classical music

The plot of Katya Kabanova is devastatingly simple. Older husband goes away on business, telling his loyal young wife to keep her eyes off a fanciable young man. The ivevitable happens. Husband returns. Katya jumps […]

The controversial Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Curentzis ended his last western engagement two weeks ago. Currentzis has maintained a pretence of being independent of the Putin regime. Now, VAN reports that the Russians are welcoming him […]

A year ago, the German violist Tabea Zimmermann ended her appearance with the Israel Philharmonic with a rendition of the Arik Einstein song, Atur Mitzchech. The Hebrew-speaking audience erupted. Last night, we heard, her encore […]

The Cassatt Quartet of New York has recruited Emily Brandenburg in place of Rosemary Nelis, who leaves after two years. The other members are violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower and cellist Gwen Krosnick. The […]

We have been notified of the passing of Marie-Noëlle Damien, a semi-finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition who made a couple of recordings for EMI. She was, for many years, a student of Evgeny Malinin. […]

A sound engineer at the BBC for the whole of his salaried life, Dave Silk was a nighttime legend on the Jazz circuit, playing silky bass like a master of old. Dave trained at the […]

This year’s Wolf Prize in Music will go to the Hungarian composer György Kurtág, who is 98. The citation says: György Kurtág is awarded the Wolf Prize for presenting a shining example of a true […]

The Hiong Kong Philharmonic has named the Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokowski as its music director from next year. He succeeds Jaap Van Zweden, who held the job for a dozen years whil juggling other appointments […]

From our agony aunt’s mailbag: Dear Alma, There’s a new player in our viola section and she wears a kind of hijab – a black headscarf that also covers her shoulders. For what I can […]