The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a terrible reputation for mistreating foreign players and conductors. After sacking most of its western players, the orchestra was placed under an international boycott – which has not deterred hungry […]
We reported earlier that Franz Welser-Möst had withdrawn from Cleveland’s cycle of Beethoven piano concertos because he is still recovering from the effects of successful cancer treatment. It has just been confirmed that his chosen […]
The inimitable Quincy Jones died yesterday, aged 91. A kid off Chicago’s rough South Side, sharing drug fixes with Ray Charles, he won a scholarship to Berklee and wound up studying in Paris with Nadia […]
The Cleveland music director, who has received successful cancer treatment over 15 months, is apparently not quite ready to return for this month’s limelight cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with Igor Levit. The orchestra has […]
Last week, the New York Times had a sensational exclusive of a major discovery at the Pierpont Morgan Library. It was an unsuspected last waltz by Frederic Chopin and the joy was so spontaneous that […]
The lucrative, secretive business of buying and selling pedigree violins usually keeps its internal disputes well under wraps. Musicians and investors might lose confidence in dealers who slag each other off. But that’s just what’s […]
The Parisian music critic Alain Lompech (pictured) has a reputation for not respecting reputations. This week, he set his sights on the vastly popular Paris-based pianist Khatia Buniatishvili. Khatia was playing Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto […]
From my latest monthly essay in The Critic magazine. a survey of the many sons of conductors who dream of inheriting the berth: … There is half a football team of son-ofs who are presently […]
Henri Matisse in 60 seconds This Sunday will mark 70 years since the death of the French Modernist artist, Henri Matisse. His work spanned over half a century and developed from Impressionism to Fauvism and further through Modernism. Matisse […]
‘He came to our concert!’ she exclaims on social media. David Hockney attended the four-hand Yuja Wang and Vikingur Olafsson concert at the Royal Festival Hall. The post Check out Yuja Wang’s biggest fan appeared […]
