Simon Rattle’s Prom of Poulenc and Mahler proved both unforgettable and deeply personal

Farewell. This was an essential part of Sir Simon Rattle’s second Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a final farewell to his tenure at the London Symphony Orchestra…

Late-night Bach at the Proms: Iestyn Davies and the English Concert

In an article in the Daily Telegraph, published just prior to this late-night Prom with The English Concert led by director Kristian Bezuidenhout from the harpsichord, countertenor Iestyn Davies tells…

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO introduce Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri to the Proms

“It’s the great masterpiece you’ve never heard.”  So declared Sir Simon Rattle when he introduced Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri to the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015, in a…

VOCES8 and VOCES8 Scholars: The Milton Abbey Concert

The activities of the VOCES8 Foundation are as diverse as its values are singular: to promote music education for all.  Alongside performances and recordings by VOCES8 and Apollo5, the Foundation’s…

Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre gets its Proms premiere with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra

The Budapest Festival Orchestra are a crack ensemble. And under Iván Fischer they can do everything that is possible – and nearly anything impossible, too.  They brought with them to…

To Sing of Love: VOCES8 – LIVE from London Summer 2023

VOCES8’s LIVE From London Summer 2023 festival feels a bit mis-named – but that’s only because the nine concerts which form this summer’s online festival, which runs from 12th August…

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey inspires magnificent performances of two Ligeti masterpieces at the Proms

Film music has long been a theme of classical concerts – although this sold-out concert given by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner was just a little different. It…

Barry Kosky’s production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites travels from Glyndebourne to the Proms

Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites retells the true story of the Martyrs of Compiègne who were executed on 17th July 1794, during the French Revolution, for refusing to comply…

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha brings an iridescent glow to Strauss’s Four Last Songs at the Proms

Copland, Hindemith and Strauss are not obvious bedfellows.  However, the focus on the 1940s from either side of the Atlantic made perfect sense for this annual Prom appearance of the…

Thrilling performances of Rachmaninov and Walton at the Proms

There’s a danger that a little-known work not previously performed in the UK may be all too quickly erased from memory when familiar works grab the listener’s attention, especially when…