The passion in wagner

A rare manuscript of Sergey Rachmaninov’s second symphony, signed by the composer and containing his handwritten notes, is to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London in May, with an expected price of £1m-1.5m. According to Classical-music.com, the manuscript had been presumed lost since the 1917 revolution, when Rachmaninov fled St Petersburg with only a small suitcase of…

During this year’s Lucerne Festival mestro Bernard Haitink conducts master classes for aspiring young professionals. The festival has been running since 1938 when the concerts in its first series were conducted by Toscanini. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/bernard-haitink-a-maestro-passes-on-his-baton-to-the-next-generation-7873227.html

A new Channel 4 (UK) documentary called Addicts’ Symphony to screen at the end of the month, looks a the lives of musicians whose lives have been disrupted by the misuse of drugs. Click  here to read the feature in The Guardian.