Chances are you haven’t managed to make it through the web around classical music in the last week or so without coming across something about THAT Guardian article. As a colleague pointed out to me earlier this week, there’s nothing like a critical opinion piece to get the community in
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been extremely lucky to see two musicals, an opera and a piece of dance theatre: Come from Away and The Light in the Piazza, Thomas Larcher’s The Hunting Gun, and Lost Dog’s sensational Juliet and Romeo. I would recommend all four, in fact,
80 years ago today, Disney’s first full-length animated musical feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs went on general release in the USA (and the Library of Congress has been tweeting about it). Animators battled with negotiating the pitfalls of uncanny valley – including using real-life models for most of
This term, I’ve been teaching a course at the wonderful institution that is City Lit entitled ‘What is Music?’. Across ten weeks, our class has been covering a range of topics around the development and perception and music from the creation of the earliest instruments to notation, tuning, the kind
Years ago, when I was still at school, I was strong-armed into joining the school public speaking team. This was a rather entertaining activity which involved choosing a topic you wanted to debate, and putting forward a presentation, dealing with questions, chairing the discussion, and all that jazz. We weren’t
For centuries, and for a host of different reasons, it has been traditional practice in many countries for a new bride to be carried over the threshold of her new home by her husband. Whether a symbol of ownership, avoiding bad spirits, or the public marking of a new life
About two months ago, a friend and I were sat in our respective homes, skimming through events guides for things around London, and trying to decide what we might go to see. We are both lovers of opera, both keen to expand our repertoire knowledge, and both – crucially –
This week, I’ve mostly been thinking about virtuosos. As I was putting together my notes for a lecture on Paganini, Chopin and Liszt, and the transformation of the solo musician’s role in the first few decades of the nineteenth century, everything from repertoire choices and touring schedules to notions of
One upsettingly warm evening this week (autumn has apparently not got the memo yet), as I was collapsed in front of the TV, I found myself watching a re-run of that wonderful magic and mystery show, Jonathan Creek. Faked suicides, walking through walls, missing paintings… I love this kind of
It has taken me several years to build up the courage that I thought I would require to see Marc-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House. This is not for any of the reasons I suspect you’re thinking. It’s not because of the subject matter. Or the swearing. Or
