Classical music and opera news, reviews, comment and features | Music

Editor's picks

'Maybe I should dress as Britannia and wave a Jamaican flag'

On Saturday's Last Night of the Proms, Roderick Williams will perform to a global audience of millions on Saturday. He's going to have a ball, he tells Imogen Tilden

How the Proms' saviour fell victim to wartime prejudice

Martin Kettle: A century ago Sir Edgar Speyer, the great Proms benefactor, was forced out of England by a campaign of vindictive jingoism
Beethoven's Ninth ('Choral')

Symphony guide: Tom Service's series concludes with what is arguably the central artwork of Western music, the symphony to end all symphonies
- What's missing from our 50 essential symphonies list?
Otello: approach with caution

Described as a 'voice killer', it is one of the most demanding parts in opera. Tenor Stuart Skelton explains why he is now ready to take it on
Listen to Joyce DiDonato's latest album

Album stream: Listen in full to Joyce DiDonato's new album, in which the acclaimed mezzo displays her dizzying technical virtuosity in a mix of high-impact arias by some of Italy's greatest bel canto composers.

Latest news, features and blogs

Musicals 1hr 39min ago

What makes a musical leading lady?

Imelda Marcos, Anna Nicole Smith and Eva Perón are all the subjects of musicals or operas this autumn. Mark Lawson considers what makes a life to sing about
Proms 2014 1 day ago

Roderick Williams on the Last Night of the Proms: ‘Maybe I should dress as Britannia and wave a Jamaican flag’

Baritone Roderick Williams will perform to a global audience of millions on Saturday. He’s going to have a ball, he tells Imogen Tilden
Classical music 3 days ago

Soprano Magda Olivero dies, aged 104

La Scala honours singer, who first performed there in 1938, with a moment of silence
Classical music 4 days ago

Classical music: the hottest tickets for autumn 2014

Tom Service: The Anna Nicole Smith opera revived, an orchestra without a conductor and Placido Domingo’s return to the Royal Opera House
Opera 4 days ago

La Scala's catcalling loggionisti continue their restiveness

Roberto Alagna pulls out of Jules Massenet's Werther, blaming the opera house's vociferous upper gallery
Classical music 5 days ago

Grafenegg festival: the best of both worlds

At Austria’s Grafennegg festival brand new architecture and brand new composers rub shoulders with world-classs soloists and orchestras in the heart of old Europe. Imogen Tilden talks to this year’s composer in residence, Jörg Widmann
Proms 2014 5 days ago

Proms 58 & 59 – shattering, gut-wrenching Strauss

Sopranos Nina Stemme and Christine Goerke are outstanding as Salome and Elektra, writes Fiona Maddocks
Classical music 7 days ago

Verdi’s Otello: a role to approach with caution

Described as a ‘voice killer’, it is one of the most demanding parts in opera. Tenor Stuart Skelton explains why he is now ready to take it on

Tom Service's blog

Rule Britannia: Will it still be sung at the Proms in the event of a Yes Vote? Why is it sung at all?

12 Sep 2014, 2:00 EDT: Rule Britannia, its words by a Scot and its tune from an opera about England’s king Arthur, is far from a straightforward song of imperialist triumphalism, writes Tom Service
A tale of two resignations: conductors Franz Welser-Möst and Han-Na Chang
10 Sep 2014, 12:21 EDT
Now you can create your own Musicircus
3 Sep 2014, 11:29 EDT

Latest live reviews

Prom 72: BBCSO/Litton review – salute to Birtwistle with his millennial rarity

11 Sep 2014, 11:17 EDT: Andrew Clements: The bewildering but never dull Exody is sandwiched between Vaughan Williams and Walton in an all-British programme
Prom 70: Scottish Chamber Orchestra/ Gernon review – 80th birthday gifts for Peter Maxwell Davies
11 Sep 2014, 8:40 EDT
Thomas Allen/Malcolm Martineau review – witty and touching 70th birthday celebration
10 Sep 2014, 10:38 EDT
The Little Green Swallow review – British Youth Opera displays a wealth of talent
10 Sep 2014, 10:36 EDT
Prom 69: Cleveland Orchestra/Welser-Möst review – immaculate and perfectly engineered
10 Sep 2014, 10:11 EDT

Latest album reviews

Spohr: Die Letzten Dinge CD review – fine singing from the Salzburg Bach Choir

Revivals of Spohr’s Die Letzten Dinge and this version is strongly conducted by Ivor Bolton, writes Tim Ashley
Boris Tchaikovsky: Piano Quintet; The War Suite CD review – a remarkable work

These of exceptional performances of Boris Tchaikovsky’s big melancholy rondo, writes Tim Ashley
Jommelli: Tirsi (Soprano Cantatas) CD review – gleaming tone

The Cuban soprano delivers a considerably dexterous performance of Jommelli’s demanding operas, writes Tim Ashley
Brahms: Romanzen aus L Tieck’s Magelone CD review – emotionally detailed

Maltman delivers a more sexier, troubling baritone than previous more romantic interpretations, writes Tim Ashley
Strauss: Josephslegende CD review – beautifully performed rarity

Strauss’s first completed ballet score, criticised as ‘undanceable’, is played here with sensuous immediacy by the Weimar Staatskapelle, writes Tim Ashley
The Voice of Isobel Baillie review – the soprano's clarity shines out

This Isobel Baillie compilation offers a precious glimpse into a vanished world, writes Nicholas Kenyon
More classical album reviews

Latest multimedia

Kronos Quartet perform first world war multimedia project Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 for Edinburgh international festival

In this exclusive video for the Guardian the Kronos Quartet's leader David Harrington introduces their latest work which blends an emotive score by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov with archive footage from the first world war reclaimed by film-maker Bill Morrison.