‘my hair was still growing back – but i needed to show the singing world that i was back in action

In other circumstances, it would be heartening to see an opera getting national attention. Yet once again, the recent buzz around Covent Garden concerns politics rather than performances. The latest f

CONCERT HEAVEN Careful the tale you tell Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Simon Lepper (piano) et al Wigmore Hall (December 2020) My ‘Concert Heaven’ choice is a recital called ‘Careful the tale you tel

Jan Smaczny is enthralled by Isabelle Faust’s unique approach to the demanding material of Bach’s little-known violin works JS Bach Sonatas for Violin and Continuo Isabelle Faust (violin); Kristin von

Trumpeter Alison Balsom has revealed that her recent appearance at the 2025 Last Night of the Proms was her final public performance. During an interview for BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life shortly b

Just two decades after the premiere of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, the Soviet Union paid a New York opera company to stage performances there. The year was 1956 and the Cold War was well underwa

Patterns, says Clare Hammond. Learning a new piece, especially if you’re committing it to memory, and the clock is against you, is all about finding patterns. ‘If you can find patterns in a piece of m