This week’s review of London performances by our critic in residence, Alastair Macaulay: Everything about Richard Strauss’s opera “Salome” is specific, atmospheric, descriptive. We know where in the East we are, at what point in […]
The composer was a man of his times, private and even prudish about his sexual arrangements. While he dealt with homosexual themes in several operas, he never expressed homoeroticism or encouraged nudity on stage. The […]
One of our Moscow moles attended Valery Gergiev’s new production of Sergei Prokofiev’s opera, Semyon Kotko. He was horrified to see propaganda slides beamed up onto the curtain, justifying Putin’s Ukraine war. The slides were […]
The Russian soprano is preparing to sing at the Arena di Verona. She’s due to be readmitted to Covent Garden in September. Be prepared. View this post on Instagram A post shared by […]
The Bavarian and German federal governments have imposed Matthias Rädel as General Manager of the Bayreuth Festival. He will oversee all financial and administrative matters, freeing Katharina Wagner to focus entirely on the artistic side. […]
Three colours, three moods, three registers. And yet Puccini conceived this triptych as a whole from the outset. He interweaves these three one-act operas, from Il tabarro, a drama of passion set on the quays of […]
The Night Watch Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn would have celebrated his 419th birthday this week which is my excuse for writing about him. Rembrandt (he ditched the ‘Harmenszoon’ early and became known as, simply, Rembrandt) was […]
This is the latest of Classical Explorer‘s Miller’s daughters: Andrè Schun was a single release; Christoph Prégardien’s (part of a set of the great cycles); there is even a “pub edition” on Rubicon!. Ian Bostridge […]
A field that has long abandoned its core studies is now fretting over holding smaller conferences and decolonising itself. Read this: On Behalf Of Parncutt, Richard (richard.parncutt@uni-graz.at) Sent: 09 July 2025 11:02 To: MUSICOLOGY-ALL@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: […]
The International Society of Bassists has issued a notice of mourning for Gary Karr, who died yesterday of a brain aneurysm, having just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Gary was 83. Born Gary Michael Kornbleit […]
