Sound bites
Cheltenham change
After two seasons as music director of Cheltenham Music Festival, trumpeter Alison Balsom has announced that she is to step down to concentrate on her performing and recording career. Next year, the 75-yearold event will be in the hands of conductor and composer Jules Buckley, who will be acting as guest curator alongside the festival’s permanent head of programming.
Venetian dream
A British tax consultant has revealed his plans to rebuild the world’s first ever public opera house, more than two centuries after it was demolished. Paul Atkin is currently seeking to raise the 90m (£85m) needed to construct a present-day version of Venice’s Teatro San Cassiano, the original of which opened its doors with a performance of Manelli’s Andromeda in 1637. He is also working with the city’s authorities to establish a suitable site for the project.
Elgar theft
A number of medals and a signed photograph have been stolen from The Firs, the Worcestershire birthplace of Edward Elgar. Thieves broke into the National
Trust property overnight in early July and took medals including the Grand Cross of The Royal Victorian Order, awarded to the composer when he was made a knight in 1904. In a public appeal, West Mercia police have asked people to keep an eye out for these irreplaceable artefacts.
Flowery sounds
Research conducted by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has revealed that orchestral music is the choice of 22 per cent of people who like to listen while in the garden. It sits comfortably above reggae (15 per cent) and jazz (11 per cent) but, unsurprisingly, some way below pop and rock (45 and 36 per cent respectively).