The Guardian

Castorf has become the villain of the Bayreuth Ring cycle

After the Bayreuth audience booed a deliberately incoherent Ring cycle, Martin Kettle wonders if the festival – and Wagner – deserves better

Sunday Times

In The Key Of Life

Proms themed in C, including works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Tippett, fascinate Paul Driver

Gramophone

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra launches urgent appeal for donations

The orchestra must raise £70,000 if it is to survive in difficult economic times

LA Times

Metropolitan Opera responds to petition blasting Vladimir Putin

The Metropolitan Opera has sent a statement in response to an online petition criticizing the New York company for its upcoming production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.”

Classic FM

14-year-old’s heavy metal Vivaldi tribute is a viral hit

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons has been given a heavy metal makeover by a French teenage girl, and become a YouTube sensation in the process

Opera Chic

Stephen Sondheim, The Art of the Musical

The Paris Review excerpts a comprehensive 1997 interview with Stephen Sondheim where the American composer/lyricist talks shop, legacy and everything in between with James Lipton.

Berliner Zeitung

So jung ist er nun auch wieder nicht

Beim Young Euro Classic-Festival treten auch gestandene Virtuosen wie Joshua Bell auf. Auch wenn der Violinist mit seinem Bubengesicht immer noch als Teenie-Schwarm und Nachwuchshoffnung wahrgenommen wird.

Opera Chic