Latest news

‘Sappho’ CD release

The new double CD recording of Sappho by Peggy Glanville-Hicks will be available for sale from mid-November. It features soprano Deborah Polaski,  tenors Martin Homrich and Scott MacAllister, baritone Roman Trekel, bass-baritone Wolfgang  Koch bass & John Tomlinson., with the Orquestra Gulbenkian and Coro Gulbenkian conducted by Jennifer Condon. Read our 2 part interview with Jennifer Condon: Part 1 Part…
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Toscanini’s treasures for auction

The family of maestro Arturo Toscanini has placed hundreds of his valuable possessions on the market for auction by Sotheby’s in London on November 28th. The conductor died in New York in 1957. The items include Toscanini’s Steinway model D piano, some of his batons and documents hand written by Verdi, Wagner, Strauss and Mendelssohn. More at:…
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‘Synaesthesia: Music of Colour and Mind’ – a kaleidoscopic sensory encounter

  “I hear a note by one of the fellows in the band and it’s one colour. I hear the same note played by someone else and it’s a different colour. When I hear sustained musical tones I see them in textures.  If Harry Carney is playing, D is dark blue burlap. If Johnny Hodges…
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World premiere broadcast of ‘Sappho’

Peggy Glanville-Hicks. There’s news of a historic event Australian music from conductor Jennifer Condon who has revived Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ forgotten opera Sappho: She says: “Greetings from Hamburg! Prior to the Australian release of the world premiere recording, Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ Sappho is being broadcast on ABC Classic FM’s Sunday Opera programme. (November 4th at 7pm)  If you do…
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Latest reviews

Synaesthesia: reviewing a journey into the unknown

Descending the spiral staircases into the darkened subterranean caverns of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), was like entering the recesses of the subconscious. The museum was about to host the inaugural coming together of a collision of sensory experiences in the form of Synaesthesia: Music of Colour and Mind, a festival that…

Friar Alessandro, The Voice from Assisi: review

Friar Alessandro, The Voice From Assisi (Decca) is a collection of devotional songs recorded by Friar Alessandro, of the friary of St Francis in Assisi, in Italy’s Umbria district. Many of the songs relate to the Franciscan hagiography. Born Alessandro Brustenghi, in the village of Castiglione della Valle, the 34 year old friar studied composition…