classical music & opera
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Edinburgh festival Gurrelieder/BBCSSO/Runnices – an almighty blast of Schoenberg rounds off festival
In his final concert as their chief conductor, Donald Runnicles guided the BBCSSO and festival chorus magnificently through the richness and drama of the mega-cantata -
The conductor, composer and arranger loves Shostakovich, loathes Bruckner and found early inspiration in Miles Davies.
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Precise yet expressive playing in this remarkable concert climaxed in an astonishing song cycle by Hans Abrahamsen
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Losing one voice helped Sally Beamish find another. Two decades later she has come full circle. She tells how her daughter, her mentor Peter Maxwell Davies – and a blackbird – have inspired her new work, and her own return to playing
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In the fourth in our series, we look at the Finnish capital and its music
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The Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century/ Brüggen; Accademia Bizantina/ Dantone
(Decca) (35 CDs) -
Ian Bostridge (tenor), Antonio Pappano (piano)
(Warner)
facing the music
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Opera North’s music director on wishing he was a fly on the wall to see Wagner compose, why MP3 players are spoiling us for live music and his would-be career as a sci-fi author
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The US violinist on Beethoven, Eminem and her compulsion for interpretive dance
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At 73, the conductor is still lobbying presidents and bellowing at the violins in five languages. But has his passion project – an orchestra of players from across the Middle East – achieved any real change? We meet him in Buenos Aires
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Composers seek a new definition of greatness in a digital age
Susanna EastburnAs a champion of new music, Susanna Eastburn takes exception to the claim that the age of great composers is dead. Instead, we must open our ears to more diverse, shape-shifting and connected times -
you may have missed
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What’s it like to play a cello concerto written by your brother? To conduct your wife? To sing alongside your daughter? Michael Hann meets the classical musicians who are keeping it all in the family this Proms season
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From writing the ultimate tearjerker for Paolo Sorrentino to commemorating the bloodiest day in British military history, David Lang takes it all in his stride. He tells Kate Molleson about the power of repetition and his mechanised co-writer
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In a spectacular tribute to David Bowie, the US composer’s Heroes symphony is being performed at midnight on Saturday at Glastonbury’s Park stage. Ahead of the set, he discusses his longstanding friendship with the late musician
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With war ravaging their homeland, the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians has been scattered across the globe. But five years since the violence erupted, the group are reuniting for a cathartic tour – and opening Glastonbury
guides
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Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
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Tom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene
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Opinion The Guardian view on female conductors: time to take the baton