From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: Klaus Tennstedt fled East Germany in his mid-40s in 1971 and hung around for half a decade before anyone noticed he was a truly remarkable conductor – ‘last […]
From my latest essay in The Critic: The harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani tweeted the other day asking, how many handshakes to Hitler? Most respondents touched Adolf at three or four removes. I managed it in one […]
Opera singers are sharing sad news of the death, on Thursday, of the legendary Benjamin Luxon. He was 85. A Cornishman from Redruth, Luxon created the role of Owen Wyngrave in an opera that Benjamin […]
Hello Dolly! – London Palladium This is the show they don’t make ‘em like anymore. Imelda Staunton, completing her trio of big female roles – Mama Rose, Mrs. Lovat and now Dolly Levi – is the centrifugal force around which […]
Caroline Oltmanns writes: It is with great sadness that we have to say our final goodbye to Sean Ryan Baran who was tragically killed in a pedestrian accident yesterday near his home. Sean was one […]
The prolific German composer Wolgang Rihm died today in Ettlingen after an illness, his family announced. He was 72. His output included eight operas, at least two dozen works for orchestra and 13 string quartets. […]
This was the French National Orchestra playing in the Olympics Opening Ceremony under the baton of Cristian Macelaru. Also inundated in the horrensdous Paris weather was the pianist Alexandre Kantorow. It seems remarkable that in […]
Sammy Davis Jr – Two Rare Songs Martin, one of my most avid readers, found this rare footage of Sammy Davis Jr singing two songs you may not know but will be glad to discover. […]
There is a small plaque in Berlin makking the house where he lived. A piano competition in the Italian Tyrol where he was born, And not much else on the face of the earth. Ferruccio […]