Hugo Shirley wrote: On the eve of her 80th birthday, Hugo Shirley is granted a rare interview with the great soprano at her apartment in Vienna Continues HERE
Musicians
Interviews and conversations with Musicians
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Interviews by Imogen Tilden. “When English National Opera asked me to conduct Mozart’s Magic Flute in 1988, I said I’d do it with [director] Nick Hytner but nobody else. I’d been involved in many productions of the opera before, and I told Nick and designer Bob Crowley at our first meeting that I always wished […]
For the virtuoso trumpeter Alison Balsom it was a dream to work with Trevor Pinnock on her new album, and the musical director agrees they are ‘kindred spirits’. They tell Adam Sweeting why. MORE
As Teodora Gheorghiu prepares to sing in Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne, she tells Rupert Christiansen how she overcame an illness that threatened her career. It may only be something they put in the water, but over the last century or so Romania has produced an extraordinary succession of velvety lyric sopranos: notable names in this […]
Just before his death the great maverick composer John Tavener, who played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, told Ivan Hewett how he had previously cheated death many times. “You know, my consultant keeps telling me sudden death could come at any moment,” says John Tavener with a sudden, mischievous laugh. It’s a […]
The Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire talks to James Jolly Continues HERE
From the archives Tim Wong writes: I grew up listening to a recording of Verdi’s Il Trovatore my father bought. It’s the Franco Corelli version with Thomas Schippers conducting. I was instantly captivated by his heroic style and especially how he threw himself into the aria Di quella pira. In an extremely silly plot, it’s […]
One day, Bryn Terfel’s eldest son fell asleep at the opera. It was during the first act of Welsh National Opera’s 2010 production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Cardiff. Only when his father came on and started singing as Hans Sachs, did he awaken. “My first line woke him up. He apparently […]
“With his collection of Pet Shop Boys lyrics about to be published, the musician talks about songwriting through the Thatcher era, the Aids crisis and the age of Brexit” https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/21/neil-tennant-pet-shop-boys-collection-lyrics
John Hind writes: The tenor on the joys of family food and how he stays in tune by eating pasta every day – but only with olive oil and no sauces or butter Mamma said that when I was little I refused to eat. I suppose I didn’t want to waste time. I was very […]
Co-Artistic Directors of the LCO Hugh Brunt and Robert Ames talk about how the orchestra’s new sample library, LCO Strings, is giving composers new worlds of sound to explore Continues HERE
Adam Sweeting writes: Legendary soprano Jessye Norman talks weight, race and what it really takes to be an opera star Please continue HERE
Roy Harper has a glittering list of admirers, from Pink Floyd to Kate Bush. He tells Rob Hughes why it’s taken 13 years to make a new album. Roy Harper has spent the past five decades crafting some of the most vivid, ravishingly beautiful music of our times. He’s 72 now, one of British folk-rock’s […]
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The charismatic New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa looks back at her life in song through forty years of classic performances from the BBC archives, from her first TV performance on The Harry Secombe Show in 1971 to her appearances on Top of the Pops to sing the rugby anthem World in Union in […]
Blues in Britain writes: Here’s the unexpurgated extended version of the interview with Beth Hart from this month’s magazine: Platinum-selling singer Beth Hart was in London to promote Don’t Explain, her album of soul covers with Joe Bonamassa. She spoke to Moray Stuart of Blues In Britain about that, her career so far and her […]
Originally published August 2014 Edmund Finnis is a contemporary composer who grew up as both a chorister and a fan of electronic music Continues HERE
Nick Clark writes ….. Many musicians see social networking sites as an ideal way to get closer to fans and drum up publicity for albums and concerts. Nick Cave is not one of those musicians. The 55-year old, described as having “one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of pop music,” was dragged […]
The rock veteran Roger Daltrey has lamented the absence of musical “movements”. He said: “Here we are with the world in the state it is in, and we’ve got One Direction.” The Who frontman, who along with Pete Townshend is due to perform a series of shows marking the band’s 50th anniversary, told the Mail […]
Updated with new links 21/06/18 Many Prince You Tube videos get taken down pretty quickly, but for the moment you can view the performance at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8raPqu-6Gw and for those in a hurry a crudely edited truncated version of the guitar solo may be seen at:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANn8Y1p-DfA. —//— The first time I saw this performance on […]
A collaboration of two great musicians from totally different backgrounds, brought together through a passion for playing blues slide guitar and many years of mutual admiration for each others’ work. MORE
Originally published 2013 Can music repair damaged tissue? Is it possible to hear it through another person’s ears? If anyone knows, it’s Tod Machover. As he prepares to create an innovative symphony for Edinburgh, Charlotte Higgins meets the music professor. The producer of 50 Nobel laureates, and the academic home of Tim Berners-Lee and Noam […]
To many, Walter Trout is a contemporary guitar legend and his guitar prowess, prolific recordings and non-stop tour schedule provide more than ample evidence to support the claim. As member of Canned Heat and having spent several years with John Mayall’s BluesBreakers, Trout has also supported numerous masterful musicians throughout his several decades on […]