Down the rabbit hole of an opera institution

When the phone rings and it’s Daniel Hope, a useful starter to the conversation is to ask where in the world he’s ringing from. And though he’ll jokily reply, ‘I’m sometimes not so sure’, it isn’t muc

Music is a serious business. Whether it’s love, death, heartbreak, loneliness, power, conflict, destruction, sin, faith, hope, despair… you name it, every weighty subject and state of mind has been ta

Ah, the glory and glamour of being an operatic superstar! The Met one week, La Scala the next; a quick trip to Hong Kong for a recital before flying back to Covent Garden for a run of Toscas. As opera

Le Concert des Nations; La Capella Nacional de Catalunya/Jordi Savall Alia Vox AVSA9965 66:27 mins Jordi Savall’s recording of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor is not just another attempt to tidy up an

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

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