Almost 6,000 promenaders packed the hall for a Last Night doing two jobs at once: seeing off the 2026 season in customary style, and finding room for grief. More on
For several years The Last Night of the Proms has excited controversy, due to what might be considered the overt nationalism of Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory.
A late start and a single work defined this penultimate concert of the season. Unlike the so-called ‘Gershwin’ Rhapsody in Blue advertised at a previous Prom, this was indeed Mahler’s
The world is awash with good, bad and indifferent performances, of Mahler Symphonies. Where scarcely a week goes by without another complete cycle being launched. In the concert hall, at
This was a modest, even self-effacing event with which to celebrate the orchestra’s 90th birthday but room had to be found for the pop proffered later in the evening. Quite
It’s 50 years since (now Sir) Simon Rattle first conducted at the Proms (though his first Royal Albert Hall appearance was a year later, in 1977). He has appeared almost
Earlier this season, John Wilson confirmed his orchestra’s special status with an extravagant realisation of Respighi’s Roman trilogy. Here, in the last of the year’s Sunday morning entertainments, a much-reduced
The ‘novelty’—to use Henry Wood’s historic term for unfamiliar fare—came first. The music of Louise Farrenc (née Jeanne-Louise Dumont; 1804–1875) was entirely absent from these concerts until 2024 when her
It was this performance that stood out most of all when the EIF brochure was issued last autumn. Richard Strauss’s second opera based on Sophocles
This year’s offering by Bampton Classical Opera – Grétry’s Zemira e Azor – could almost be an allegory for the present situation in Iran, albeit
The annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert. Marin Alsop conducted the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, comprised of TMC Fellows who have been selected to participate in
Martha Graham Dance Company joined Anna Handler and the Boston Symphony to perform ‘Appalachian Spring’, Graham’s most famous ballet, set to Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize-winning score; and
Presented alongside another early farsa in this year’s Rossini Opera Festival, this La scala di seta (1812) contrasts sharply with the traditional setting and direction of the exactly contemporary L’occasione
The opportunity spoken of in the title of Rossini’s early one Act comedy for Venice (1812) comes about when two suitcases are accidentally swapped. Despite
Unlike today, back in the 1960s the world was awash with great conductors. Several of
Olli Mustonen is perhaps best known as a pianist, but he also has a considerable
Mitsuko Uchida isn’t much associated with Beethoven, but she recorded these Sonatas for Philips in
As is well known, after Aida, Giuseppe Verdi contented himself with composing his glorious Requiem
The programme notes aptly describe this album as ‘A musical portrait of Jean Cocteau and
Edward Picton-Turbervill (b.1993) is very much a torch bearer of the English choral tradition stretching
We’ve all been there. You pick up your guitar or sit down at the piano, ready for a great practice session. Ten minutes later, you’re
Against the breathtaking backdrop of the Canadian Rockies in Banff National Park, the 15th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) brought together nine quartets, seven
The Romsey Chamber Music Festival goes from strength to strength, and this year’s events explored music belonging to endings, transformation and the force of the
I spent ten days at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, and students together, enabling music lovers to experience a
Held annually since 2018, the Romsey Chamber Music Festival is one of Hampshire’s best-kept musical secrets. This year’s six-day festival, comprising ten events, featured repertoire given by an
We are all influenced by our first exposures to greatness. Whether it is a person, structure or work of art, those initial contacts inform us
