classical music

The legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz, who is 90, is the mourning of her son, the composer Ziad Rahbani. Ziad, who was 69, composed his first song for his mother when he was 17.  His best-known […]

The family of Joe Corbett have posted sad news of his death: “It is with deep sorrow and heartbreak that we announce the peaceful passing of our beloved Joe Corbett (Opera Singer), in London after […]

We have received depressing reports of the shrunken state of the Teatro Colon, South America’s foremost opera house.  Next season contains just six operas, the following season five. The conductors – Beatrice Venezi and Zoe […]

It’s ‘the only way I can travel without feeling guilty,’ says gamba player Sarah Small. From a BBC News report: A musician has completed a 10-week cycling tour of Great Britain with her beloved viola […]

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: … The contrast flows back and forth, almost to the point of incoherence. It takes a truly great composer to throw up his hands and say, I don’t […]

Our agony aunt’s mailbag this week is bulging with ‘take me home’ cries: Dear Alma, I am a 16 year old violinist at a summer music camp. We have been here for 2 weeks and […]

The headline in Vienna’s Die Presse on Matthias Davids’s new production at the 2025 Bayreuth Festival reads: ‘As if Monty Python had been the inspiration for the “Meistersinger”. Why does that cliché ring a bell? […]

At yesterdday’s opening of the Salzburg Festival, a speech by Minister of Culture Andreas Babler at the Felsenreitschule was interrupted by shouts of “Stop the genocide” and “Free Gaza now”, and the unfurl;ing of banners. The […]

 The Gospel at Colonus has built a fervent following over the past four decades or so. This superlative take on Lee Breuer and Bob Telson’s gospel retelling of Sophocles’ tragedy of Oedipus boasts a powerhouse […]