Opinion
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Academics who dismiss musical literacy have confused recreation with study
A year after Charlotte C Gill questioned the pedagogical significance of western musical notation in the Guardian, the debate hasRead More -
Whatever happened to classical music as the product of artistic and intellectual endeavour?
Like me, you may have wondered where in the world the laboratory actually lies. You know the one I’m talkingRead More -
2018: a good year to consign the label ‘maestro’ to history?
With the Metropolitan Opera’s sacking of James Levine came the surest sign yet that sexual and mental abuse exists atRead More -
Spoiler alert: social media is cleansing live performance of any sense of surprise
I remember sitting in the London Coliseum one wet Friday night back in 2009, waiting for the curtain to riseRead More -
Wellbeing is as important in the office as on the stage
It is good to read that the ABO’s Healthy Orchestra Charter extends to management as well as musicians, but itRead More -
Could equality be the key to enlivening our ossified programming?
There I was, leafing through the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra’s season brochure, aghast at all the wondrous oddities contained therein: aRead More -
The slow marginalisation of music education will be a disaster for the diversity politicians demand
We learned some weeks ago that a state school in Yorkshire is to start charging students for the privilege ofRead More -
Illuminate: shining a light on the work of women composers and performers
The classical music industry is notoriously unbalanced in its representation of women musicians. There are many unfortunate figures and statisticsRead More -
The potential of music competitions is endless – for audiences even more than for artists
We’re all familiar with the post-music-competition cliché: ‘the real winner was music itself.’ Sometimes, the phrase is deployed as aRead More -
Reflections on a hand-to-mouth existence: Fiona Robertson, director of sound
Like our colleagues the Dunedin Consort and the Hebrides Ensemble, sound was not on the list of Creative Scotland’s regularlyRead More -
Now we’re all grappling with Weinstein, can we find some redemption in Wagner?
At the height of the Harvey Weinstein episode – by which I mean a few weeks after the first flushRead More -
Eyes east: the next wave of classical talent will come from the Baltic States
On 6 December, Finland will remember the day a century ago when it gained independence from Russia, thanks to itsRead More -
A musical epiphany: Bob Chilcott
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Diary of a Head of Music
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Why are pop musicians so reluctant to acknowledge the existence of classical music?
A thought-provoking article published by Music News Australia in September (bit.ly/2xzw4D9) asked ‘Why are classical musicians so reluctant to talkRead More -
State of the Nation
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On interpretation
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The three biggest problems facing London’s new concert hall: location, location, location
What do Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Manchester’s Lowry and Oslo’s Opera House all have in common? That’s right: all three are deemedRead More -
Cultural connections
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Aging gracefully
