The town of Bayreuth is planning a Nazi documentation centre. It will be housed in the former mansion of the British antisemitic polemicist Houston Stewart Chamberlain, a significant influence on Richard Wagner and Adolf Hitler. […]
Portuguese mezzo Cláudia Ribas (pictured) has won the 57th International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Second was UK mezzo Annabel Kennedy. Min Gyu Song from South Korea is the winner of the 13th edition […]
The death of the iconic French actor Michel Blanc, aged 72, is being mourned in the highest corridors of power. President Macron said: ‘He made us cry with laughter, and moved us to tears.’ Prime […]
A televised selection process that raised concerns about the competence of two judges has yielded an unremarkable pack of six semis: English/ Swedish violinist Maya Broman Crawford-Phillips (17), currently studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School […]
The head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres and of Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition has been appointed president of a new L. N. Tolstoy International Peace Prize. Not the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s the Russian-aggression model. […]
We have received a message from the orchestra to applicants, making it clear that their racial and ethnic identity will be taken into consideration when selecting those who are suitable to play in the orchestra. […]
Dear Alma, I flew to Europe for a concertmaster audition at a major international orchestra. Half a dozen of us waited our turn. To my astonishment, two were called forward and left. We were told […]
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has been ordered to pay €168,431.96 to its former artistic director and principal conductor Brian Schembri. Schembri was fired seven years ago after a disagreement with the orchestra management. He had […]
From my monthly essay in The Critic: Stars have been falling out of opera like apples in late summer. Jonas Kaufmann, a serial drop-out, now has a second career as a festival manager. Anna Netrebko […]
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: There’s more content in this compilation than a weary reviewer has a right to expect. Coming off the back of a pointless set of Shostakovich symphonies, this chunky […]
