Richard Strauss (1864 –1949) was the major German opera composer of the late 19th to the mid-20th century. His life and music were controversial during his lifetime and remained so after his death. One can argue about his music, his

Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz, laureate of all the five first prizes in Chopin piano competition in 2005 at the age of 20, gave a compelling recital in Taipei with a programme of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin. Blechacz’s Mozart Rondo

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020, for many of us it’s going to be all Beethoven, all the time. However, starting off the new year in a small way, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, in their Chamber

Sir András Schiff returned to Hong Kong after 11 years, this time with his “family”, Cappella Andrea Barca, and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mozart’s Symphony No.39 for the first half of the programme, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto

2020 is a momentous year for all lovers of music as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. And to get us in the mood for this significant occasion, Interlude spoke with Malte Boecker, director of the Beethoven-Haus in

French director Benoît Jacquot’s production (Revival Director Andrew Sinclair) dates back to 2004, and has had at least two revivals at the Royal Opera House. It remains as insipid and drab as at its first showing and it is hard

Luigi Cherubini’s Medea is nothing if not firmly and consistently associated with Maria Callas. The Greek American soprano revived this masterpiece from relative obscurity, and committed it to stage, disc, film, but most importantly to legend. Any Medea needs to

Salzburg generally does Mozart exceptionally well. But this year Salzburg did very little well, including Mozart. The Salzburg native’s seminal work is difficult to perform at the best of times. The story set in Crete after the Trojan War poses