Dear Alma, Covid killed my playing
From our agony aunt: Dear Alma, My 2nd and 3rd year of college was during Covid. I play a wind instrument. It was very tough to improve during those years, and even after that I […]
classical music
At ENO, are there crumpets still for tea?
Alastain Macaulay reviews Donizetti’s time-shifted Elixir of Love at English National Opera: Harry Fehr’s English National Opera adorable production of Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” (“L’Elisir d’Amore”, 1832) doesn’t just translate this idyllic rural comedy […]
This record wins 5 stars for initiative
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: Ethel Smyth was a middle-class butch lesbian from an English military family who went to jail for the Suffragette cause and was seen conducting fellow-inmates at Holloway Prison […]
Ruth Leon’s Pocket Theatre Review: Dr Strangelove – Noel Coward Theatre
In 1964, Bosley Crowther in The New York Times called Stanley Kubrick’s movie Dr Strangelove, “the most shattering sick joke I’ve ever come across”. The almost slavishly admiring stage production currently at the Noel Coward Theatre lives […]
Glorious performances from Rhian Lois and Thomas Atkins lift ENO’s new production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love
Donizetti: The Elixir of Love – Brandon Cedel, Bridget Lappin – English National Opera, 2024 (Photo: Marc Brenner) Donizetti: The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore); Brandon Cedel, Rhian Lois, Thomas Atkins, Dan D’Souza, director: Harry […]
Mozart from Khatia Buniatishvili and the ASMF
As rumours of Khatia Buniatishvili’s retirement circulate (while she is due to perform in London with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields), Sony has released this recording of Mozart Concertos, Nos. 20 & 23 (plus the […]
String quartet swaps half its players
The Doric String Quartet, on the road since 1998, has replaced founder-vioinist Alex Redington and violist Hélène Clément with the merest whisper of a social media post. They say: We are thrilled to welcome violinist […]
Ruth Leon recommends… National Gallery Anniversary, Part Three
National Gallery Anniversary, Part Three Click here to subscribe Many of you enjoyed the first part of the documentary about the National Gallery celebration of its 200th anniversary. For you, here is Part Three […]
Colon captures a controversial conductor
The Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires has appointed Beatrice Venezi as Principal Guest Conductor of Colón’s resident orchestra and of its opera season. She is presently rehearsing Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. Venezi, 34, is […]
Death of Magdeburg music director, 66
The death has been communicated of Barry Jordan, organist and music director of Magdeburg Cathedral in Germany. The cause of death was cancer. A graduate of the university of Cape Town, he studied in Vienna […]
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