classical music & opera
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From Barenboim, Bellini and Bernstein to flamenco dancing and yodelling - the mezzo shares her musical passions
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Director Oliver Mears pilots a witty production that deftly balances comedy and seriousness, and packs a surprise in the swimming pool
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Two years ago, Elim Chan won the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition. Ahead of tonight’s final, she reflects on what her victory has brought her, and why she doesn’t want her gender to define her
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At 88, Morricone is a towering presence in film history. As he celebrates 60 years in music, the Italian composer talks shoots, scores and the masterpieces we missed
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From Keith Jarrett’s new musical grammar to John Cage’s iconoclasm via Bach and Busoni, the composer and pianist tells us what inspires him
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William Kentridge and conductor Mark Wigglesworth underplay the humour as Brenda Rae proves a tireless, enigmatic heart to a production awash with projected imagery
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La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations/Savall
(Alia Vox) -
Raffaella Milanesi, Richard Helm, La Risonanza, Coro Costanzo Porta/ Bonizzoni
(Challenge)
facing the music
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The viola player on the great musical innovator Biber, the inspirational Borodin Quartet, and the extremities of Messiaen and Shostakovich
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The conductor and founder of the Tallis Scholars on the Beatles, Bruckner and Bryd, and why we should treat Bach with less respect
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weekly from the archive
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From the archive, 23 April 1827: Following the death of Beethoven, the Observer publishes a personal account of the eccentric and prodigiously talented composer
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From the archive, 11 August 1876: The Guardian reports from the very first Bayreuth Wagner festival, presided over by the composer himself.
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From the classical archive, 13 February 1976: Christopher Ford meets a young conductor on a fast-track to success
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Respected conductor takes over from Mark Wigglesworth as company seeks stability after two years of cuts and crises
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Leeds Piano Competition reboot Paul Lewis on transforming 'the Leeds' to nurture tomorrow's pianists
The Leeds piano competition is being given a radical, creative reboot. Paul Lewis, one of its new directors – alongside Adam Gatehouse – explains the plan -
you may have missed
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The choirmaster who used to sell ice creams on Bournemouth beach is angling for his next Christmas No 1 – and teaching Team GB how to sing the National Anthem properly
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Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s abstract opera premiered in 1976 and, in 2012, that original production was revived for a world tour. Filmed at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet it is now available on DVD
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As part of celebrations for the composer’s 80th birthday, a unique performance of Steve Reich’s piece about transport during the Holocaust took place at a train station
guides
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Our series arrives in the eternal city – but which Rome is it? City of vanished power? Chic energy? Indomitable beauty? Or as Berlioz put it – ‘the most stupid and prosaic city I know’
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Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
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Tom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene
most viewed
Mark Antony Turnage on Richard Rodney Bennett So much talent given to just one man