Sergei Prokofiev and William Shakespeare were born on April 23rd in 1891 and 1564 respectively. Here’s a tribute to both these men of genius. Valery Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra playing the Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet.
The brilliant composer, conductor, pianist and educator Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 (d 1990). In this video clip he conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in the zippy overture to his operetta Candide.
A week into December and there is an abundance of music that we hear but once a year. Mercifully in some cases, but in others, an all too infrequent excuse to indulge in some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Over the next few weeks we’ll bring you some of the rarely heard classics of…
When Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau died last week, his career as a singer was dissected and analysed in meticulous details. The loss of his once incomparable voice was rightly lamented. However, as with many individual of prolific talent and intellect, a rare voice was not his only gift. As well as being a writer, (he wrote…
Grammy award winning new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird performs in Sydney for Musica Viva on its fourth tour, playing music from their two recent albums Filament and Hand Eye with a world premiere by Sydney composer Holly Harrison. Click here for more on their tour. Check out this excerpt from one of their tour items, By-by…
Brilliant, entertaining and lucid – baritone Thomas Hampson talks to BBC’s Hardtalk about understanding classical music.
The Marais Project’s Jennifer Eriksson talks about the ensemble’s new album Spinning Forth, named after Paul Cutlan’s composition of the same name which features on the album. written for harpsichord and viola da gamba it the world premiere recording of this adventurous piece inspired by the writing of J S Bach. If you’re having difficulty…