A new book by Richard Beaudoin published in 2024 by Oxford University Press, Oxford Studies in Music Theory division, came to our attention recently. Sounds As They Are is a beautiful-looking hardback of 240 dense pages with musical examples, an

The second part of Richard Wagner’s great opera tetralogy, Die Walküre, had its debut at the Green National Opera (GNO) in March 2024. It was a joint production with the Royal Danish Theatre and was the first Ring Cycle production

While the 1881 revised version of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra has become part of the standard operatic repertory, the original 1857 version has languished in relative obscurity. Following its less-than successful première at the Teatro La Fenice, Verdi was eventually convinced

The Verbier Festival, founded by Swedish expatriate Martin Engstroem in 1994, takes place annually for two weeks in late July and early August in the mountain resort of Verbier, Switzerland. It is one of the most distinguished and celebrated international

2024 marks Ping Pong’s 10th anniversary and, in celebration, Hong Kong’s famous gintoneria has put together a programme of events throughout the year. Says director, Juan Gregorio Martinez, ‘As Ping Pong has had the honour of hosting performances by Francesco

She Played and Sang by Australian author and musician Gillian Dooley is an exploration of the music most closely associated with English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817) and her musical connections with family and friends, which reveal the intricate ties between

Following on from her splendid ‘The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces’, celebrated pianist and writer Susan Tomes now turns her attention to that oft-neglected corner of classical music history – women pianists. Focusing on 50 women pianists – some

Published in December 2023 to coincide with the centenary of opera singer and diva Maria Callas’ birth, ‘The Callas Imprint’ is a weighty, impressive biography, the result of 12 years of research by British novelist and music critic Sophia Lambton.