I’ve been lucky to interview some magnificent musicians over the last year for various media – mainly for BBC Music magazine, The Strad, BBC Proms print programmes and as part of my work at Maestro Arts . Here are a few of the great things they had to say… An AI interpretation of what my interviews look like. In reality most of them are on Zoom these days! Itzhak Perlman on today’s players ( The Strad and Elbow Music ) ‘When you think about the great violinists, from say 1930 until 1960 –...

REVIEW From Bach to Radiohead: virtuoso mandolinist Chris Thile’s Queen Elizabeth Hall concert offered joy and humour as well as tears and shared meaning I’m still thinking about Chris Thile’s concert last night at Queen Elizabeth Hall, and even having the occasional flashback. Who would think that a solo mandolin player could hold the audience of the London Jazz Festival pin-drop quiet with an entire Bach sonata (apart from the odd ripple of laughter – proving that classical music can be...

INTERVIEW I had the chance to fangirl/interview my childhood violin hero Itzhak Perlman, and to ask him about his inimitable sound I’ve interviewed Itzhak Perlman for the cover of November’s Strad magazine . I’ll say that again for 15-year-old me, trying not to shout: I interviewed Itzhak Perlman for the cover of this month’s Strad magazine! Yes, the awkward, odd teenager who was obsessed with Perlman and Thomas Hardy rather than Duran Duran and makeup, and practically wore out the family LPs...