Soundbites
Capital venture
Edinburgh is to get a new concert hall.
Plans have been approved for work to begin on the Dunard Centre, a 1,000-seat venue just off St Andrew Square in the city centre. Projected to cost around £75m and be complete by 2026, the hall will provide a home base for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will be an important venue for the Edinburgh Festival.
Welcome guest
Anything Bergen can do (see p12), so can Bournemouth. Mark Wigglesworth has joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as its principal guest conductor, beginning with immediate effect. Like
Mark Elder, Wigglesworth is a former music director of English National Opera (albeit briefly) and comes with a wealth of experience and acclaim. His initial tenure is for a period of three years.
Green recordings
The first ever recording studio dedicated to carbon capture has been set up in Gloucestershire. Based at Cotehay Farm in Brockhampton, Migration Studios will channel all of its proceeds to the environmental charity Platform Earth, which in turn aims to support projects that tackle climate change. The first of such projects to benefit from the new enterprise will be the Sussex Kelp Restoration Project. See also ‘Sustainable Sounds’, p40.
Squeeze box of delights
Congratulations to accordionist Ryan Corbett, who has won the prestigious Royal Over-seas League (ROSL) Annual Music Competition. Corbett squeezed his way to a £20,000 first prize with a recital that included composers ranging from Vivaldi to Russian accordion guru Viacheslav Semoinov. He is the first accordionist to win the competition since 1993.