Classical news: Hear Tchaikovsky's voice

What did Tchaikovsky’s voice sound like? Classic FM highlights a rare recording from 1890. Tchaikovsky's is the voice heard immediately after the first two bursts of song on this recording, made on an early Edison phonograph.

Philadelphia Orchestra ends strike

The Philadelphia Orchestra has ended a two-day strike after management agreed to raise the musicians' pay in each of the next three years. Though the chair of the musicians' negotiating committee says they have "grave disappointment" with the agreement, they came back to work so as to "avoid harming the institution." (New York Times)

Homer goes to the opera

Homer Simpson greets Australia from the steps of the Sydney Opera House in a new video that promotes an upcoming appearance by Simpsons creator Matt Groening as part of a visual storytelling festival. (Slipped Disc)

This week's drug busts

Copenhagen police have seized 165 pounds of marijuana found on the roof of the city's Opera House. "The drugs were uncovered in February by workmen who were on the roof repairing water damage, and police kept it secret in the hope that the owner might return to recover their illicit goods," reports the BBC. After seven months, though, no one's come back to claim the pot, so authorities have made the find public.

Bucharest Radio Orchestra cellist Adrian Naidin has cancelled an upcoming concert after breaking his finger while leaping out of his apartment window during a drug raid. Naidin says that he panicked when the authorities "got the wrong door" and broke into his apartment; the police, for their part, say they broke down the right door, seizing marijuana and cocaine. (Slipped Disc)

Bristol University pulls Aida over appropriation concerns

Music Theatre Bristol has cancelled a planned production of Aida over concerns that white actors were to perform the lead roles in a student production of the Verdi opera, which is set in ancient Egypt. "It is a great shame that we have had to cancel this show," wrote the company in a post on Facebook, "as, of course, we would not want to cause offence in any way, and that was certainly never our intention." (Classic FM)

Piano dealer says Trump stiffed him

Among the past business associates speaking out regarding Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign is J. Michael Diehl, a New Jersey piano dealer who says that Trump failed to make full payment for several pianos he sold to one of the Republican nominee's casinos in 1989. "Losing $30,000 was a big hit to me and my family," writes Diehl in the Washington Post.

Mozart — on Theremin?

The ensemble Decostruttori Postmodernisti have arranged the famous Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute for a small ensemble led by...Theremin. (Classic FM)

See YourClassical for more of this week's classical music news coverage, including an obituary for the great Neville Marriner.