Where does all the freshness go? So many professional orchestras (Birmingham being a notable exception) and freelance scratch pick-up outfits seem to have lost the gift of communicating joy in music-making. Read
New Birmingham arts project The Russians Are Coming needs members of the public to take part in an Easter Sunday afternoon ‘flash mob’ at Millennium Point.Read
Are there any other orchestras where the concertmaster, having performed as a concertante soloist, would return to lead his colleagues in the second half of the concert?Read
An opera company takes time to change direction. David Pountney has been artistic director of Welsh National Opera since 2011, but with newly-designed programmes and branding, and a breathtakingly ambitious programme of work ahead, the new course is now well and truly set.Read
In his essay on Schubert's final piano sonatas, Alfred Brendel said the B flat major had "graceful resolution", "playful vigour", "stubborn pugnacity" and an "ironic twinkle" - and that’s just the final movement! Read
Birmingham's A Boy was Born celebration of the Benjamin Britten centenary continued last week with the CBSO presenting two of his rarer works, one of them infrequently given, the other a genuine rarity.Read
I'm old enough to remember the outrage triggered more than 40 years ago by the inclusion of a concert by the modernist rock group Soft Machine at the BBC Proms. Read
To begin, a moan: the programme-book for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group's concert last Sunday wasn’t the easiest to navigate, and indeed missed out notes regarding some of the works performed.Read
