Cancer claims a wonderful Carmen, 61
We have learned of the death of the French mezzo-soprano Béatrice Uria-Monzon, one of the great Carmens of her day. She owned the role in Paris throughout the 1990s and recorded it with Alain Lombard. […]
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West Green Opera – Verdi’s Macbeth – with Jean-Kristof Bouton, Mari Wyn Williams & Simon Wilding; directed by Richard Studer; conducted by Jonathan Lyness
For all that Shakespeare’s Macbeth combines something of history and tragedy, it’s probably the play’s elements of fantasy and supernaturalism that stand out most in many people’s minds, and which clearly inspired Verdi and Piave […]
Tanglewood Music Festival 2025 – Andris Nelsons conducts Puccini’s Tosca
In this superb concert presentation, the cast moved about in front of the orchestra, successfully telling the story with wonderful singing (from memory) and acting. The three principals at the center of the plot brought […]
Britten Pears Arts announces its 2026/26 Season
Highlights include: Britten Weekend marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Auschwitz Aurora Orchestra performs Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony from memory and is joined by Chloë Hanslip for Prokofiev’s […]
Weekend watch: The Real Billy Budd
Madrid embraces the wayward sailor. The post Weekend watch: The Real Billy Budd appeared first on Slippedisc.
A family affair: beginning as a memorial to his father, Andrew Arceci’s Winchendon Music Festival has grown into a community enterprise
The Murdock-Whitney House, Winchendon History & Cultural Centre Andrew Arceci is an American viola da gamba, violone, and bass player who studied at the Peabody Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and at Oxford. His UK performances […]
John Rutter Fancies Singapore
Totally unexpected. In 1971, John Rutter published Fancies, a set of six short pieces for choir and chamber orchestra, on texts taken from Elizabethan poets. Rutter explained, “The ‘fancies’ are the fleeting ideas, dreams and […]
A Martinu rarity that commands attention
In the summer of 1939 the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu wrote a field mass for Czech soldiers who were volunterring to fight for France. It’s a fabulous piece, very rarely heard. The post A Martinu […]
The Long Read: What Dvorak learned from his American assistant
Joseph Horowitz has written an 11,000-word essay on Harry Burleigh, the black student who guided Antnin Dvorak down the byways of American music. He made a significant contribution to the 9th symphony, ‘From the New […]
Changes in French quartet
Sarah Dayan is stepping down as first violin of Quatuor Vice, which she co-founded in 2004. She’ll be devoting more time to teaching quartet studies at the Paris Conservatoire. Her successor is Hélène Maréchaux (pic). […]
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