2012 Art Music Awards nominees

Ravi Shankar, the man who introduced Indian classical music and its instruments to the western world, died earlier this week in the US. He formed never before contemplated collaborations with musicians from The Beatles to Yehudi Menuhin, Andre Previn to Philip Glass, John Coltrane and Jean-Pierre Rampal. The three times Grammy award winner is the…

The pigeons of Trafalgar Square rightly had their feather ruffled when they had to make way for the musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra. The musicians, who were looking very cool gave their first open air concert in Trafalgar Square, with their conductor Valery Gergiev. Here’s the link to the gallery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/may/15/lso-trafalgar-square-concert#/?picture=390137981&index=2

This feature from npr asks whether good orchestras really need conductors. If you were at the Sydney Symphony’s opening night of  Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pique Dame’ on Saturday, the answer would be quite obvious. A scientist at the University of Maryland has tried to define the relationship between musicians and their conductor: Click here to read