classical music & opera
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A newly unearthed collection of choral music is unlike any other music of its time. Who composed it? All the evidence points to the youngest daughter of Lucrezia Borgia
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Marius de Vries joins as creative consultant to help new artistic director develop projects away from traditional opera
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This year’s highlights include series of intimate shows by the rock band and a pioneering piece of music theatre
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The first ever UK Live Music Census is surveying a day’s worth of live music across the country. In a digital world with ever more ways to listen, is being there still the biggest thrill?
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Lost for 150 years – and mistaken for her brother’s after that – some of Fanny Mendelssohn’s bold, complex music is belatedly receiving the attention it merits. Her great-great-great granddaughter tells the story
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Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Petrenko
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Vox Luminis, Bart Jacobs (organ)/ Meunier (Ricercar)
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The Sixteen, Britten Sinfonia/Christophers
(Coro)
facing the music
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From a teenage obsession with Wagner to the inspirational Giulini and the daily necessity of Bach, the conductor shares his musical passions
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From Bach to Bacharach, and Björk and George Benjamin, the composer tells us about the music and musicians that inspire her
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weekly from the archive
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9 March 1971: Meirion Bowen on the scholar, virtuosic musician and crumhorn whizzkid at the forefront of the period-instrument movement, who died tragically young 40 years ago
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From the archive, 23 April 1827: Following the death of Beethoven, the Observer publishes a personal account of the eccentric and prodigiously talented composer
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From the archive, 11 August 1876: The Guardian reports from the very first Bayreuth Wagner festival, presided over by the composer himself.
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Hamburg’s new world-class public venue trumpets its host city to the world. London is already a beacon, and doesn’t need Simon Rattle’s dream hall in quite the same way
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Did deafness liberate him? Was his African ancestry suppressed? Did he write a musical communist manifesto? A new show in Paris celebrates – and debunks – the many myths surrounding Beethoven
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you may have missed
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He is renowned for writing politically controversial operas, so what will Adams make of the new US president? On his 70th-birthday tour, the composer talks beatniks, bombs and Trumping Nixon
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Opera North’s new approach to Wagner was praised for its dramatic power, musical integrity and accessibility. You can watch the first act of Die Walküre here
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Operatic tenor with a heaven-sent voice who was a favourite of international audiences for more than 40 years
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It’s 225 years since Mozart’s death, and there’s a giant CD collection to mark it featuring many of the biggest names in classical music. We asked some of them to reveal which of his works they love best
guides
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Tom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene
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Our series ends in Berlin, the classical music lover’s dream destination, with Berg, Busoni, Bowie and Bernstein.
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Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
most viewed
Royal Opera House Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg review – Kasper Holten's elaborate farewell