top of page


Aug 28, 2024
Busman’s Holiday
Two weeks of music, sun, wine and good company in France? Yes, please! Summer festivals are one of the perks of being a classical...

Jul 4, 2024
‘I prefer to play music, not to make music’
ARCHIVE On what would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary cellist János Starker, I revisit the interviews he gave me – and some...


May 4, 2024
The normalisation of classical music
OPINION: Far from its reputation as exclusive, classical music is often itself excluded from mainstream culture. As more young people...

Apr 18, 2024
Musical Utopia in Cornwall
A week in the magical musical bubble of St Endellion’s Easter Festival offered a hopeful vision of grass-roots classical music in the UK...


Feb 21, 2024
‘The utmost intensity’
Timothy Ridout's new CD celebrates the musical influences of Lionel Tertis, prompting me to find out more about the man who transformed...

Jul 2, 2023
Who do you think your violin is?
Have you ever wondered about the origins of your stringed instrument? I visited the Bavarian town of Mittenwald to explore the roots of...

Jun 22, 2023
TwoSet at the Troxy
Two Australian orchestral violinists have found millions of fans for classical music with their hilarious and geeky videos. I went to the...


May 1, 2023
A very British tradition
Newark School of Violin Making has an alumni list that reads like a Who’s Who of the violin world. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary,...

Apr 12, 2023
So good they named it twice
On the next stop of my Interrail trip, I head to Baden-Baden to hear Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic play Strauss From Bach...

Apr 7, 2023
At home with Bach
Hearing Bach’s St John Passion in the composer’s own church was a concert of a lifetime I didn’t think Bach would stick a knife in my...

Apr 6, 2023
I ❤️ Beethoven
For the first stop of my Interrail trip, I make a beeline for Beethoven’s home city of Bonn and find him around every corner I love...


Mar 25, 2023
Human imperfection will save us
Artificial intelligence impersonations of human writing are very good – and that’s why this writer isn’t afraid of them There’s lots of...


Feb 5, 2023
Opening the conservatoire doors
There are many good reasons for music colleges to include adult learners, so why do they seem reluctant? ‘I love the idea of building...


Jan 26, 2023
Turn off, tune out
A plea to end the wispy-bulgy school of violin playing Is there a particular sound that makes you reach for the radio off button? For me,...

Jan 14, 2023
Cold Tár soap
Cate Blanchett takes up a baton for the story of Lydia Tár but misses the fire of a great conductor and underplays the struggles of...


Mar 3, 2022
Death of a salesman
The death of violin expert Norman Rosenberg marks the end of an era and raises questions for the violin world There are some people who...


Dec 31, 2020
Let’s go outside
With classical music forced out of the concert hall, one of the few positives of this year has been rediscovering it in the wild This...


Dec 4, 2020
Doughnuts are good for you
The Doughnut theory of economics sets out principles and practical steps towards a sustainable, just and happy world. What can classical...


Nov 27, 2020
Thank you, Sheila Nelson
Very sad news has come through that the great violin pedagogue Sheila Nelson died on 16 November, at the age of 84. By rights, Sheila...


Sep 24, 2020
Chaplin’s The Immigrant
Charlie Chaplin‘s 1917 film about the journey to Ellis Island is as funny and moving today as it must have been to the audiences who saw...
bottom of page