareth Malone's award-winning BBC2 series on choirs. There are now more than 25,000 registered in Britain," says Sally Kinnes. The UK's amazing amateur tradition and 1000 years of cathedral choir schools are currently...

Have your interpretations changed? Every time I come back to a piece of music it's different and hopefully I move forwards rather than back! I turned 30 last year and that milestone is something I've really enjoyed. The more you experience in life, the wider the palette of meaningful emotions you...

Spain - he was quite old. The second time was in London, and at his concert he appeared very, very old - he walked on stage without his guitar which someone else brought out for him. But the next day he was really very agile, very talkative, told a lot of stories; he was fantastic really. For me...