Grief-conjurors, space-mincers and earth-shovellers: performance roundup
They enter two by two. Grannies, mainly. Headscarved, mainly. Some locking arms. A bit glum. Like rejects from Noah’s ark.…
Closing the Queen Elizabeth Hall invigorated the new music scene. Why reopen it?
Imagine the National inviting RuPaul to play Hamlet. Or Tate giving Beryl Cook a retrospective. The London Sinfonietta offered a…
Beauty and the beast
I was going to start with a little moan. About the shouty marketing, the digital diarrhoea, the sycophantic drivel, which,…
Country pleasures
The English weren’t the first cowpat composers. Jean-Philippe Rameau raised the art of frolicking in the fields to such heights…
Sound storms
Nothing pleased Iannis Xenakis more than a great big rattling storm. The sound of a thunderclap would have him running…
Sound storms
Nothing pleased Iannis Xenakis more than a great big rattling storm. The sound of a thunderclap would have him running…
Sound storms
Nothing pleased Iannis Xenakis more than a great big rattling storm. The sound of a thunderclap would have him running…
Apocalypse now
Gerald Barry loved playing organ for Protestants as they allowed him a lie in. Then they found out he wasn’t…
Apocalypse now
Gerald Barry loved playing organ for Protestants as they allowed him a lie in. Then they found out he wasn’t…
Apocalypse now
Gerald Barry loved playing organ for Protestants as they allowed him a lie in. Then they found out he wasn’t…
Snakes and ladders
In Luis Buñuel’s 1962 film, the ‘exterminating angel’ of the title is a mystery illness. A debilitating virus — much…
Snakes and ladders
In Luis Buñuel’s 1962 film, the ‘exterminating angel’ of the title is a mystery illness. A debilitating virus — much…
Snakes and ladders
In Luis Buñuel’s 1962 film, the ‘exterminating angel’ of the title is a mystery illness. A debilitating virus — much…
The Heckler: those behind the Proms this year have the imagination of a dead fish
BBC Proms 2016 is about as exciting as my sock drawer. But it’s unclear who exactly is to blame. The…
BBC Proms
BBC Proms 2016 is about as exciting as my sock drawer. But it’s unclear who exactly is to blame. The…
BBC Proms
BBC Proms 2016 is about as exciting as my sock drawer. But it’s unclear who exactly is to blame. The…
In a world full of zombie new operas, thank god for Philip Glass’s Akhnaten
A mixed year so far for new opera. A few really dismal things have appeared from people who should know…
Round-up of new opera
A mixed year so far for new opera. A few really dismal things have appeared from people who should know…
Round-up of new opera
A mixed year so far for new opera. A few really dismal things have appeared from people who should know…
Morgen und Abend: the kind of opera that gives opera a bad name
The Royal Opera House seemed nervous about Georg Friedrich Haas’s world première Morgen und Abend. They sent out a pdf…
All at sea
The Royal Opera House seemed nervous about Georg Friedrich Haas’s world première Morgen und Abend. They sent out a pdf…
All at sea
The Royal Opera House seemed nervous about Georg Friedrich Haas’s world première Morgen und Abend. They sent out a pdf…
Hans Werner Henze: the Ed Miliband of opera
We opera critics love gazing into crystal balls. We’re particularly good at discovering Ed Milibands and backing them to the…
Why we should say farewell to the ENO
It’s easy to forget what a mess of an art form opera once was. For its first 100 years it…
Forget the Germans. It’s the French who made classical music what it is
The poor French. When we think of classical music, we always think of the Germans. It’s understandable. Instinctive. Ingrained. But…
