The 86 concerts this summer will include anniversary celebrations of Shostakovich, Ravel and Boulez, a Traitors-themed Prom presented by Claudia Winkleman – and a record number of female conductors

Guardian Book Blog

23.04.2025

UK jazz star Emma-Jean Thackray: ‘I had the word weirdo thrust upon me. So I’m reclaiming it’ | Jazz | The Guardian

Autistic and with ADHD, the chart-topping musician always felt out of step – and then she had to face terrible grief. She explains how her new album helped her survive

Guardian Book Blog

23.04.2025

‘Touching the soul is all that matters!’ The outrageous genius of Barrie Kosky and his Wagner phantasmagoria | Opera | The Guardian

He put Carmen in a gorilla suit and had Das Rheingold’s Erda represented by an 82-year-old naked woman. What are the the director’s plans for his edge-of-the-seat Die Walküre?

Guardian Book Blog

22.04.2025

‘Be playful, try new things!’ The Southbank Centre’s Mark Ball on his new festival, Multitudes | Southbank Centre | The Guardian

The arts centre’s artistic director is on a mission to bring new audiences to the joys of classical music. He explains why mixing it with circus, grime, poetry, and film might be the way to do it

Guardian Book Blog

20.04.2025

The week in classical: Khovanshchina; Carmen review – the parallels with modern Russia are unmissable | Classical music | The Guardian

Mussorgsky’s apocalyptic unfinished opera is given a fierce new lease of life by the McBurney brothers, Esa-Pekka Salonen and an exceptional young mezzo

Guardian Book Blog

20.04.2025

Idris Ackamoor Ankhestra, Rhodessa Jones, Danny Glover: Artistic Being review – powerful live set from the Afrofuturist and friends | Jazz | The Guardian

This San Francisco session released for Record Store Day sets spoken word to Ackamoor’s uncompromising but joyous spiritual jazz

Guardian Book Blog

19.04.2025

Lang Lang review – captivating, astonishing and disorientating | Classical music | The Guardian

In a programme of Fauré, Schumann and Chopin, the pianist’s take felt at times wilfully eccentric as in his hands, this familiar music became quite alien.

Guardian Book Blog

18.04.2025

‘He will not leave the stage. Ever’: Marina Abramović and Igor Levit on their marathon 16-hour concert | Classical music | The Guardian

Why is the great performance artist making pianist Levit play a Satie piece 840 times? And does he really have a screen to go behind should nature call? We enter another level of time and consciousness

Guardian Book Blog

18.04.2025

Bruckner & Gesualdo: Motets album review – less might be more for Monteverdi’s Gesualdo | Classical music | The Guardian

The choir’s first release since the departure of its founding conductor filters the composers through a 19th-century lens but things can at points feel a little unwieldy

Guardian Book Blog

18.04.2025

Les Arts Florissants/Christie review – austere and exquisitely beautiful Charpentier for Holy Week | Classical music | The Guardian

Candlelight set the tone for the ensemble of superb focus, great refinement and real depth of feeling

Guardian Book Blog

18.04.2025

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer album review – Davidsen’s Senta is spine-tingling | Classical music | The Guardian

The Norwegian soprano dominates in this recording taken from concert performances in which Finley’s Dutchman feels somewhat underpowered

Guardian Book Blog

16.04.2025

BCMG/Yamada review – flutter tonguing, fragrant dissonances and frogs | Classical music | The Guardian

The centrepiece of this all-Asian programme from the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group was the world premiere of Dai Fujikura’s Shō Concerto

Guardian Book Blog

16.04.2025

Letters: Tony Kinsey obituary | Jazz | The Guardian

Nigel Tully on the Dankworth legacy; Paul Foxall on recording That’s Life!

Guardian Book Blog

15.04.2025

Brighton Philharmonic/MacGregor review – compelling Messiaen played with panache | Classical music | The Guardian

The orchestra marked its centenary in style with a superbly articulated performance of the Turangalîla Symphony that captured the emotional immediacy

Guardian Book Blog

15.04.2025

Music can lift mood, foster community and even rewire brains – but does it need to have a purpose? | Classical music | The Guardian

The therapeutic role music can play is the focus of a string of new books and even an entire BBC radio station. But why can’t we just listen to music for music’s sake?

Guardian Book Blog

14.04.2025

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo review – Carwithen comes in from the cold | Classical music | The Guardian

The neglected British composer’s concerto, ignored for more than half a century, only hints at greatness – but triumphant recitals of Arnold and Williams make up for it

Guardian Book Blog

13.04.2025

The week in classical: Peter Grimes; Parsifal; Yunchan Lim – review | Classical music | The Guardian

Depleted yet straining every sinew, Welsh National Opera deliver a formidable new Peter Grimes. Elsewhere, down the aisle with Wagner and fearless Bach from the world’s next great pianist

Guardian Book Blog

13.04.2025

Trajal Harrell: The Köln Concert review – Keith Jarrett’s bestselling 70s jazz album made visible | Dance | The Guardian

Zürich Dance Ensemble’s extraordinary dancers, led by choreographer Harrell, all but embody the pianist’s free jazz musings, with a little help from Joni Mitchell

Guardian Book Blog

12.04.2025

Missa Solemnis review – glorious and memorable Beethoven | Classical music | The Guardian

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the National Chorus of Wales and the solo quartet made the complex and demanding great mass soar

Guardian Book Blog

11.04.2025

Carmen review – Akhmetshina and Elder make this an outstanding evening | Classical music | The Guardian

Damiano Michieletto’s staging gets its first revival with Aigul Akhmetshina returning to the title role with panache and conviction

Guardian Book Blog

11.04.2025

Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos 2 and 3 album review – high-class chamber music with a star team player | Classical music | The Guardian

Pianist<strong> </strong>Krystian Zimerman is a master of understatement in these renditions of lesser-known quartets

Guardian Book Blog

11.04.2025

Ravel: Complete Songs album review – Martineau’s survey is full of treats | Classical music | The Guardian

Pianist Malcolm Martineau adds Ravel to his surveys of French song, with a treasure trove of lesser-known works

Guardian Book Blog

11.04.2025

‘My players are Olympians’: meet Bradford legends the Black Dyke Brass Band | Classical music | The Guardian

They’re amateur musicians who have played the Proms and Glastonbury – and won Oscar and Grammy nominations. But community is always at the heart of their mission

Guardian Book Blog

09.04.2025

Yunchan Lim review – young pianist’s Bach dazzles and intrigues | Classical music | The Guardian

In the Korean musician’s first UK performance of the Goldberg Variations his playing felt simultaneously spontaneous and impeccably thought throug

Guardian Book Blog

08.04.2025

Everyday people: the parking wardens, estate agents and more who inspired classic songs | Pop and rock | The Guardian

After the death of Joe DePugh, the high school baseball player hymned in Springsteen’s Glory Days, we look at the ordinary inspirations for extraordinary hits

Guardian Book Blog

08.04.2025

Aurora Orchestra/Collon review – reduced Mahler still packs a punch | Classical music | The Guardian

A chamber reduction of Das Lied von der Erde formed the centrepiece of this spring-themed concert

Guardian Book Blog

07.04.2025

My Brain: After the Rupture review – a fierce mantra for us all to live by | Television & radio | The Guardian

High-flying broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill was robbed of basic abilities after a brain haemorrhage. This film about her recovery is brutal, raw – and full of gut-wrenching moments that have nothing to do with the injury

Guardian Book Blog

07.04.2025

Peter Grimes review – WNO’s production of Britten’s masterwork seethes like a wild and cruel sea | Opera | The Guardian

Melly Still’s new staging production brilliantly captures the tortured guilt, small-minded bitching and flash-points of volatility, with Nicky Spence a sympathetic Grimes

Guardian Book Blog

06.04.2025

Various: Chet Baker Re:imagined review – new reworkings by R&B, pop, soul and jazz artists | Jazz | The Guardian

There are hits and misses as 15 performers including Dodie, Mxmtoon and Ezra Collective’s Ife Ogunjobi give their personal take on Baker’s unique sound

Guardian Book Blog

06.04.2025

The week in classical: BBCSO Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez; RLPO/ Hindoyan: Mahler Symphony No 3; Joyce DiDonato and Maxim Emelyanychev – review | Classical music | The Guardian

An invigorating all-day tribute to the maverick French composer-conductor felt like the end of an era. Plus, heartfelt Mahler and a star mezzo’s Winterreise

Guardian Book Blog

05.04.2025

LPO/Jurowski review – conflict and loss power Russian-Ukrainian concert | Classical music | The Guardian

Timely take on pieces by Prokofiev, Mussorgsky and Lyatoshynsky masterfully encapsulated the continuing struggle between war and peace

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk album review – controversial opera’s drama is dulled | Classical music | The Guardian

The impact of Shostakovich’s savagely ironic and historically significant composition is neutered in a disappointing recording taken from live performance

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Kamasi Washington review – hip-hop and P-funk inform an outrageously joyful set | Kamasi Washington | The Guardian

In a dazzling performance, the jazz saxophonist draws out tracks from his latest album into giddy extemporisations, ceding the floor to a series of awesome soloists

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Chaka Khan on Prince, poetry and wild, wonderful nights: ‘No one’s done anything but craziness at 4am’ | Chaka Khan | The Guardian

The singer answers your questions about her drum skills, friendship with Joni Mitchell and more – and reveals unheard music with both Prince and Sia

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Bartók: Piano Works album review – Sonya Bach guides us from romantic roots to expressionist power | Music | The Guardian

In six carefully selected works, the Korean pianist tracks the evolution of Bartók’s keyboard music but doesn’t tell the whole story

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Joe Lovano: Homage review – jazz giant and freethinking trio harmoniously intertwine | Music | The Guardian

Backed by pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s group, the US sax elder plays freely around a song-rooted approach, resulting in sparkling, spontaneous exchanges

Guardian Book Blog

03.04.2025

Arts Council England defends support of classical music amid loss of trust | Arts Council England | The Guardian

Arts funding body responds to criticism as Wigmore Hall in London says it will operate independently from 2026

home›Guardian Book Blog›Music

Guardian Book Blog - Music

Nicola Benedetti: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto album review – warm and deliciously playful throughout | Classical music | The Guardian

Hallelujah Junction album review – two-piano journey through 20th-century Americana | Classical music | The Guardian

Circa/LPO/Gardner review – Exhilarating, exquisite and extraordinary as Ravel melds with acrobatics | Classical music | The Guardian

BBC announces 2025 Proms lineup – including first female-fronted Last Night | Classical music | The Guardian

UK jazz star Emma-Jean Thackray: ‘I had the word weirdo thrust upon me. So I’m reclaiming it’ | Jazz | The Guardian

‘Touching the soul is all that matters!’ The outrageous genius of Barrie Kosky and his Wagner phantasmagoria | Opera | The Guardian

‘Be playful, try new things!’ The Southbank Centre’s Mark Ball on his new festival, Multitudes | Southbank Centre | The Guardian

The week in classical: Khovanshchina; Carmen review – the parallels with modern Russia are unmissable | Classical music | The Guardian

Idris Ackamoor Ankhestra, Rhodessa Jones, Danny Glover: Artistic Being review – powerful live set from the Afrofuturist and friends | Jazz | The Guardian

Lang Lang review – captivating, astonishing and disorientating | Classical music | The Guardian

‘He will not leave the stage. Ever’: Marina Abramović and Igor Levit on their marathon 16-hour concert | Classical music | The Guardian

Bruckner & Gesualdo: Motets album review – less might be more for Monteverdi’s Gesualdo | Classical music | The Guardian

Les Arts Florissants/Christie review – austere and exquisitely beautiful Charpentier for Holy Week | Classical music | The Guardian

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer album review – Davidsen’s Senta is spine-tingling | Classical music | The Guardian

BCMG/Yamada review – flutter tonguing, fragrant dissonances and frogs | Classical music | The Guardian

Letters: Tony Kinsey obituary | Jazz | The Guardian

Brighton Philharmonic/MacGregor review – compelling Messiaen played with panache | Classical music | The Guardian

Music can lift mood, foster community and even rewire brains – but does it need to have a purpose? | Classical music | The Guardian

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo review – Carwithen comes in from the cold | Classical music | The Guardian

The week in classical: Peter Grimes; Parsifal; Yunchan Lim – review | Classical music | The Guardian

Trajal Harrell: The Köln Concert review – Keith Jarrett’s bestselling 70s jazz album made visible | Dance | The Guardian

Missa Solemnis review – glorious and memorable Beethoven | Classical music | The Guardian

Carmen review – Akhmetshina and Elder make this an outstanding evening | Classical music | The Guardian

Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos 2 and 3 album review – high-class chamber music with a star team player | Classical music | The Guardian

Ravel: Complete Songs album review – Martineau’s survey is full of treats | Classical music | The Guardian

‘My players are Olympians’: meet Bradford legends the Black Dyke Brass Band | Classical music | The Guardian

Yunchan Lim review – young pianist’s Bach dazzles and intrigues | Classical music | The Guardian

Everyday people: the parking wardens, estate agents and more who inspired classic songs | Pop and rock | The Guardian

Aurora Orchestra/Collon review – reduced Mahler still packs a punch | Classical music | The Guardian

My Brain: After the Rupture review – a fierce mantra for us all to live by | Television & radio | The Guardian

Peter Grimes review – WNO’s production of Britten’s masterwork seethes like a wild and cruel sea | Opera | The Guardian

Various: Chet Baker Re:imagined review – new reworkings by R&B, pop, soul and jazz artists | Jazz | The Guardian

The week in classical: BBCSO Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez; RLPO/ Hindoyan: Mahler Symphony No 3; Joyce DiDonato and Maxim Emelyanychev – review | Classical music | The Guardian

LPO/Jurowski review – conflict and loss power Russian-Ukrainian concert | Classical music | The Guardian

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk album review – controversial opera’s drama is dulled | Classical music | The Guardian

Kamasi Washington review – hip-hop and P-funk inform an outrageously joyful set | Kamasi Washington | The Guardian

Chaka Khan on Prince, poetry and wild, wonderful nights: ‘No one’s done anything but craziness at 4am’ | Chaka Khan | The Guardian

Bartók: Piano Works album review – Sonya Bach guides us from romantic roots to expressionist power | Music | The Guardian

Joe Lovano: Homage review – jazz giant and freethinking trio harmoniously intertwine | Music | The Guardian

Arts Council England defends support of classical music amid loss of trust | Arts Council England | The Guardian

home
›
Guardian Book Blog
›
Music