Rachmaninov Anniversary

  Verdi was born in a small village in the Duchy of Parma where the baptismal register of  October 11th states that he was ‘born yesterday’. As days were sometimes counted as beginning at sunset, it is not clear whether he was born on the 9th or the 10th of October in 1813. Whichever way, it would be legitimate by now to celebrate…

Violinist Daniel Hope discusses the ideas behind the music on his new CD ‘Spheres’ in which he is joined by choir and solo instrumentalists conducted by Simon Halsey.   Click here for the CD review.

  Here’s another timeless favourite In dulci jubilo, sung by the of King’s College, Cambridge.

  This video will surely give you goosebumps – Mahler’s Symphony No 8 , which premiered in Munich on September 12th in 1910. The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek in collaboration with hundred of voices performs at the Royal Albert Hall on the opening night of The Proms in July 2010.

The legendary Itzhak Perlman began playing the violin as a child. After a glittering career of over 40 years, he talks to The Huffington Post about the importance of teaching  in his work as a performer and conductor. Infected with polio aged 4, he has given his support to the End Polio Now campaign aimed at the…

Remember As It Is in Heaven and Les Choristes? Two popular movies that told the tales of life as a choral singer. There is a new movie about choral singers to be released nationally on April 23rd. Boychoir is about a troubled eleven-year-old boy at a prestigious American East Coast music school who clashes with the school’s demanding choir master played by Dustin Hoffman….