Christoph von Dohnányi, the longtime music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and one of the most versatile conductors of his generation, has died, two days before he would have celebrated his 96th birthday. Dohnányi, grandson of the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi, was reared in a cultured German family, two of whose members, his father,…

Letter V Blog

12.09.2025

Met stages Mason Bates’ latest – Letter V

Mason Bates, the Richmond-bred composer known for his incorporation of electronica in orchestrations, is readying his latest opera, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” for New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The work, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, was introduced last year at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. It was to be a co-production…

Letter V Blog

14.09.2025

Letter V Classical Radio Sept. 14 – Letter V

Remembering Christoph von Dohnányi, the German maestro who restored the Cleveland Orchestra to greatness in the 1980s and ’90s. As you’ll hear, Dohnányi’s mastery, from European classics to American moderns, was matched by few conductors of his generation. 1-3 p.m. EDT1700-1900 UTCWDCE, University of Richmond90.1 FMhttp://wdce.net Smetana: “The Bartered Bride” – “Dance of the Comedians”Cleveland…

Letter V Blog

15.09.2025

Another cancellation – Letter V

The Flemish region of Belgium is not known as a hotbed of anti-Semitism. Far from it: The largest city in Flanders, Antwerp, was a refuge for Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 16th century, and today is a center of Haredi Orthodox Judaism in Europe. Given that history, the decision by a music…

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Christoph von Dohnányi (1929-2025) – Letter V

Met stages Mason Bates’ latest – Letter V

Letter V Classical Radio Sept. 14 – Letter V

Another cancellation – Letter V

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