The 2018 BBC Proms has been announced. Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford caught up with David Pickard, Director of the BBC Proms, and Francesca Kemp, Director of Proms on Television, to talk through some of the season's highlights.
The young Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński - a recent Gramophone 'One to Watch' - is something of an internet sensation, his performances on YouTube of the Vivaldi aria 'Vedro, con mio diletto' having been watched tens of thousands of times. March 30 sees a studio recording with Il Pomo d'Oro being released by Erato as a digital single. You can hear it in in this week's episode of Gramophone's The Listening Room .
James Jolly talks to the Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Prof Julian Lloyd Webber about his aspirations for the new building, what a conservatoire education means and how important classical music is for us all.
Soprano Ruby Hughes and conductor Laurence Cummings talk to Editor-in-Chief James Jolly about music written for the Italian soprano Giulia Frasi, Handel's last prima donna, which they've recorded for a new disc on Chandos.
The choir of Westminster Abbey's new recording for the Hyperion label features the music of 16th-century English composer Nicholas Ludford. Organist and Master of the Choristers James O'Donnell talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about Ludford, as well as about the role of the choir in the life of the Abbey today.
Leading virtuoso pianist Krill Gerstein talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about Gershwin, someone whose ability to weave together many soundworlds makes him, Gerstein argues, truly a composer for today's world. His album, featuring Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F and from which the musical excerpts are taken, is released on Myrios Classics on February 16.
Lisa Batiashvili talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about her new recording on the Deutsche Grammophon label devoted to the music of Prokofiev, including both violin concertos and some shorter works from throughout the composer's life.
The director of the Marian Consort tells Editor Martin Cullingford about Music for the Queen of Heaven, the ensemble's disc of modern Marian motets, released by Delphian.
The latest release from Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra features Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and Water, a new work by composer and member of Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood. Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford spoke to the conductor and violinist about the album, which is released by ABC Classics on vinyl in Australia, and digitally worldwide.
Gramophone's James Jolly visited Bruges to talk to some of the movers and shakers of the city's music scene and experience a handful of concerts in some striking settings. As well as meeting Tomas Bisschop, Director of the MA Festival and the Early Music Programme Coordinator at Bruges's Concertgebouw, Albert Edelman, James talked to the keyboard-player and conductor Jos van Immerseel and the city's Carillonneur, Frank Deleu.
The German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, has just released a new French aria collection, 'L'Opéra' on Sony Classical. He was in London earlier this year to sing his first Otello, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Gramophone's James Jolly went to talk to him about the recording.
Chandos, in association with RTS and Palazetto Bru Zane, has launched a new series exploring the keyboard music of Antoine Reicha, born the same year as Beethoven and a close friend of the German composer. It's played by Ivan Ilić. He was in London recently and Gramophone's Editor in Chief, James Jolly, went to talk to him about the project.
British composer Brian Elias has just had his Cello Concerto premiered at the Proms, is enjoying positive reviews of his retrospective album 'Electra Mourns' on NMC, and is looking forward to a revival of The Judas Tree – Kenneth MacMillan's last ballet, for which Elias composed a specially commissioned score – at the Royal Opera House this October. Gramophone's Deputy Editor Sarah Kirkup meets with him to reflect on a lifetime of composing, and to find out what it was like to collaborate with o...
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is one of the most admired sopranos - indeed classical artists - of our age. Gramophone celebrates her enormous contribution to music over an extraordinary career by giving her our 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Presto Classical. To mark the occasion, Editor-in-Chief James Jolly met with her to reflect on repertoire, recording and performance.
As Benjamin Appl draws to the end of his year as Gramophone's Young Artist of the Year - and of touring his Sony Classical debut disc Heimat - he talks to Editor-in-Chief James Jolly about programming and plans
For their latest album on Delphian, called 'Set upon the rood', the Choir of Gonville and Caius, Cambridge invited contemporary composers to write works for ancient instruments. The college's music director Geoffrey Webber tells Editor Martin Cullingford about the project.
Sean Shibe, a real rising star of the guitar world, has just released his first disc, called 'Dreams and Fancies' on the Delphian label - and we've named it an Editor's Choice recording in the September 2017 issue of Gramophone. In this Gramophone podcast he talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about English music for guitar, about Julian Bream, and about the unique appeal of the instrument and its repertoire.
On his new album Late Night Lute, Matthew Wadsworth pairs pieces from the instrument's history - including by John Dowland and Alessandro Piccinini among other composers - with a premiere recording of a new suite for theorbo by Stephen Goss. In the latest Gramophone podcast, he talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about the programme, and about the unique sound-world of the theorbo.
The tenor Bryan Register is singing the role of Siegmund in the current Grange Park Opera production of Wagner's Die Walküre (a 'sensation' according to the Financial Times ). He talked to Gramophone 's James Jolly about the role and some of his favourite recorded interpreters of the part.
Leading Ondes Martenot player Cynthia Millar talks about her extraordinary electronic instrument and its repertoire, from Messiaen to Adés
Dejan Lazic's new disc for Onyx explores the genius of Liszt: he discuses the composer and virtuoso with Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford
Conductor Ian Page discusses the composer and his contemporaries with Gramophone's James Jolly
The acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Flórez talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford, ahead of a recital at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 2
Proms Director David Pickard discusses the key themes behind this year's season with Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford
Tenebrae conductor Nigel Short tells Gramophone why the music written for Holy Week has such extraordinary power
The conductor talks Takemitsu, Strauss and music in Japan
Mark Bebbington reflects on the composer's works for piano - including a remarkable premiere recording - featured on his new Somm release
Tasmin Little and Roxanna Panufnik talk about Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a new piece exploring seasons throughout the world
James Jolly talks to the pianist about song, and about curating a new season of Temple Music concerts
Highlights of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2016 at London's St John's Smith Square on September 15, with performances by Benjamin Appl, Daniil Trifonov and Record of the Year winner Igor Levit. Filmed by medici.tv
