classical music & opera
-
4.48 Psychosis, Royal Opera at Lyric HammersmithPhilip Venables proves he’s one of the finest composers around with an intricate score inspired by Kane’s very personal story of clinical depression -
'It’s a grand undertaking for anybody': Adam Donen on his holographic symphonyHe cites Hegel as a key influence and compares his music to TS Eliot. The pop-star turned symphonist discusses his plans to bring the first world war’s legacy of ‘mass-mechanised butchery’ to life on stage – without a real person in sight
-
Oedipe, Royal Opera HouseSubstantial performance of Oedipus’s birth-to-death story commutes between past and present, staged at a scale to match Enescu’s opera and its humanity -
Beethoven: 'Even among his oldest friends, he must be humoured like a wayward child'From the archive, 23 April 1827: Following the death of Beethoven, the Observer publishes a personal account of the eccentric and prodigiously talented composer
-
Contract that helped bring Bach's St Matthew Passion to the world to be auctionedThe contract for the first ever publication of Bach’s Matthew Passion - the work that Mendelssohn rediscovered and which introduced Bach to a modern audience - is to be auctioned today at Sotheby’s.
-
Benjamin: Dream of the Song; Lindberg: Era review – RCO explores new horizonsGeorge Benjamin vividly projects his striking sound world, and Tan Dun’s The Wolf conjures exotic and eclectic imagery with Dominic Seldis on double bass
-
Beethoven, Schumann, Françaix: Equal CD review – colour and nuanceSebastian Bohren (violin), Chaarts Chamber Artists
(RCA Red Seal) -
Franck: Piano Quintet, Debussy: String Quartet CD review – a game of two halvesTakács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
(Hyperion)
facing the music
-
Alison Balsom: 'Spamalot had me rolling in the aisles'From Queen to Quincy Jones and Stravinsky to Spamalot, the trumpeter on the music and musicians that inspire her on and off stage
-
Paul Lewis: 'Karaoke? I'd rather stick pins in my eyes'The pianist fancies learning the bagpipes, decries his own composing skills and and applauds Ligeti’s, and is very clear that he will never, ever, be found in a karaoke bar
-
-
'You do not need to be educated to be touched, to be moved and excited by opera'Graham Vick was the keynote speaker at the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. This is a transcript of his speech.
-
Stuck on repeat: why we love repetition in musicMusic of every genre, every culture and every period employs repeated phrases for effect. Why do we love to listen to the same things again and again?
-
you may have missed
-
Mastering Meistersinger: 'the first thing to consider is the mental demands'Michael Güttler has taken over as conductor of Glyndebourne’s Meistersinger with only a few weeks’ notice. How has he approached a mammoth project that most musicians would expect months, if not years, to prepare for?
-
We may laugh, but to be this bad took talentDavid Bowie was a fan of the ‘world’s worst singer’, but is the epithet a fair one?
-
Welcome to the Pleasuredome … Mark Simpson's on his opera debutEight years ago a teenage Mark Simpson told drag queens in Liverpool he was going to write an opera about them. How does it feel to see his project – Pleasure – finally become a reality on the stage at Opera North?
-
The best classical concerts and opera of summer 2016Oedipus finally reaches Britain, there’s a Messiaen marathon in Suffolk, Opera North’s Ring hits the road – and John Luther Adams summons up a deluge
guides
-
Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed musical historyTom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
-
A guide to contemporary classical musicTom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene
-
Video preview Stuart Skelton and Heidi Melton perform the love duet from Tristan and Isolde ahead of ENO's new production