Classical Features
'Pause. Notice. Breathe': Elena Urioste on self-love in a time of coronavirusSaturday, 21 March 2020
In my second year as a violin student at the Curtis Institute, my right arm started going numb from my elbow to my fingertips on a fairly regular basis. It was rather like how your limbs feel right before they fall asleep: not full-on pins and needles, but a dull, hot emptiness, like there was no blood to keep that piece of me alive and vibrant. Read more... |
Classical music/Opera direct to home: 2 - Boris Giltburg and Igor LevitFriday, 20 March 2020
Maybe it's not so surprising that the musicians one has long thought of as true Menschen of the profession - that applies to both sexes, of course, and maybe it's just more about the artists in question being natural communicators - have been among the first to rally in the current crisis. Read more... |
Classical music/Opera direct to home: 1 - Budapest's Quarantine SoiréesWednesday, 18 March 2020
The great Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau noted of 1920s Berlin that "itimes of trouble, people seek a better life in culture". But what if that culture can no longer be accessed live? Read more... |
First Person: Electra Perivolaris on composing for BBC Radio 3's 'Seven Ages of Woman' projectSunday, 08 March 2020
My brief for this exciting and empowering project was to compose a new choral piece for the BBC Singers, to form one movement of a composite work, bringing together seven female composers spanning the generations of womanhood. Read more... |
Young people's guides to the orchestra: the making of 'Not Now, Bernard & Other Stories'Friday, 31 January 2020
"Let’s make an album” is an easy thing to say but an infinitely more difficult thing to actually make happen. Read more... |
Bridging the cultural divide: Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan on marrying east and westTuesday, 14 January 2020
We’re touring across Europe in January 2020, visiting five countries to perform eight concerts with the world-class violinist Maxim Vengerov as our leading soloist. The tour has been organized by the European Foundation for Support of Culture. Read more... |
Planting seeds for change: Helen Wallace on a year of seminal events at Kings PlaceWednesday, 08 January 2020
When I mention Nature Unwrapped, a year-long series at Kings Place subtitled "Sounds of Life", the responses are often tinged with cynicism: "Oh, very 2020", "So, what’s the carbon footprint with all those musicians flying in?" There’s an assumption that the series is focused solely on climate change and... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Zurich and Tallinn: celebrating great EstoniansThursday, 19 December 2019
Culturally, "the little country that could" - as Estonia's ex-Prime Minister and historian Mart Laar dubbed it - punches well above its weight. While it educates the young with a musical instrument made available to every child, Estonia continues to shine through its musical leaders. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Semyon Bychkov in PragueMonday, 09 December 2019
It's a very big deal for musical Prague: Czechia's symphonic epic, the six tone poems that make up Smetana's Má vlast (My Homeland), launches every Prague Spring Festival at the Smetana Hall, but in the Czech Philharmonic's opulent home, the Rudolfinum, the work hasn't appeared in any of its seasons for 49 years. Read more... |
Remembering Mariss Jansons (1943-2019)Wednesday, 04 December 2019
He was indeed "one of the greats" among conductors, as theartsdesk's Gavin Dixon put it in reviewing Mariss Jansons' January visit to the Barbican, and remains so by virtue of his recordings. Read more... |
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