NEWS ROUND-UP
News in brief UK charity Help Musicians has partnered with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine to launch a ‘physio toolkit’. A Symphony of Good Sense has been created by musicians’ physiotherapist, Dr Sarah Upjohn to kerb high rates of injury among musicians by helping physiotherapists and healthcare professionals tailor their support to musicians’ needs.
PRS Foundation, Southbank Centre and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture are set to present the New Music Biennial Festival across two cities this summer. The free festival will run from 6-8 June in Bradford and from 4-6 July 2025 at London’s Southbank Centre. The 2025 programme will feature 20 brand new works selected through an open call alongside new pieces premiered within the last four years.
Oxford's oldest professional orchestra, the City of Oxford Orchestra, has announced its closure. At the ensemble's final concert, which also marked its diamond jubilee, orchestra director Lindsay Sandison cited falling audience numbers as the reason for the closure, explaining that the orchestra struggled to compete with the many free concerts available in the city. She confirmed two events will remain on the City of Oxford Orchestra calendar: the annual concerto by candlelight at Exeter College Chapel and an event marking its 30 years of partnership with pianist Tom Poster.
Michael Tilson Thomas to ‘wind down’ public appearances
American conductorcomposer Michael Tilson Thomas has announced that he will be ‘winding down’ his public appearances following the return of a tumour in his brain.
In a statement published in February, Tilson Thomas confirmed that, three and a half years after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the tumour in his brain had returned and 'the odds are uncertain’. He confirmed that his upcoming concert with the San Francisco (SF) Symphony will be his final performance.
In his statement, Tilson Thomas writes: ‘Now is the time to wind down my public appearances. During the past year I had the opportunity to come full circle with musicians and orchestras I hold most dear. My work with the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago
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Michael Tilson Thomas: 'My life’s coda is generous and rich'
Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic was very special. In March I have concerts planned with the New World Symphony and, on April 26, the San Francisco Symphony is celebrating my 80th birthday. At that point we all get to say the old show business expression, "It’s a wrap".’
Tilson Thomas will be wrapping up an extraordinary career. As well as founding and directing Florida’s New World Symphony, he is the music director laureate of the SF Symphony and conductor laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Closing his statement, Tilson Thomas writes: ‘A ‘coda’ is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion... My life’s coda is generous and rich. Life is precious.’
Gramophone and Music Teacher launch education campaign Music Teacher magazine has joined forces with sister title Gramophone to launch a campaign championing the importance of music education for everyone. Music Teacher editor Phil Croydon unveiled the campaign at the Music and Drama Education Awards with a call for educators across England and Wales to make their voices heard on the key issues facing music teaching today.
The 'Growing Musicians, Shaping Lives' campaign is launched against the backdrop of numerous reports highlighting a 15-year low in the number of students taking arts subjects at GCSE, while uptake of A Level arts subjects has fallen by 31% since 2010. Winners at the Gramophone Awards in October 2024 used their acceptance speeches to advocate for music education, with figures including violinist Hilary Hahn and Gabrieli Consort artistic director Paul McCreesh lending their voice to the cause.
Accepting her Artist of the Year award, soprano Carolyn Sampson said: ‘I am a product of what was then Bedfordshire County Youth Music. What you see over the years is these services really struggling, and there are some really wonderful people in Bedfordshire trying to keep the threads of these things going, so that other people can grow and become future Artists of the Year.’
Through 'Growing Musicians, Shaping Lives', Music Teacher and Gramophone will share stories of how music education has transformed lives, shine a spotlight on musical opportunities for children and young people and urge policy makers and funders to increase support for music education.
6 | Classical Music | Spring 2025
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