Music to snooze by for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
14 February 2012 12:00 AM
The plans for the river pageant are an embarrassment
The Tales of Hoffmann is fantasy stuff
10 February 2012 12:00 AM
The German author E T A Hoffmann's imagination underpins some of the world's most popular and enduring operas, ballets, and even piano music. Yet few of the adaptations bear much resemblance to his originals. Indeed, the writer's absence from his own legacy is so striking that Richard Jones, the director of English National Opera's new production of The Tales of Hoffmann, has apparently recommended to his lead tenor, Barry Banks, that he need not read the tales by Hoffmann on which the opera is based.
Fear and loathing in London: The Death of Klinghoffer is staged in the capital for the first time
09 February 2012 12:00 AM
It's a major risk for English National Opera, says Jessica Duchen.
Independent Classical Podcast: Elin Manahan Thomas
01 February 2012 11:50 AM
Elin Manahan Thomas' lovely voice has graced two of the finest specialist choirs in the world: John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir and Harry Christophers' The Sixteen. It's a voice born to embrace the pure and ornate lines of pre-18th century music though this engaging Welsh singer rejoices in musical diversity wherever it comes from.
Music gets macabre at Death: Southbank Centre's Festival for the Living
27 January 2012 12:00 AM
Most people are familiar with Desert Island Discs, the Radio 4 show that invites a guest to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island. Death: Southbank Centre's Festival for the Living, which begins today in London, puts a whole new spin on the concept. Desert Island Death Discs with Paul Gambaccini will reveal the nation's top funeral music choices, while the BBC Concert Orchestra will explore Music to Die For, a collection of works by composers obsessed by death.
Sir Tom Allen is still fresh, four decades on
27 January 2012 12:00 AM
Where to begin with the achievements of Sir Tom Allen? As Britain's best-loved opera singer, and as the real-life inspiration for Billy Elliot – hailing from a mining family up north, with no expectations of stardom – he embodies the sort of story dreams are made of. He has created a parallel career as a director, and has just been appointed Chancellor of Durham University, but tonight will see a different culmination: when he walks on stage at Covent Garden in London as Don Alfonso in Jonathan Miller's wickedly knowing Cosi fan tutte, it will mark the 40th anniversary of his first appearance there.
Independent Classical Podcast: Julian Lloyd Webber
23 January 2012 11:58 AM
Julian Lloyd Webber has built himself an enviable reputation as one of music's most diligent explorers, refreshing parts of the repertoire that others choose to ignore while encouraging the best of new and established talents to extend and enhance the cello repertoire.
How Debussy keys into Japan
20 January 2012 12:00 AM
In 1862 Claude Debussy was born in Paris: the biggest musical celebrations of 2012 will mark his 150th anniversary. Reflections on Debussy, a major new festival based at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, promises to be one of the most unusual takes on this seminal French composer and his legacy. It unites past and present, Europe and Asia, and a pianist and orchestra who, having been caught up in Japan's devastating earthquake, are lucky to be here.
Barbican classical podcast: Richard Egarr
18 January 2012 11:48 AM
The Academy Of Ancient Music has been at the forefront of the period instrument revolution for almost four decades. When Christopher Hogwood founded the group in 1973, the idea that we really could go back and through an informed awareness of style and faithful deployment of original instruments, rekindle the shock-of-the-new effect — the passion and vitality of great 17th and 18th masterworks — was greeted with a mixture of excitement and scepticism.
Running in the Clouds: A tune with a view
13 January 2012 12:00 AM
Bring the Lake District into the concert hall! The challenge – issued by the BBC Philharmonic's general manager Richard Wigley to the composer Maurizio Malagnini – sounds startling at the very least. Its result, though, is a new concert suite, Running in the Clouds, commissioned by BBC Radio 3, and receiving its world premiere tomorrow.
Anthony Hopkins: Hannibal hits the high notes with a classic performance
13 January 2012 12:00 AM
The Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins has composed a collection of classical works. Many of the pieces are inspired by memories of his childhood in south Wales, he tells Jessica Duchen
Jessica Duchen: This institution represents the Big Apple's cultural core
10 January 2012 12:02 AM
It is a sorry state of affairs when an opera company resorts to locking out its own performers – and the once vibrant and innovative New York City Opera (NYCO) is looking like barely a rump of its former self.
Twenty years of Brahms & Liszt: Meet the Classic FM DJs who have made fugues funky
08 January 2012 12:00 AM
For decades, classical music was considered fusty and exclusive. One broadcaster has changed all that.
Sergei Prokofiev: Beyond 'Peter and the Wolf' – the rehabilitation of Stalin's composer
08 January 2012 12:00 AM
Prokofiev followed 'the bitch goddess success' back to Soviet Moscow – or so the story goes. Think again, Vladimir Jurowski tells Andrew Stewart
Tuning up for fun and games at the Cultural Olympiad
01 January 2012 12:00 AM
They are in athletic mood at the Proms and in opera, but you might need your thermals...
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