I was recently invited to attend a Wilton Park round-table discussion titled "Applying soft power: the Brazilian and British perspectives" in São Paulo. Wilton Park is a think tank funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to explore policy issues that affect the UK in various ways.

Plans were announced Monday morning in Ottawa for a two-and-a-half-week tour the National Arts Centre Orchestra will make to China next fall. From Oct. 4 to 20, the 70– member orchestra will perform in seven cities (including Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai), give eight major concerts, interact with hundreds of Chinese musical students in 80 educational events, and generally spread the excellence of Canadian music-making to one of the fastest-growing audiences for classical music in the world.

The University of Pittsburgh is one of the few American colleges to have this Indonesian orchestra composed of percussive instruments of brass and iron. Gamelans are usually given a name, and in the case of the 40 instruments that Pitt received in 1994, "Kyai Tirta Rukmi" -- Venerable Rivers of Gold -- also had black and gold colors and carvings of the Pitt Panthers logo.

Oklahoma's musical ambassador, Kyle Dillingham, and his trio Horseshoe Road, who are gearing up for a series of performances in Taiwan, said Thursday in Taipei that they "are excited to be here."

On Thursday [Mar 21], the U.S. Consulate will once again welcome Harvard’s finest a cappella groups to perform a free charity concert in aid of the Bermuda-registered charity, the Family Centre. The Harvard Krokodiloes and the Radcliffe Pitches are in Bermuda for their annual spring break and will sing popular, toe-tapping music from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, including jazz, swing, ballads, and rock from America’s Golden Age.

The Spanish institution Casa Africa and SAMRO Foundation has announced the 'Johannesburgo Vis a Vis' initiative, the first music contest and business meeting between Spanish music producers and South African musicians. From Thursday, 11 to Saturday, 13 April, Johannesburg will be the City for a new edition of 'Vis-a-Vis' to promote a greater presence of African music on Spanish stages.

Mumbai: American singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones performed live for the first time in India here. The Grammy winning daughter of late sitar legend Ravi Shankar gave her maiden performance during ‘A Summer’s Day’ festival in Mumbai.