Soundbites
King’s at the double
Even the firmest cornerstones of the classical music calendar were rocked by the upheaval of the pandemic in 2020, and the annual television broadcast of Carols from King’s was no exception. With two cases of coronavirus ruling out any of the King’s College, Cambridge choral scholars from taking part, urgent replacements were needed to fill in the adult voices. Thankfully, the six men of the King’s Singers were all available at short notice and sang alongside the choir’s trebles, at a suitably social distance, for the cameras.
A fine Finn
Conductor Esa-pekka Salonen has been awarded an honorary knighthood for services to music and Uk-finland relations. Salonen, who was born and studied in Helsinki, has been principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London since 2008, during which time he has won acclaim not just for the ensemble’s performances but also for his imagination in the ways he has programmed and presented music, often involving visual and digital content.
Vienna calls
Meanwhile, Salonen’s fellow maestro
Omer Meir Wellber has been named as the next music director of Volksoper Wien. Wellber, who has become familiar to British audiences as the chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, will be taking on his new role in Austria in September 2022, following in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors that include the composer Zemlinsky.
First date
Daniel Barenboim also has ‘Wien’ written firmly in his 2022 diary, as he has been named as the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year concert at the Musikverein on 1 January. Barenboim, who will turn 80 later in the year, has conducted the concert on two previous occasions, in 2009 and 2014.