The Royal Opera has notified Friends that they will not be allowed to attend the general rehearsal of Die Walküre on April 25. Aggrieved Friends asked us why. Here’s the official reply: The Friends haven’t been […]
Funeral arrangements have been announced for the late Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam. The service will be held in Helsinki on November 8 at the Meilahti church. Later that day, Finnish National Opera will stage a […]
Very long statement today by Dutch National Opera. Worth reading more for tone than content. On Saturday, 26 October, Het Parool published an article about the behaviour of guest director, Andriy Zholdak, during the production […]
We’re hearing that the sidelined French conductor is poised to be named music director at the Gran Teatre de Liceu. Sources say he is the only candidate presently being considered by the artistic director Vincent […]
The compromised Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo – widely banned outside Italy after allegations of sexual misconduct – has suffered a physical setback to his career in Russia. Yesterday, while singing the role of Cavaradossi in […]
Theb Guardian and Gramophone critic liked to attend concerts with a pocket score, which he signed and dated on the cover to remind him of the event. Ted died in July 2015, leaving his possessions […]
The one on the right is Sam Smith ‘the first openly non-binary musician to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to win a Grammy Award’. He is not, by any definition, a […]
From the Hungarian-British conductor Gergeley Madaras: Besides my own performance with the exceptional NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo I was asked to stay for a total of 3 weeks in Japan, to stand by for the […]
La Fille mal gardée – Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sadler’s Wells Review by Alastair Macaulay Frederick Ashton’s full-length ballet “La Fille mal gardée” (1960) is a comic study of rural innocence that runs far deeper […]
In 1991 I spent time with the rock-star Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, who has died aged 84. Phil had conceived a passion verging on obsession with recent, mostly British, symphonists of considerable obscurity. Havergal […]
