As the autumn mist rolls across the ancient tors of Dartmoor and the wild, windswept cliffs of Exmoor, the Two Moors Festival becomes the musical heartbeat of this rugged corner of southwest England. For 25 years, the festival has transformed

In the autumn of 2001, a quiet initiative took root in the remote expanses of Devon and Somerset. The rural economy, battered by quarantines and travel bans, teetered on the edge of stagnation, and those vast, undulating blankets of heather

Stinsford church, near Dorchester in Dorset in the south-west of England, just a short distance from Thomas Hardy’s birthplace at Upper Bockhampton, and the place where his heart is buried, provided the perfect setting for A Beautiful Thread, a new

The second opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen, Die Walküre, is the most frequently performed of the cycle and contains some of the best-known music. Nevertheless, it demands directorial genius, musical finesse, as well as top-tier singers to bring

Nicholas Smith went to China over 30 years ago, his Cambridge music degree fresh in his hand, initially as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer with a two-year contract in China to teach English. Teaching English led to learning Chinese

Giorgi Gigashvili – 17th Arthur Rubinstein Competition Giorgi Gigashvili made his name by capturing the second prize at the Rubinstein Competition in 2023, where he also garnered his audience with his daring interpretations and commanding stage presence. I’ve been observing

The Barbican Centre witnessed contemplations on death and fate this evening (May 17, 2024). Under the baton of Anna Rakitina, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was set to perform the London premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s The Wrath of God and Rachmaninoff’s

Appointed artist-in-residence at the Wigmore Hall for the 2023/24 season, Ukrainian-born Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk stands out as one of the most promising pianists of his generation – I mean, you have to be pretty good to receive standing ovations