Across the globe, musicians stopped making music in March this year. Or, at least, they stopped performing publicly, together, and communicating directly to audiences in concert halls, opera houses and…
Category: Interviews
David Ward, Artistic Director of Northern Opera Group – in conversation
My telephone conversation with David Ward, co-founder and Artistic Director of Northern Opera Group, began with a sheepish confession. Before undertaking some research prior to our discussion, I knew little…
Connections Across Time: Sholto Kynoch on the 2020 Oxford Lieder Festival
‘A brief history of song’ is the subtitle of the 2020 Oxford Lieder Festival (10th-17th October), which will present an ambitious, diverse and imaginative programme of 40 performances and events.
Alfredo Piatti: The Operatic Fantasies (Vol.2) – in conversation with Adrian Bradbury
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Eboracum Baroque – Heroic Handel
Eboracum Baroque is a flexible period instrument ensemble, comprising singers and instrumentalists, which was founded in York – as its name suggests, Eboracum being the name of the Roman fort on the site of present-day York – while artistic director Chris Parsons was at York University.
Schubert 200 : in conversation with Tom Guthrie
‘There could be no happier existence. Each morning he composed something beautiful and each evening he found the most enthusiastic admirers. We gathered in his room – he played and sang to us – we were enthusiastic and afterwards we went to the tavern. We hadn’t a penny but were blissfully happy.’
Soprano Eleanor Dennis performs Beethoven and Schubert at the 2019 Highgate International Chamber Music Festival
When soprano Eleanor Dennis was asked – by Ashok Klouda, one of the founders and co-directors of the Highgate International Chamber Music Festival – to perform some of Beethoven’s Scottish Songs Op.108 at this year’s Festival, as she leafed through the score to make her selection the first thing that struck her was the beauty of the poetry.
Mark Padmore reflects on Britten’s Death in Venice
“At the start, one knows ‘bits’ of it,” says tenor Mark Padmore, somewhat wryly, when I meet him at the Stage Door of the Royal Opera House where the tenor has just begun rehearsals for David McVicar’s new production of Death in Venice, which in November will return Britten’s opera to the ROH stage for the first time since 1992.
An interview with Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Oxford Lieder Festival’s first Associate Composer
“Trust me, I’m telling you stories …”
20 Shots of Opera: Irish National Opera administer a creative ‘cure’
shot [noun]: an attempt to do or achieve something that you have not done before; an attempt to do or achieve something that is difficult, when success is uncertain; a…