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Friday, 10 July 2026

There is no iceberg, no skeleton key; Finnegans Wake is not a cipher. It is only itself.

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A drawing of Joyce (with eyepatch) by Djuna Barnes from 1922,  the year in which Joyce began the 17-year task of writing Finnegans Wake ...

Full circle: Blackheath Halls Community Opera celebrates 20 years with a return 'Carmen', the opera that launched the company

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Twenty years ago, Blackheath Halls launched an ambitious annual community opera project with a production of Bizet's Carmen . This Septe...
Thursday, 9 July 2026

New research links Handel's organist in Dublin with the Scottish fiddler & composer Charles Macklean

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Dr Aaron McGregor  (Photo: Campbell Parker) Advertisements for Handel's performances in Dublin in 1741 and 1742 (when he premiered Messi...

Upping its game: 10th anniversary Windsor Festival International String Competition concludes with concerto finale with orchestra for the first time

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The 2026 Windsor Festival International String Competition (WFISC) is the 10th anniversary competition and for this WFISC is upping its game...
Tuesday, 7 July 2026

The Bridgewater Hall celebrates its 30th birthday drawing together various strands of Manchester's music making

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The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester is celebrating its 30th birthday! The opening concert was on 11 Septembe...

Jacob was wrestling in the arms of a stranger: London Concord Singers to premiere Robert Hugill's 'Aubade & Love Song'

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Back in the late 1990s one of the origins for ideas for new musical works was the moment during mass when I tuned the homily out and my mind...
Monday, 6 July 2026

Gutsy & vivid: Verdi's La traviata at St Paul's Opera imaginatively reinvents the work as parable of punk London

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Verdi: La traviata - Christian Joel, Isobel Hughes, Ted Day - St Paul's Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera) Verdi: La traviata ; Lizzie Ryde...
Saturday, 4 July 2026

The colour of love: a film of Augusta Holmès's Au bois dormant celebrates lovers in Soho

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Irish-French composer Augusta Holmès's Au bois dormant from Paysages d’Amour is an uplifting song, full of joys the love-drunk lovers,...

Carmen to the fore

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Bizet's perennially popular opera  Carmen , a work capable of multiple reinventions, is popping up in two UK regional productions. North...
Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Saxophones in the City: saxophonist Jess Gillam invites saxophonists & clarinettists to come & play for massed event as part of CBSO in the City festival

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CBSO at New Street Station as part of CBSO in the City , 2024 (Photo: Hannah Fathers) As part of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (...
Friday, 26 June 2026

Giulio Cesare at the Grange: superb music performances compensate for David Alden's scattershot approach to Handel's masterpiece

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Handel: Giulio Cesare - Zheng Jiang, Owen Willetts, Jess Dandy - The Grange Festival (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith) Handel: Giulio Cesare i...
Thursday, 25 June 2026

It's all about the music: Opera Holland Park chorus & City of London Sinfonia on terrific form under Naomi Woo in powerful, celebratory Turandot

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Puccini: Turandot - José de Eça - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Pablo Strong) Puccini:  Turandot ; Anne Sophie Duprels, José de Eça, Fflur Wyn,...
Wednesday, 24 June 2026

80th anniversary: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates with its new season & music director Vasily Petrenko looks forward

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Vasily Petrenko (Photo: Ben Wright) The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has announced nearly sixty concerts in twelve venues as part of its pla...
Tuesday, 23 June 2026

As Ryan Wigglesworth steps down as chief conductor of BBC SSO, his replacement is announced as Antony Hermus, principal guest conductor of Opera North

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Antony Hermus (Photo: Marco Borggreve) Next year, Ryan Wigglesworth completes a remarkable five seasons as chief conductor of the BBC Scotti...

Concertos for friends: Colin Currie in Tansy Davies, Tamsin Waley-Cohen in Freya Waley-Cohen with BBC National Orchestra of Wales & Kevin John Edusei at Aldeburgh Festival

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Tansy Davies: Earthworks - Colin Currie, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Kevin John Edusei (Photo: Britten Pears Arts) John Adams: Short R...
Monday, 22 June 2026

Allow yourself to be seduced: Tsinandali Festival features the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra at historic estate in Georgia

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Tsinandali Festival amphitheatre The current Foreign Office travel advice for Georgia is somewhat inconclusive, yet the country has long se...

ECHO Rising Stars announced for 2027-28 including Laura van der Heijden, Junyan Chen, Fibonacci Quartet, Aaron Azunda Akugbo

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The European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) has announced the artists selected for its 2027-28 ECHO Rising Stars season. As part of the E...

Powerful moments: Paul Wingfield directs Chelsea Opera Group in an impressive account of Mozart's Idomeneo with Andrew Henley & Eleanor Dennis

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Mozart: Idomeneo  - Chelsea Opera Group, Paul Wingfield - Cadogan Hall Mozart:  Idomeneo ; Andrew Henley, Eleanor Dennis, Lorena Paz Nieto, ...
Sunday, 21 June 2026

From Young Apollo to the Cello Symphony to the Poet's Echo to Phaedra: the range of Britten's composing career explored by Britten Sinfonia at Aldeburgh Festival alongside new works

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Genevieve Lacey, Gemma New, Britten Sinfonia, Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts) Steve (Stelios) Adam: et døgn (one day), Lisa...
Saturday, 20 June 2026

Light & shade: Laurence Cummings, Academy of Ancient Music & a terrific cast make Handel's Serse into a captivating & engaging evening in the theatre

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Handel: Serse - Paula Murrihy, Louise Alder - Academy of Ancient Music, the Barbican (Photo: Mark Allan) Handel: Serse; Paula Murrihy, Loui...
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