Ruby Colley’s new album Hello Halo — released 14 November 2025 alongside a short documentary film — distils a project that began in live performance. Premiered at King’s Place in February and revisited at the Aldeburgh Festival in June of this year, the work turns field recordings and family archive material into an exploration of nonverbal connection.
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Longform stories and features about the people, places, and ideas shaping classical music today.
Podcast – Composer & Sound Artist Ruby Colley
Podcast – Composer & Sound Artist Ruby Colley
Ruby Colley’s new album Hello Halo — released 14 November 2025 alongside a short documentary film — distils a project…
NEWS & Reviews
Concerts, albums, and video reviews. Familiar, unfamiliar, plus stuff fresh out of the packaging.
Film Review – Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along starring Daniel Radcliffe
Radcliffe is a revelation, embodying a televised breakdown with precision — clipped gestures, barely-contained rage, and a vulnerability the camera…
REVIEW – Isla Ratcliffe’s Scottish four seasons
Isla Ratcliff’s Scottish Four Seasons reimagines Vivaldi through Scottish landscape and tradition….
Ulster orchestra’s new chief conductor announced
Ulster Orchestra names Anna Handler as Chief Conductor. A strategic appointment — and a moment for the orchestra to assert…
Listening for What Comes Next at Britten Sinfonia’s Composer Showcase
If you want to know where British composition is heading, schemes like Britten Sinfonia’s Opus 1 and Magnum Opus offer…
Ivors Classical Awards 2025 – Vidal, Grime, and Clyne secure key awards
The Ivors Classical Awards are never really about trophies. They’re about how an industry sees itself: noble, embattled, faintly addicted…
Review – Ethel Smyth’s The Forest & Respighi’s Lucrezia / GSMD
A performance of two halves: early moralistic Smyth followed by Respighi’s theatrical setting of a brutal tragedy….
thoroughly good classical music podcast
Interviews with compositions, musicians and producers about the music they love.
221: Revere Arts' Elise Brown and Class Ceiling – Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast
- 221: Revere Arts' Elise Brown and Class Ceiling
- 220: Composer and Sound Artist Ruby Colley
- 219: Writer Carole Hayman
- 218: Vache Baroque's Betty Makharinsky
- 217: Pianist Clare Hammond and Michael Betteridge
- 216: Aida Lahlou
- 215: RLPO CEO Vanessa Reed
- 214: Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen
- 213: Conductor Alice Farnham
- 212: Composer Julian Anderson
opinion
Thoroughly Good thoughts and reflections on the classical music industry.
Opinion – The Culture Secretary we never got (and the message that missed the mark)
Thangam Debbonaire — the former shadow culture secretary who missed out on her constituency and the chance to the UK…
Sir Keir Starmer on Radio 3’s Private Passions: heartfelt but a little hollow
Sir Keir Starmer’s Private Passions appearance is part love-letter to music, part soft-focus politics. He’s evidently warm in his advocacy…
Southbank Centre’s risky bid to sound unstuffy
Every bid for a new audience sends a message to the old one. The art is making sure it’s not…
dispatches
Stories from in and around where music is heard.
Notes on Listening
After a day immersed in figures and forecasts, stepping into Wigmore Hall feels like surfacing for air. Here, the discipline…
The Wrong Boat to Venice
A trip to Venice to review a festival. Yet, somewhere between the wrong boat, the gondoliers and a memory from…
1452. Gare du Nord, Paris.
From Eurostar carriage scenes to Parisine on the Metro, the trip sharpens listening long before the first chord sounds….
beyond classical music on thoroughly good
More writing on books, television, and the arts.
Review – Series 3 – The Diplomat
A firm Thoroughly Good favourite. Definitely a three series box set to binge. Full of grand performances….
Review – Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue
A stylish, pacey whodunnit from Anthony Horowitz. Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue balances peril and polish with a touch…
Review – ‘Flesh’ – David Szalay
A fast, hard-hitting novel where emotion lands late and quietly, turning detachment into its own kind of intimacy….
Thoroughly Good
Classical Music | TV | Books
Reviews, insights, and opinions about classical music. Supporting the industry with digital content, leadership training, and consultancy.