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The Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, comprising the finest Asian musicians, will present its debut concert in Beijing at the National Center for the Performing Arts. Chung Myung-Whun, a South Korea-born maestro, will take the baton to perform Mozart’s Symphonic Concerto in E flat for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Mahler’s Symphony No 1, “Titan”.

The 56-year-old pianist/conductor has studied at the Julliard School in New York and worked as music director at the world’s most prestigious orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia for three decades. In 1997, he gathered leading musicians from China, Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries to establish the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.

He believes classical music is world music, a rich heritage that has grown far beyond its European roots to be shared and enjoyed by all.

“Music has no national boundaries. Classical music used to be called Western music in Asian countries, but today it is music that is enjoyed worldwide. Musical ability and musical talent are definitely not linked to whether you are Korean, Japanese, or Chinese, or French or American. It’s a language of feeling and spirit,” says the conductor.

Recalling the orchestra’s first rehearsal in Japan, he says, “All of a sudden, Koreans, Japanese and Chinese were all friends through music. So music has that quality of being able to transcend boundaries to bring people closer together.”

For the orchestra’s debut in the capital, Chung has invited many Chinese musicians to join in.

“Many Chinese players in the orchestra are principals in the world’s leading orchestras. For example, Chen Murong is the first violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. China has quite a few world-known musicians such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Lang Lang and many up-coming ones. I believe China will play an important role in the future of classic music,” he says.

Katherine Jackson’s filing Tuesday is the latest sign that a battle is brewing over control of Jackson’s music empire, the Los Angeles Times said on Wednesday.

Her attorneys urged a judge to order the administrators, two longtime associates of her son, to submit to depositions and turn over a slew of documents, including the contract that controlled Jackson’s planned comeback concert series, the paper said.

Judge Mitchell Beckloff declined to hold a special hearing on the request but added it to the array of issues to be taken up next Monday, when lawyers are due in court to discuss the estate and permanent custody arrangements for Jackson’s three children, according to the paper.

Katherine Jackson, 79, was initially appointed temporary administrator of her son’s affairs, but the judge transferred that power to music executive John McClain and entertainment attorney John Branca after a Jackson will surfaced naming them executors.

Beckloff will address the validity of the will at Monday’s hearing. In the meantime, he ordered McClain and Branca to seek Katherine Jackson’s opinion on any major business dealings, the paper said.

In their filing, Katherine Jackson’s attorneys reportedly said McClain and Branca refused to provide documents they had requested or placed “cumbersome and unreasonable restrictions” on access to them. A lawyer for McClain and Branca denied those allegations.

A police investigation, meanwhile, was continuing into the cause of Jackson’s death on June 25 in Los Angeles.

Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who was serving as Jackson’s personal physician, has emerged as the focus of the investigation. But law enforcement sources told the celebrity news Web site TMZ.com that a far-ranging investigation is taking form into what could be fraudulent prescription practices of more than a dozen doctors.

Los Angeles police detectives and members of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office are gathering information on various doctors who treated Jackson over the years, TMZ.com reported. Subpoenas have been issued, medical files have been taken and conversations with various doctors and their lawyers are taking place.

The Coroner’s Office is expected to release the results of post-mortem toxicology tests this week. They are widely expected to show that Jackson had been given propofol, a sedative known by the brand name Diprivan, which doctors say should not be administered except by an anesthesiologist in a hospital setting.

Jackson has used more than two dozen aliases to obtain drugs with the help of doctors. Nineteen aliases have been cited in the affidavits used to secure search warrants against Murray, according to the paper.

Former Jackson associates have said the troubled pop star used the sedative to sleep.

News reports have quoted law enforcement sources as saying that Jackson was given propofol the night he died.

Police detectives and federal agents searched Murray’s Las Vegas home and office Tuesday, seizing cell phones and a computer hard drive as investigators looked for records pertaining to the singer and the aliases he may have used. Murray’s Houston office was searched last week.

Apple Inc and four record labels are working on a plan to increase digital sales of albums, while the computer maker is also separately developing a tablet-sized device, according to media reports on Monday.

Apple is working with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group on the project with the sides hoping for a launch in September.

The project with the record companies aims to offer interactive features with music downloads, the reports said.

Apple also hopes to offer the tablet-sized computer in time for Christmas shopping, which will connect to the Internet like Apple’s iPod Touch and whose screen may be up to 10 inches 25.4 cm) diagonally, the reports said.

Book publishers have also been in talks with the computer maker about offering their services on the new device, which could compete with Amazon’s Kindle.

Apple and the music companies are not immediately available for comment.

Amazon deleted the books both from customers’ Kindles and the Kindle store, where they’d been sold.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized for removing copies of e-books from customers’ Kindles last week and promised not to do that again, although it is not clear whether the company will also change how it monitors the Kindle store for unauthorized works.　

Oscar-winning French composer Maurice Jarre, who had composed music for over a hundred and fifty film and television productions, has passed away in Los Angeles, according to media France reports Monday. He was 84.
Jarre, father of electronic music composer and producer Jean-Michel Jarre, had lived in Los Angeles for many years.

He won his first Oscar in 1962 for “Lawrence of Arabia.” “Doctor Zhivago” and “A Passage to India.”

Jarre was awarded two further Oscars for “Doctor Zhivago” and “A Passage to India.”

China claimed the team free combination silver in the synchronized swimming competition at the World Championships in Rome yesterday, thanks to a performance that included pieces from Swan Lake.

It was China’s third medal in synchronized swimming in Rome, having won two bronze medals in the technical team and the technical duet.

“We are quite satisfied with the result,” China’s captain Zhang Xiaohuan said.

“As Russia did not compete in this event, we knew this would be a really good chance for us to win a medal. It all depended on Canada’s performance. We could not expect anything better.”

China won its best ever result in history in the event at the worlds with a score of 97.667 points, edged by Spain, who rocked its way to gold with 98.333 points. Canada snatched the bronze medal as their jerky routine to techno music scored 96.167 points, leaving host Italy in fourth with 95.667 points.

The Russians, who did not have a team in this final, had dominated the discipline in Rome so far with victory in the team technical event followed by wins in the technical solo and duet classes.

Spain, who performed a bold routine to Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, won its first ever World Championships gold medal in synchronized swimming.

And it was particularly poignant for veteran Gemma Mengual, who had won 15 previous medals at the World Championships in the solo, duet and team events. This was her first ever gold.

Spain coach Anna Tarres, a former competitor, described the victory as an historic moment for synchronized swimming in her country.

“I took part in my first world championships in 1998 and we finished last in the rankings,” she said. “Now 11 years later, we’ve won the gold medal. This medal represents a lesson in life, from being nothing to becoming the best in the world.”

Spanish team member Raquel Corral said they had finally been rewarded for their hard work.

“I am very excited, I can’t believe it,” she said. “During the last 11 years we worked so hard to move up the world ranking.”

A prosecutor told a London court Thursday that Amy Winehouse punched a fan with deliberate and unjustifiable violence after the woman asked to take a photograph.

The singer denied assault, saying she was simply trying to get away from an intimidating fan.

Winehouse is on trial accused of attacking another guest at a charity ball last September. Dancer Sherene Flash alleges she was hit in the eye by the 25-year-old “Back to Black” singer after asking to take her picture following the event in London’s Berkeley Square.

Prosecutor Lyall Thompson said Winehouse appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or “some other substance” when she hit Flash.

Thompson said Winehouse initially agreed to have her picture taken by Flash, but may have been angered when a drunken friend of Flash tried to get into the photo.

“Miss Winehouse may have felt she had generously agreed to be photographed on her own and not with a drunken stranger,” he said.

But he said that was no excuse for hitting Flash in the eye.

“This was a deliberate assault by Miss Winehouse,” Thompson said. “There was nothing accidental about Miss Winehouse’s actions.”

Winehouse, known as much for her chaotic lifestyle as her soulful music, arrived at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court for the hearing dressed in a gray suit.

Winehouse, who was granted a divorce from her husband Blake Fielder-Civil a week ago, gave her name in court as Amy Jade Civil and sat quietly, occasionally taking notes, as prosecutors outlined the case against her.

She appeared relaxed and healthy as she took the stand and denied punching Flash. She said she had felt intimidated and annoyed by Flash and had only meant to push her arm away.

“I pushed her up, like away. I wanted her away from me,” Winehouse said.

“It was more like an indication of ‘leave me alone, I’m scared of you.’”

“I meant to just get her away from me. I was scared. I thought, people are mad these days, people are just rude and mad, or people can’t handle their drink.”

The singer shot to stardom with the Grammy-winning album “Back to Black” in 2006, but her music has been overshadowed by reports of drug use, run-ins with the law and a tempestuous marriage.

In recent months she has kept out of the headlines.

She recently returned from an extended break on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

Songs by Amy Winehouse, the British soul singer known for her rebel image, are in there with the Beatles, Bach and Beethoven on Gordon Brown’s iPod, the dour British Prime Minister disclosed on Thursday.

Brown, asked by young people in the Welsh capital what music he had on his iPod, replied, “My kids really like Amy Winehouse. They asked me to put her on the iPod.”

Brown’s son John is 5 and Fraser 3 years old.

Brown made his comments as Winehouse went on trial in London accused of assaulting a woman after a charity ball. She denies the charge.

The singer with the bee-hive hair won five Grammy awards in 2008 and her album “Back to Black” won widespread critical acclaim. But her private life, including a battle against drug addiction, has overshadowed her recording success.

Brown said he also had “some of the most up-to-date stuff” including some by the U2 rock band on his iPod.

Asked which was his favorite track, he joked, “I won’t say because I try to persuade (U2 frontman) Bono to do all sorts of things for international development and I’ve got to tell him all his songs are good.”

Brown has come a cropper before over his taste in pop music. He was quoted in 2006 as saying that the music of the Arctic Monkeys “really wakes you up in the mornings,” but later could not name a single song by the band.

China’s top magicians are sharpening their wands in preparation for the World Championships of Magic (WCM) scheduled to kick off in Beijing Sunday.

A total of nine Chinese magicians have been performing in a three-day lead up show to the competition, with four taking part in the high profile main event. Fu Yandong, Wang Qimo, Wu Pengcheng and Qi Yuanrong will go head to head with the world’s best illusionists, conjurers and magicians.

Two of China’s contenders are presenting acts centered on traditional Chinese life. An approach that Liu Shuzheng, consultant for the world championships, believes could give the Chinese magicians an edge.

Qi Yuanrong’s magic act is set against a backdrop of a fishing festival of an ethnic minority group in Yunnan Province. Qi will cast a magical fishing line into the audience, with a large fish suddenly appearing on the end of the line. A single pearl from the fish’s mouth will become 14 pearls and a single large pearl will become a big fish. Qi’s show is full of ethnic flavor with traditional dance, costumes and music from the Yunnan minority.

Liu said that it is important for the Chinese magicians to differentiate themselves from the other competitors. In the past, international success has mainly come from presenting traditional themes.

“Eight of the 12 golden awards China won in previous international magic competitions featured Chinese elements and ethnic flavor,” Liu explained.

Liu is labeled as the “Golden Coach.” His students have picked up seven international and nine national awards in the past decade based on shows that Liu designed with traditional Chinese elements. Li Ning’s Three Transformations, based on Sichuan opera’s face changing, won him the International Golden Magic Wand Award in 2001.

“Li Ning and I attended the first international magic competition in Guilin in 1999 with our program inspired and adapted from foreign shows, but we failed to get any prizes. From then on, I realized that we must present something original in international competition,” Liu added.

Fu Yandong hopes to turn heads at the world championships with his original show Blue and White Porcelain that tells the story of a Chinese porcelain maker. The young man dreams of a blue and white porcelain vase that spins in the air, a female elf appearing from the levitating vase, bringing him the world. Fu has been preparing the 10-minute long large-scale show for the past two years, investing more than 200,000 yuan (29,275 U.S. dollars) in its making.

“I spent all my money and borrowed some from my relatives,” Fu said. “Thanks to the world championships, foreigners have the opportunity to watch my performance. I have no money to deliver the props to foreign countries.”

Lin Jian, executive president of WCM Beijing 2009, said that the lack of funding is often a problem for Chinese magicians wanting to hold grand events.

“Large-scale magic shows have been the weakness of Chinese magic, with money the most important reason. Magicians in foreign countries will invested tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in their props, which is impossible in China,” Lin remarked.

“The WCM Beijing 2009 will showcase the improvement of China’s large-scale magic shows in recent years,” Lin said. He added that as the popularity of magic is increasing in China, more and more young people are being drawn to the art.

Qi Yuanrui is the youngest of the Chinese team at 21 years of age, Wu Pengcheng is 30 and Fu Yandong 34.

The veteran of the team, 53-year-old Wang Qimo will present his personal journey for the world championship judges. Always dreaming of traveling afar, Wang will conjure a car and plane on the stage before vanishing in a helicopter piloted by a young beauty.

Wu Pengcheng will present the most difficult act of the Chinese magicians in the competition. As part of his show, Wu will escape from a water tank, an act made popular by many foreign magicians in the past. For the world championships, Wu will attempt to escape through the bottom of a tank.

In the lead up event to the world championships, Chinese magicians had the opportunity to showcase their talents with five Chinese female magicians attracting much attention.

“Female magicians, especially close-up artists, are not widely accepted in Europe because of preconceptions,” said magician Qu Lei. “According to my own experience, female magicians can combine dance and magic and present the beauty of their body, but they cannot hide things as well as their male counterparts.”

Qu focuses her magic on acrobatics, costume changing and traditional Chinese martial arts.

Award winning Xu Fengmei conjures bowls, fire pans and other items without the aid of an assistant, desk or props.

The World Championships of Magic are being at the National Convention Center in Beijing from Sunday to July 31.

A student art troupe from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Monday launched a tour of China as part of the “Year of DPRK-China Friendship” with a performance to more than 1,000 people in Beijing.

The Pyongyang Student Art Troupe, with 32 members aged between 8 to 14 years, performed folk songs, dances and musical pieces at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The troupe is in China from July 10 to 29 at the invitation of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

They will also perform in north China’s Shanxi Province, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

NBA franchise Detroit Pistons officially signed free agents Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva on Wednesday.

Local media estimate Gordon’s deal to be worth 55 million U.S. dollars over five years and Villanueva’s 35 million for the same period.

“We are excited to add two talented players in Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva,” Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement.

Gordon, 26, averaged 20.7 points per game last season with the Chicago Bulls while Villanueva, 24, posted 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Pistons earlier traded away point guard Chauncey Billups, a core member of the team’s 2004 NBA title winning team and their Rasheed Wallace signed with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday after he became free agent.