On Oct. 23, 2022, Russian soprano Galina Pisarenko died at the age of 88. Born in Leningrad on Jan. 24, 1934, began studying piano at the Gnessin State Musical College and also studied economics at the University of Moscow. She also studied foreign languages at the Maurice Thorez Institute for Foreign Languages of the Moscow State Linguistic University, Following her {…}
On Sept. 29, 2022, British violinist John Ludlow died in his home near Shrewsbury. Born in Birmingham in 1931, Ludlow came from a musical family. His father was a conductor for the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother was a viola player. During his early years, he studied at the King Edward’s School in Birmingham and later pursued music at {…}
Mezzo-Soprano Joanna Simon has died at the age of 85. Simon died from thyroid cancer in Manhattan on October 19, 2022, a day before her 86th birthday. Born on Oct. 20, 1936 in New York City, Simon grew up in Riverdale, Bronx. Her father, Richard L. Simon, was the founder of the Simon & Schuster publishing company and she had {…}
Metropolitan Opera Stagehand Joseph Ancona has been killed by a subway train. The 20-year-old stagehand and electrician, who worked at the Metropolitan Opera, was caught in the doors of the final carriage of the New York City Subway ‘1 train’ before 5 p.m. on Oct. 24. According to Classical FM, “it was from this position, that Joseph fell onto the {…}
Mariana Nicolesco has died at the age of 73. The soprano died at a hospital in Bucharest on Oct 14, 2022, and was buried on Oct. 19 in the city’s Ghencea Cemetery. Born in Găujani, Giurgiu County in Romania, Nicolesco studied violin at the Music High School in Brașov, graduating playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto. When she went to the Music {…}
It has been announced that composer and conductor Colin Touchin has passed away in his home in Warsaw due to pancreatic cancer. Born in 1953, Touchin was a graduate of Keble College in Oxford before going on to teach at Chetham’s School of Music for eight years, then serving as Director of Music at the University of Warwick over the {…}
Soprano Ana María Sánchez has died at the age of 63. The soprano died of cancer on Sept. 17 in her hometown Elda (Alicante). She had been diagnosed with the disease in 2019 and had retired from the stage with a few public appearances. She also continued to teach during that time. Born in 1959 in ELda, the soprano studied {…}
Italian-South African Tenor Nicola Cencherle has died. Born in Schio, Italy, he immigrated to South Africa with his parents at an early age and began singing lessons at age of 18 with Xandre Haagen at Pretoria University and later with Alessandro Rota. He joined PACOFS at the age of 25 and would make his operatic debut as Cavaradossi. In 1971, {…}
Kader Hassissi, the co-founder of the Festival d’Opéra Baroque et Romantique at Beaune, passed away on August 15, 2022. He was 72. Hassissi contracted COVID-19 at the start of the summer of the year and died from the effects of the disease. Hassissi co-founded the Festival with his wife Anne Blanchard in 1983 and dedicated 40 years of his life {…}
On August 30, 2022, Russian conductor Alexander Skulsky died at the age of 80. Skulsky graduated from the Nizhny-Novgorod State Glinka Conservatoire in 1965 and in 1971 from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire. He became the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Nizhny Novgorod State Mstislav Rostropovich Philharmonic in 1967 and held the position since {…}
International tenor Marian Talaba has died at the age of 45. Born in 1977, Talaba‘s professional voice training took place from 1994 to 1996 at the Music College in Chernivtsy. Later he studied at the Ukrain Music Academy in Kiew and in 2000 he made his debut as a soloist at the National Opera House of Kiew. In 2004, he {…}