John Mayall, RIP
The widely acclaimed ‘father of British blues’ has died aged 90 in California, where he moved in the 1970s. His Bluesbreakers group is remembered chiefly for the couple of years in the mid-1960s when Eric […]
classical music
Taking elements of Western culture and seeing it through the lens of other classical traditions: four new music theatre works at the Barbican this Autumn
Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling) and Mark Stone (René Gallimard) in rehearsal for the premiere of Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly at the Santa Fe Opera in 2022(Photo: Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera) Four music […]
Ruth Leon recommends… Murder in the Dark – Original Theatre
Murder in the Dark – Original Theatre Click here for tickets What happens when the lights go out? It’s New Year’s Eve, when a car crash on a deserted road brings famous but troubled singer Danny […]
Unalloyed Delight: Handel’s Acis & Galatea at Opera Holland Park
Acis and Galatea (Bärenreiter Edition) Composed by George Frederick Handel Libretto by John Gay after Ovid’s Metamorphoses Cast and Production staff: Acis: Anthony Gregory; Galatea: Elizabeth Karani; Polyphemus: Chuma Sijeqa; Ruairi Bowen; Director: Louise Bakker; […]
A world away from the Bibilical oratorio: Stanford’s Walt Whitman setting is the focus for this disc from Wales of two of his large-scale choral works
Charles Villiers Stanford: Te Deum, Elegiac Ode; Rhian Lois, Samantha Price, Alessandro Fisher, Morgan Pearse, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, Adrian Partington; LYRITAReviewed 23 July 2024 Written 35 years before his pupil Holst’s […]
Remember flashmobs? This was the best
Ten years ago, the musicians and people of Nuremburg capture the spirit of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Forty million people watched the video. It was an innocent, trusting time. The post Remember flashmobs? […]
Half a quartet gets wed
Francesca Fiore, cellist of the Archos Quartet, has married its first violinist Filip Jeska. We wish them great happiness. The quartet was founded in 2009 by four students at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. The post Half […]
The nightmare moment of a mighty pianist
The Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires, 80 today, became a global legend when, at a lunchtime concert in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 1998, she heard the orchestra start up a different Mozart concerto from the one […]
Who’s conducting the Olympics?
The Romanian Cristian Măcelaru will conduct the Orchestre National de France at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on Friday. ‘I never believed in my life that I would have this opportunity. It’s […]
Summer’s a time for wearing silly hats
The University of Exeter has awarded a degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) to Dougie Scarfe (centre), chief executive of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The award is for his ‘commitment to breaking down barriers […]
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