classical music isn’t difficult.
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Thoroughly good classical music podcast
Conversations with classical creatives about the music they love
177: Ben Levy from Classics Explained – Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast
blogs
15 years of news, reviews and opinion
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Opinion – Navigating change in a resistant industry
CBSO’s experiments challenge classical music’s self-image, highlighting some of the industry’s resistance to change, amid the opportunities to connect with new audiences.
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BBC Proms 2024 programme announced
Composer spotlights, core repertoire, crowd-pleasing classics, and eyebrow-raising pop crossovers, underline a strategy focused on greater audience reach that overly stretches the Proms tagline about it being the greatest classical music festival in the world.
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The CBSO’s experiments with the concert experience
In criticising innovation those who complain are simply reinforcing the need for the innovation in the first place.
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Andrew Davis (1944 – 2024)
There was a refreshing authenticity about him. What you saw on stage and on TV was, it seemed, him through and through. What a way to live a life.
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Trust is key and power destroys it
Bottom line, if you want the profile, play the game. With everyone. Otherwise, eventually, no one will talk about you. At all.
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Review – Dresden Philharmonic and Maria loudenitch at Cadogan Hall
Conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky stripped everything right back creating a rich tapestry of textures and colours that revealed far more detail in the score than would normally be perceptible in larger venues.
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Review – Wynton Marsalis’s entertaining Trumpet Concerto makes for a captivating listen
Marsalis’s entertaining new work is exactly what classical needs right now
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Listening in to (some of) the new programmes on BBC Radio 3
After a listening-hiatus from Radio 3, the new lineup offers a refreshing change. It won’t please everyone, though this wasn’t necessarily the intention.
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Review – Salieri’s Kublai Khan from Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset at Music Theater an der Wien
A Mongolian Emperor, two eager marketing executives, a misfit heir, a nun, and a bit of horseplay all come together in a jumbled depiction of Salieri’s rarely performed, sometimes crazy opera, ‘Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari’. Penned in 1787 to a libretto by Giambattista Casti, Cublai is a comic opera with pertinent themes. Politics and…
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Andrew Comben announced as new Britten Pears Arts Chief Exec
Andrew Comden takes up the role vacated by Roger Wright in September 2024
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Europe’s bold strategy to shore up UK’s classical music sector revealed
A leaked EBU white paper reveals plans to create a “super-league” of orchestras, empowering audiences to programme, and reintroducing live orchestras to Eurovision.
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New Release – Dani Howard’s Orchestral Works
Composer Dani Howard’s first album release celebrates her technicolour orchestration in a range of orchestral works including the whimsical Trombone Concerto that lit up Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall mid-pandemic.
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TV – ‘Backstage with the LPO’ does what it says on the tin
Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Sky Arts achieves a rare feat: it captivates both seasoned fans and newcomers alike.
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Edinburgh International Festival 2024 – a ritual that unites us
The 2024 Edinburgh International Festival, running from August 5 to 25, emphasizes audience engagement and affordability, featuring diverse music, theater, and dance, despite the high costs of local accommodations.