Simon and I met in our teens, before he became known to the world as ‘Trpčeski’. As a person, he is full of joy, warmth and sincerity; as a pianist, he is natural, charismatic and phenomenal. Wherever he appears, he

With a jury comprised of not only opera managers and music directors around the globe but also international media figures, the annual International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition aims to offer prizewinners the fast track into a career in opera. I

Tenerife-born tenor Celso Albelo is one of the most exciting voices of today. Still young by operatic standards, he has already made debuts at the major opera houses in Paris, Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Zurich, Venice and Rome and is one

It seems that every rising star has a mentor; like cellist Han-na Chang, the Croatian soprano Lana Kos was inspired by Mstislav Rostropovich. The late maestro chose Kos for the role of Natasha Rostova in Prokofiev’s War and Peace in

Just by looking at her photos, I can feel the Italian warmth from Maria Agresta’s beaming smiles. A winner of several competitions, Maria Agresta made her debut in 2007. Since then, she has worked with conductors like Gianandrea Noseda, Zubin

‘If one day my passion for music fades, I would have done something else!’ the French pianist Cédric Tiberghien told me a few years ago when we first met in a practice room in Hong Kong. Time flies, but the

Being chosen by Leonard Bernstein to sing the boy solo part in Chichester Psalms, conductor Daniel Oren seems to be destined for the opera house from an early age. Indeed, when I saw him stepping onto the podium to conduct

When I heard that Charles Dutoit is performing at the Guangzhou Opera House in July, a wave of nostalgia swept over me – I decided to reminisce about my summer at the Canton International Summer Music Academy in Guangzhou, seven