Dear Alma, I have been a member of an amateur orchestra for a number of years. My standpartner and I are both retired, married, with kids long gone. We have developed a special bond and […]
The popular Quebec violinist Angèle Dubeau has been forced to give up playing by a persistent hand injury. She says: ‘For as long as I can remember, music has been a part of my life. […]
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: Into every musical life, a little Schmidt must fall. I cannot count the conductors who have tried to persuade me that the Viennese cellist Franz Schmidt belongs among […]
From a special correspondent: An infant in the upper balcony started to cry softly during the last bars of Ukranian composer Valentyn Silvestrov’s Prayer for the Ukraine, expressing the poignancy of his prayer and the […]
G. Mahler, A. Mahler Sasha Cooke (mezzo); Philharmonia Orchestra / Marin Alsop (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London, 24.10.2024 Gustav Mahler Blumine (1888) Alma Mahler Four Songs from Fünf Lieder (1910, orch. D. & C. Matthews) […]
Slide Action (Photo: Matt Jolly) Formed in 2018, the trombone quartet Slide Action (Huw Evans, Jamie Tweed, Benny Vernon and Josh Cirtina) has just released its first major album, their debut recital disc. On NMC […]
What better way to celebrate World Opera Day together than with La bohème ? Touching, comic, realistic and romantic, Puccini’s most popular opera is a timeless testament to the power of love to blossom in the […]
Hamlet with Ian McKellen Click here for subscription tv Ian McKellen is having fun. He first played Hamlet at the age of 31, in 1971. Now he is 85, and having taken on all the heavyweight roles of […]
Here’s the company intro to this disc: Sibelius studied the violin in his youth, and actively entertained the prospect of a career as a professional violinist for much of his student life. After graduating from […]