This week, Greek National Opera (GNO) in Athens is putting on the third performance of Nadia Boulanger’s only opera, La ville morte. Written in collaboration with her mentor, Raoul Pugno, the opera is only now in the 21st century, seeing

Cellist Lynn Harrell, winner of the inaugural Avery Fisher Prize and two Grammy Awards had the ability to generate a penetrating richness of sound, and to communicate with tremendous personal warmth. A formidable technician, Harrell was appointed principal cellist of

The orchestra is mighty, chords resonating in a large space, the timpani emphasizing the vastness of the concept. It’s a bit Wagnerian – some ideas seem like they might do well in Die Walküre or perhaps there’s a foreshadowing of

“I do not bow to anyone, except to my own conscience and our own noble Lady Music” January is a busy time for lovers of classical music as we celebrate the birthdays of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert on

I’ve been going to live classical music concerts since I was a little girl – and not just professional concerts, but also amateur performances when my dad (a clarinettist) played in a local amateur orchestra. As keen music-lovers, my parents

Something very exciting took place on 27 January 1866, the 110th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth. The city of Frankfurt witnessed the performance of an unknown Singspiel, which Mozart had abandoned to work on Idomeneo. The unknown work carried

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse changed how listeners approached and appreciated Baroque music. She helped spur the revival of the harpsichord and Baroque Era composers, making a big contribution to the beginnings of the historical performance practice movement, which is still going strong

Swiss flautist Emmanuel Pahud has been hailed as the finest flautist of his generation, “admired for the purity and subtlety of his tonal colours, his imaginative phrasing and his command of a broad range of styles.” Pahud auditioned for principal