Tout Control - A new website has been launched to try to help fans buy secondary gig tickets more safely. The Concert Promoters Association (CPA) has developed the website and says it is in response to a lack of government action on touts. Anyone will still be able to use the site, but the CPA says their stringent checks to verify tickets make it safer for fans to use. A CPA spokesman admits they are powerless to stop touts altogether. The new website, called OfficialBoxOffice.com, will operate "at cost" rather than "for profit" and will charge a 12.5 per cent booking fee to the buyer - whilst it's free for the seller. In the event that a buyer is let down by a seller, the CPA says attempts will be made to get the fan into the gig anyway or offer a 100 per cent refund.
Spanish Gold - Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo has been awarded the first ever Birgit Nilsson prize for his "unrivalled contributions to the world of opera". He receives $1 million (£697,000) - the biggest prize in classical music. Swedish opera singer Birgit Nilsson gave instructions before her death in 2005 for the establishment of the prize in her name. The renowned Wagnerian soprano left a sealed envelope containing Placido Domingo's name as her choice for the first recipient. Prize officials said the name had been kept secret for nearly a decade. A prize giving ceremony is planned to take place in Stockholm later in the year.
Called to the Bar - The cast of a new opera was forced into an impromptu debut in the bar of the Royal Opera House after a power cut. The lights went out 10 minutes into the press night of composer George Benjamin's updated Pied Piper story, Into the Little Hill. After 90 minutes of failed repair work, the two singers and 16 member orchestra performed perched among empty glasses. The critics liked it: "In that confined space it was mesmerising," said The Times. "Who needs lights?"
The first half of the evening's entertainment, Harrison Birtwistle's piece Down by the Greenwood Side, had gone ahead without a hitch at the Linbury Studio theatre within the opera house in Covent Garden. But then the power failure left 400 members of the audience sitting in the dark for 25 minutes before they were moved into the bar area and given free drinks.
Together Again - Simon and Garfunkel are planning to tour together for the first time in five years, Art Garfunkel has said. The singer revealed the plans five days after making a surprise appearance at a Paul Simon concert in New York where the pair performed three songs. "Our plan to work together is coming together but it doesn't go through England this time," he said. Garfunkel, 67, would not confirm if the tour would be in the US. The duo last toured together in 2003 and 2004.
