Playing for their lives

The Critic Books

German conductor Anja Bihlmaier studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and later at the Mozarteum Salzburg, before holding posts at Staatsoper Hannover and Staatstheater Kassel. Since then, she

An idyllic neighbourhood on the edge of Berlin was once home to elite Nazis who carried out some of the worst crimes of the era. Eighty years on, the families that live there are still grappling with its tangled legacy. Sally McGrane reports

shouting forever into the receiver Anne Denholm (harp), Louise McMonagle (cello), Jonathan Morton (violin) et al NMC NMC D285 61:56 mins Tackling social themes and reckoning with history is part of wh

‘I’ve never been a particularly esoteric person,’ Nicola Benedetti tells me as we sit down to talk following the press launch of her third Edinburgh Festival. And yet, as she explains the theme of thi

Much about Henriëtte Bosmans’s life and music is remarkable. But one event stands out as emblematic of her character and strength. Our scene is Amsterdam in 1944, when the Nazis’ grip was on the Dutch