It's KBAQ's "This week in classical music" -- an update on what's happening in the classical music world... I'm Randy Kinkel.

Pulitzer-prize-winning Composer Gian Carlo Menotti died Thursday at a hospital in Monaco. He was 95. The composer won two Pulitzers for his operas "The Consul" and "The Saint of Bleeker Street", and founded the Spoleto arts festivals in Italy and the US, but is probably best known for his opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors", which has become a Christmas classic the world over.

The world premiere of the new John Adams "Doctor Atomic Symphony", an orchestral score adapted from the opera "Doctor Atomic" and co-commissioned by the St Louis Symphony, Carnegie Hall and the BBC, was formerly scheduled for March in St. Louis, but will now have to be postponed until next season. Adams said in a statement that he realized the project was "creatively much more time-consuming than originally anticipated, and it would not be ready for the scheduled premiere."

The Vermeer string quartet is calling it quits. The internationally-acclaimed string Quartet, based at Northern Illinois University, was founded in 1969 and appeared at virtually all of the prestigious music venues and festivals around the world. It's discography includes the complete quartets of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Bartok, and has received numerous Grammy nominations. The group has decided to retire after a final world tour.

Kiri Te Kanawa is being sued for 1.5 million dollars by a concert promoter for Breach of Contract. The 62-year-old singer pulled out of a series of concerts in Australia with Singer John Farnham, after learning that women flung their underwear at him during concerts. Guess she won't be working with Tom Jones anytime soon, either.

For more information on these and other items and events, go to the KBAQ website at KBAQ.org... be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me at noon every weekday for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I'm Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ's "This week in Classical Music" on 89.5 KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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February 4th, 2007 by Randy Kinkel courtesy of KBAQ.

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Title: February 4th, 2007
Author: Randy Kinkel
Publisher: KBAQ 89.5 FM
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