Beethoven! Santa Fe Pro Musica's 33rd Season Opening
Santa Fe Pro Musica opens its 33rd Season in grand fashion this September at the Lensic Performing Arts Center with the Santa Fe Pro Musica Orchestra performing Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 5 in C...
View Article‘Heifetz had a very high wrist’
Laurie Niles has conducted one of her extraordinarily revealing interviews. This one is with the great violinist Aaron Rosand and it explores, among other things, the differing physiques and techniques...
View ArticleAnna Nicole Musical Highlight: Daniel's Drug Ballad
Eva Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole and Dominic Rowntree as Teenage Daniel in Anna Nicole, The Royal Opera, © ROH / Bill Cooper 2011 Inevitably it’s the extreme side of Anna Nicole Smith that first...
View ArticleLaughing in the face of tragedy: Black comedy in opera
Alan Oke as J.Howard Marshall, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole, Gerald Finley as Stern in Anna Nicole in Anna Nicole © Bill Cooper/ROH 2011 Opera has long been a vehicle for decidedly dark comedy,...
View ArticleWits Trio in concert
What a remarkable concert was played last night (Saturday 23 August 2014) at the Wits Atrium! The concert was over subscribed and more chairs had to be brought in. This is always a good sign. It means...
View ArticleThe Twenty-One Best Albums of the Decade So Far: 2010-2014
Feeling only moderately provoked but more to the point inspired by Pitchfork’s list of the 100 best albums of the decade so far , I have compiled and extensively written out this list of my own. My...
View ArticleThe power of music
You will have read stories of people being awakened from comas when played their favourite music. A 5-year old girl in Burnley, Lancashire, was wakened from hers when she heard the James Blunt song...
View ArticleJames Levine Leads the MET Orchestra in Five Carnegie Hall Performances, Beg....
In the upcoming season, James Levine leads musicians from The MET Orchestra in five programs at Carnegie Hall with a wide array of acclaimed soloists as guest artists. The series begins with The MET...
View ArticleAnna Nicole Musical Highlight: The PARTAY! Scene
Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole in Anna Nicole © Bill Cooper/ROH 2011 When it comes to partying, Anna Nicole 's party scene leaves the likes of La traviata and La bohème looking like a teddy bears'...
View ArticleYour Reaction: Anna Nicole
Alan Oke as J.Howard Marshall, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole, Gerald Finley as Stern in Anna Nicole in Anna Nicole © Bill Cooper/ROH 2011 Anna Nicole@RoyalOperaHouse was stunning tonight. My first...
View ArticleClassical music: The Galena String Quartet reunites for a FREE chamber music...
By Jacob Stockinger A friend, violinist Kangwon Kim, who plays with the Madison Bach Musicians and the Madison Early Music Festival as well as for other groups and events, writes: “Dear Jake, I am...
View ArticleClassical music: The Galena String Quartet reunites for a FREE chamber music...
By Jacob Stockinger A friend, violinist Kangwon Kim, who plays with the Madison Bach Musicians and the Madison Early Music Festival as well as for other groups and events, writes: “Dear Jake, I am...
View ArticleBeethoven's Symphony No. 9 : Alan Gilbert conducts Leipzig Gewandhaus...
Alan Gilbert conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (BBC PROMS photos) I had no intention of reviewing Prom 75, the penultimate night before the BBC Proms ended but how could I stop myself? It was...
View ArticleLaughing out loud: Some of our favourite comedy moments in opera
Il barbiere di Siviglia, The Royal Opera © ROH / Bill Cooper 2011 ‘Das klinget so herrlich’ (That sounds so splendid) from Act I of Die Zauberflöte (1791) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91) Papageno...
View ArticleToday's shocker: tomorrow's chip wrappings
Forgotten review of mine, for a forgotten British CD magazine. But I was beginning to do the homework, you see, for my big SCHUBERT book…. SCHUBERT The Hyperion Schubert Edition, Volume 19: Schubert in...
View ArticleLatest news from Derbyshire's stages
ON SONG: Derby Gilbert and Sullivan Company present their production of The Yeomen Of The Guard at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton, from Thursday. The operetta tells the bittersweet story of a...
View ArticleMemory exercising
Photo from Angela Hewitts annual Trasimeno music festival. Loving classical music I combine the passion with training my brain to remember things. Before I got to know and appreciate classical music I...
View ArticleEbola and black holes: My night in Atlanta
The cellist Matt Haimovitz has sent us his experiences playing with the locked-out musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. read and reflect. photo (c) Mark Gresham Hearing that I would be in town...
View ArticleClassical music: Are super-high concert fees morally right or wrong? Do they...
By Jacob Stockinger Are artist concert fees — like those charged by tenor Placido Domingo (below top), soprano Rene Fleming (below middle) and violinist Itzhak Perlman (below bottom) — too high these...
View ArticleEssential American Classics
Last year we offered an extensive tribute to the genius of Gershwin, and another - a few months later - to the compelling art of avant-garde Masters like Carter and Feldman. Yet, American music has a...
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