Opera Awards - Tenor Jonas Kaufmann has won best male singer and the readers' award at the inaugural International Opera awards. Known as the "new king of tenors", Kaufmann debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2006. The reader's award was voted for by readers of Opera Magazine. Best female singer went to Nina Stemme. The Opera Awards Foundation was founded last year by businessman and opera buff Harry Hyman and Opera Magazine editor John Allison.
Proms First - BBC's The Last Night of The Proms is to be led by a female conductor for the first time in its 118 year history. American Marin Alsop said she was "thrilled" to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra and violinist Nigel Kennedy. The festival, which begins on 12 July, includes 92 concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and four across the UK. The Doctor Who Proms will return as part of the 50th anniversary, while BBC 6 Music will host its first Prom with Brit award winner Laura Marling.
"I think the fact that I'm an American woman, conducting the last night of the Proms is really a statement," Alsop told the BBC. "I'm extraordinarily proud to be the first woman, but I'm also sad that it's 2013 and there still can be firsts for women," she added.
Festival Director - The new artistic director of the Edinburgh International festival has been appointed. Fergus Linehan, former director of the Sydney International Festival and head of music at the Sydney Opera House, will take over from Jonathan who took over the role in 2006 and will step down after next year's festival. Linehan takes up the post of director designate on 1 May to give him time to plan for the 2015 festival. Linehan saw the annual turnover of the Sydney International Festival grow from $12m to more than $20m through a growth in ticket sales, sponsorship and government funding. He has also previously been the director of Dublin Theatre Festival in his native Ireland.
(Jim Evans)
