The Finnish music world has been shocked by the sudden death of Eriikka Maalismaa, a former concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic, at the age of 44. Eriika was more than just a leader of orchestras. […]
From our agony aunt’s seasonal mailbag: Dear Alma, You know the saying ‘two drinks and she’s anyone’s’? That’s me. Year round I’ll take the elderberry juice at post-concert receptions and the mineral water at dinner. […]
Recently, we covered two operas extracted from Puccini’s Il trittico: at ENO: Suor Angelica (review here) and, on DVD from Florence, Il tabarro (review here). So it is only right we consider the full deal […]
Kandinsky He likened abstract art to music, writing, “Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmony, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key […]
There have been some irreparable losses. Germany mourned its two foremost composers, the bust conductors Andrew Davis and Leif Segerstam stopped beating, the world’ foremost Jewish liturgist sang his last and we paused to mourn […]
The prolific international conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, diagnosed with a brain tumour more than three years ago, has battled through and is still undertaking engagements. In our Lebrecht Interview last summer, he flourished brilliant memories […]
We hear that Stephen Rose, former head of violin studies, has quit the sinking Cleveland Institute of Music. We have not yet seen his resignation letter, but he’s at least the sixth faculty member to […]
The steady departure of cherished professors at the Cleveland Institute of Music has prompted this ‘unsettling’ holiday message from the Associate Dean for Academic Operations and Student Success. Stephen Rose is the latest in a […]
The Orchestre de Paris has uploaded an extraordinary concert on ’12 lives of Arnold Schoenberg’, breathing stage life into difficult music. Bertrand Bonello did the staging. Ariane Matiakh conducts. Watch here. The post The 12 […]
First it was the dancers. Now the stage crews and front-of-house staff have joined in. Thursday’s Rigoletto was cancelled last-minute at the Bastille, along with the ballet Jeux at the Garnier. The unions warn of […]