Hartmut Welscher

2 months ago | van-magazine.com | Hartmut Welscher

The 24-year-old conductor Aurel Dawidiuk is Associate Conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Recently, I spoke with him about the right repertoire at the right time, facing your insecurities in front of an orchestra, and why he didn’t become a soccer goalkeeper. To continue reading, subscribe now. Unlimited access to ourweekly issues and archives.

Mar 13, 2025 | van-magazine.com | Hartmut Welscher

The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the music world to reckon urgently with its naïveté towards the country’s imperial ambitions. Looking back, it remains shocking just how willing the field was to ignore, for instance, Valery Gergiev’s aggressive pro-Kremlin propaganda. The violinist Lisa Batiashvili, in contrast, was prophetically clearsighted, and willing to take action, too.

Aug 15, 2024 | van-magazine.com | Hartmut Welscher

The pianist Pavel Kushnir died on July 27 at the age of 39 in a prison in Birobidzhan, Russian Federation, apparently of complications from a days-long dry hunger strike. In late May, Kushnir was arrested by FSB officers on charges of incitement to terrorism. On his YouTube channel, Kushnir, under the username Inoagent Mulder—he was a fan of “The X Files”—had posted four poetic monologues that included criticism of the Russian government and the war in Ukraine.

Jul 11, 2024 | van-magazine.com | Merle Krafeld |Hartmut Welscher |Jeffrey Arlo Brown

Posted inI Know, But The spiky, hormonal whiff of adolescence clings to Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” Op. 14. A classical music gateway drug, it stands for sophistication as clove cigarettes, Smirnoff Ice Green Apple, or the stems at the bottom of the baggie stand for sophistication, that is to say: not at all.

Jul 4, 2024 | van-magazine.com | Hartmut Welscher

Recently, Russian media reported on plans by the state-owned VTB Bank to build a new concert hall and performing arts complex for conductor Teodor Currentzis and his musicAeterna ensembles at the Novo-Admiralteysky shipyard in St. Petersburg. On June 7, VTB President and Chairman Andrey Kostin and Governor Alexander Beglov signed a statement of intent formalizing the plan on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to the city’s official Telegram channel.