“The book of Liszts”

Milan’s Teatro alla Scalahas named Daniel Barenboim as its next music director. The post has been vacant since the departure of Ricardo Muti in 2005. Barenboim has been principal guest conductor a the theatre, and takes up the permanent post in early December, in time for the opening of the season, traditionally held annually on…

Did you know that the first compact discs were designed to record seventy-five minutes of music so that Beethoven’s the Ninth Symphony could be played through without interruption?! ” A phenomenon of dazzling and disconcerting force. (Beethoven) not only left his mark on all subsequent composers but also molded entire institutions. “ In this feature from The…

Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews’ vision of Puccini’s opera La bohème opened at the English National Opera this week. The director has raised controversy again (remember his 2012 imagining of The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Australia?) with his portrayal of Mimi and Rodolfo as heroin addicts. Read the review in The Guardian, in The Telegraph and The…