Ruggero leoncavallo

The great modernist composer Luciano Berio shares his surname with a best-selling Italian brand of olive oil, which seems apt as he was a very Italian sort of modernist. He loved the singing voice, he

When Luciano Pavarotti died in in 2007, he was one of the most famous men in the world, his celebrity extending far beyond the opera stage. This year, as we prepare to celebrate what would have been t

Edge of the Storm Works by Bacewicz, Britten and Weinberg Telegraph Quartet Azica Records ACD-71381 74:08 mins The turbulent, destabilising and demoralising impact of the Second World War hovers uneas

Echoes of Exile Works by Bartók, Ben-Haim, Enescu, Ysaÿe and Zimmermann Sueye Park (violin) BIS BIS-2332 63:06 mins Turbulence from the Second World War impacts most of the composers on this album. Th

Premières Symphonies Works by Bizet, Gounod and Saint-Saëns Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo/Kazuki Yamada Alpha Classics ALPHA1149 89:27 mins (2CD) The most familiar of these three classically

The Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) has opted to remove its production of Puccini’s Tosca from The Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv next year after an open letter by RBO employees criticised the company for its