Daniele Gatti will conduct an anniversary performance of Verdi’s Requiem, eighty years after the destruction of the city where he is now chief conductor. Press release: The raid on 13 and 14 February 1945 that […]
The Metrpolitan Opera, which is resting this month, will announce its next season Wednesday week. It promises a ‘spectacular 2025-26 season which features six stunning news productions’. They may need to discuss co-productions with the […]
The conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, recovering presently from a bout of flu, as been using his downtime to create an online shrine to his phenomenal ancestors. “My grandparents became mega-stars,” says Tilson Thomas, “and found […]
The Frenchman composed Jeux for the Ballets Russes in 1911-12, after getting excited by Stravinsky’s Petrushka. He decided to go one better bur went too far for public tolerance. Jeux never really caught on, partly […]
The immediate closure has been announced at three French magazines, Avant-Scène Opéra, Classica and Pianist, all on economic grounds. Avant-Scène Opéra, in its 50th year, was unique in devoting each bimonthly issue to a single […]
Croydon Council has overspent this year by £35 million and is seeking a government bailout. It has been told to sell assets. Top of the list is Fairfield Hall, a world-class venue for orchestral concerts. […]
The English conductor came from a family of academics. When she graduated from Oxford and said she was going to make a career as a conductor, both parents were horrified. She describes their reaction to […]
The Russian violinist Rosa Fain, a pupil and later stage partner of David Oistrakh, has died in Dusseldorf, where she was Professor at the School of Music for many years. Like her teacher, she was […]
The Berlin Staatsoper has commissioned a bust for its resplendent foyer of an Austrian conductor who made his career behind the Iron Curtain. Otmar Siutner, from Innsbruck, took up a popst as principal conductor of […]
From my new monthly essay in The Critic magazine (out now): … I was not surprised to receive a 72-page book from the Ministère de la Culture, listing all the events the state has planned to […]
