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...
top of page
- 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...
- Jun 1, 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...
bottom of page