From espresso machine to percolator, there are many ways to make a cup of coffee, and such is the case with Bach’s cantata, too. Sporting just two soloists plus cameo narrator, tracking down a vocal d

Mocha? Flat White? Americano? Those patronising Zimmermann’s coffee house in 18th-century Leipzig would have been out of luck. But in the easy-going surroundings where the student Collegium Musicum me

Yet, given the dark and often introverted nature of the concerto, it’s hardly surprising that Shostakovich kept the work under wraps for so long, feeling that programming it was inadvisable until the

In defence of the libretto and the librettist

The Coffee Cantata wasn’t JS Bach’s sole foray into humour and social commentary. Written for a birthday celebration in 1742, his Peasant Cantata BWV 212 sets words by Picander in a 24-movement work f

Stephen Sondheim’s resonant, melancholy musicals