classical

The Canadian cellist Amanda Forsyth has taken to publishing pictures of herself enjoying the summer night life in New York, her fans report.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Amanda […]

We are hearing from several sources that Eberhard Friedrich resigned last night as director of the festival chorus. His resgination came in the interval of Parsifal and the chorus demonstratively applauded him from the stage […]

There are signs that Russia’s cultural isolation may be easing. The Bolshoi has been invited to Serbia and Thailand next month. Its new chief Valery Gergiev is pulling out all the stops to break out […]

Robert Jindra has resigned as chief conductor of the Košice State Philharmonic, in Slovakia. The Czech maestro had previouslky issued a blast at the country’s Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová for dismissing the heads of the […]

In my next Lebrecht Interview on BBC Radio 3, the conductor Sir Simon Rattle talks frankly about his often-turbulent 16 years at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.   “You try lots of things,” […]

Statement by the organisation representing most European opera houses, relating to the political crisis in Slovakia: Opera Europa is deeply shocked and gravely concerned by the abrupt decision on August 6th by Slovakia’s culture minister, […]

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: Franz Liszt has been cancelled by the world’s orchestras, probably for something he said on social media. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a Liszt orchestral […]

Fiddler on the Roof – Open Air Theatre in Regents Park How wonderful to have Fiddler on the Roof back and, originally playing in Regents Park until September 21st has now been extended to the 28th. […]

So in Love – Kiss Me Kate There’s a new production of Cole Porter’s great musical at the Barbican Theatre until Sept 14th. The casting is a bit odd. Who would ever have thought of bluff, […]

Alastair Macaulay writes movingly about a musician he greatly admired:   John Cage (1912-1992) died thirty-two years ago today, a few weeks before his eightieth birthday. Merce Cunningham, his life partner, came home from rehearsals […]