The prolific Bill Nelson ’s taken a brief pause from his solo work to turn his attention towards a project of a different kind. Orchestra Futura was a live improv trio that also included Theo Travis and Dave Sturt. Although they never released any studio recordings, a selection of material has just been collated and issued as Live At Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall . Prog caught up with its members to find out more and uncover Nelson’s plans for the future.

Never meet your heroes, so the saying goes. Writing about a favourite subject – classical music – has permitted me occasional opportunity to test that theory. While the odd star might have tarnished a

Lidy Blijdorp; Tobias Borsboom Channel Classics CCS47726 65:29 mins Using the recording genre creatively is an art in itself. What can it offer that perhaps a live concert cannot? I think it allows mo

Had Robin Holloway published Music’s Odyssey—described by its author as “an invitation to the glorious long voyage of Western classical music”—30 years ago, he might well have got away with it. By day

Ubiquitous pre-concert routines feature furtive programme reading and, for the truly organised, ordering interval refreshments. Activities do not usually include brushing one’s teeth and changing into

Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Time for Three Platoon PLAT29101 65:05 mins Is it a song cycle? An opera? Musical theatre? Kevin Puts’s new work Emily – No Prisoner Be, based on texts by Emily Dickinson, is a