One of the most enjoyable musical experiences of my life has been performing Sir Michael Tippett’s extraordinary oratorio A Child of our Time with the chorus and orchestra of Clare College, Cambridge. Famous especially because of the series of five

Bach : Saint John PassionPart I: Chorale: Herr, unser Herrscher (Chorus) I am for the first time in my life living with Handel. I lived with Bach earlier this year, when I was involved in performances of his St John

At the Van Cliburn Piano Competition Four years ago, when the Van Cliburn Piano Competition was first presented on webcast, I found myself glued to my laptop for weeks, following what I considered one of the most exciting events in

‘Writing about music is like dancing about architecture’. These were the words of Miles Davis. Or was it Elvis Costello? Perhaps it was Thelonius Monk… Or Frank Zappa? Regardless of who said these words (maybe they all uttered it at

The atmosphere was electric! We were at Paris’s Palais Garnier to attend a ballet performance just five days before the one-hundredth anniversary of the riot surrounding the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in May of 1913. To top

MOZART, W.A.: Serenade No. 10, “Gran Partita” Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble Mozart’s Serenade K.361 has a lot of mystery surrounding it, generating many articles, thoughts and opinions (both scholarly and informal) with regards to its genesis and function. The work’s

What was the Paris Opéra Ballet like six decades ago? My Uncle Arnold was posted in France after the Second World War in 1946. A dedicated music aficionado, he could hardly wait for his furlough to attend the ballet. This

“I hope my reed makes it through the performance… It’s so hot in there, my tuning’s going to go out the window… This shirt’s so uncomfortable… And why, to top it all off, am I performing from memory?!” These can