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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...

Sep 1, 2018
Getting to know Szigeti
I had the very great pleasure of being on Radio 3’s Record Review this morning with Andrew McGregor (thankfully pre-recorded, as I hadn’t...

Jun 13, 2015
Barry Douglas on the pressures and benefits of competitions
As the Tchaikovsky Competition kicks off, we revisit a 2014 interview with the great Irish pianist Barry Douglas, who won the contest in...


May 31, 2015
Baffling results in Brussels
Jury places audience favourite in fifth place at Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Belgium Music competitions get a lot of bad press...


Apr 27, 2015
Interview with Shmuel Ashkenasi
The former Vermeer Quartet leader and Curtis Institute professor discusses the negative sides of Ilona Fehér's 'tough love' school of...


Mar 12, 2015
Violin competitions: participant’s view
Violinist Benjamin Baker has just been selected for the final rounds of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. Such contests are...


Dec 4, 2014
The future of music competitions
Competitions are a vital part of the classical music world, whether you like it or not. They offer many benefits to players and to the...


Oct 5, 2014
The return of Kyung Wha Chung
The legendary violinist Kyung Wha Chung makes her much-awaited London comeback this December, after more than a decade away. On a recent...


Jul 28, 2014
Are music competitions really so bad?
Julian Lloyd-Webber has come out in The Times against competitions, and accused them of being corrupt. That’s quite a broad brush with...
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