Topic: CLASSICALmanac.com
A little more than 60 years ago, conductor Arturo Toscanini gave his first televised concert, leading the NBC Symphony Orchestra. April 4 will mark the 52nd anniversary of his last public performance. NPR LISTEN LINK | WEB LINKS | IMAGES | SHOP Arturo Toscanini


MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Pianist Murray Perahia releases new CD of Bach Partitas after three year period of no recording. Recovering from hand injuries developing a decade ago.
Young German Pianist, MARTIN STADTFELD
Maria Malibran was born March 24, 1808, in Paris, France...she died Sept. 23, 1836, in Manchester, England. Spanish mezzo-soprano of exceptional vocal range, power, and agility.
American conductor Dennis Russell Davies has been named music director of the Basel Symphony Orchestra, filling a position that had been vacant since 2006.
Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott has died at the age of 78, it has been announced. Mr Hoddinott, who was born in Bargoed, Caerphilly, had a partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales spanning seven decades. The classical composer, who lived in Gower, Swansea, died at the city's Morriston Hospital on Wednesday. BBC Wales controller, Menna Richards, has said the new home of the orchestra in Cardiff Bay will be named after him.
Sir John Tavener seriously ill in hospital following a heart attack. The 63-year-old, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, fell ill just weeks before the world premiere of his ambitious Requiem took place in Liverpool, as part of the city's European Capital of Culture celebrations. Tavener, who survived a stroke when he was just 30, has Marfan Syndrome, an inherited condition that attacks the body's connective tissue.
Giuseppe Di Stefano, one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century and a celebrated singing partner of soprano Maria Callas, has died at his home near Milan. He was 86.
Weekend Edition Saturday, March 1, 2008 - In the 1950s, more than one big-haired kid from the South shook up the world with the way he played music. Van Cliburn was a lanky and laconic 23-year-old from Texas when he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow on Apr. 14, 1958...
Experts have digitally rebuilt the face of 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach -- and say the results may surprise his fans. Using his bones and computer modeling, they have come up with an image of a thick-set man with closely-shorn white hair. The new Bach face, the creation of Scottish forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, will go on display at the Bachhaus museum in the eastern German town of Eisenach, Bach's birthplace, next month.