Culture coach: the week’s essential arts stories
Charlotte Higgins: It was the week that Maurice Sendak died and Bianca Jagger had a fight at the opera. Here are the past seven days' biggest arts stories from around the web
A History of Singing by John Potter and Neil Sorrell – review
The tenor Ian Bostridge on song – from lullabies to opera
The Turn of the Screw – review
Northern Ireland Opera's production of The Turn of the Screw is, on the whole, a clear and thoroughly effective staging. There's a real buzz to this company, writes Andrew Clements
The Rest is Noise: Southbank festival to celebrate contemporary classical music
London's Southbank Centre to host year-long festival inspired by Alex Ross's study of 20th-century classical music
Ian Spink obituary
Expert on 17th-century English music
This week’s arts diary
From stormclouds over Scottish literature to storming out of a concert
Bill Ryder-Jones: If… – review
Former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones delivers an exquisite solo debut inspired by an Italo Calvino novel, writes Paul Mardles
Verdi and/or Wagner: Two Men, Two Worlds, Two Centuries by Peter Conrad – review
Peter Conrad's essay on the dominant musical forces of 19th-century Italy and Germany draws original, often surprising, parallels, writes Paul Levy
Ian Kemp obituary
Masterly musicologist with a powerful and inspiring impact
TV highlights 07/10/2011
The Culture Show | Rostropovich – The Genius Of The Cello | Autumnwatch | Criminal Minds | A League Of Their Own | Chris Addison: My Funniest Year
Christopher Small obituary
Musicologist and writer with radical views on education
Herbert Whone obituary
Orchestral violinist and teacher who was also a notable painter
Edinburgh festival 2011: Soak it up!
Sign up for a dance marathon, catch the Chinese Romeo and Juliet – and don't miss Harry Potter getting cut down to size. Our critics pick the best of this year's Edinburgh festival
The Earl of Harewood obituary
Grandson of George V whose work with English National Opera helped transform British attitudes
Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets by Wendy Lesser – review
Ed Vulliamy welcomes an essential companion to a great Russian master
A Book of Liszts by John Spurling – review
What was it about Liszt that made women faint and fight each other asks Lucy Parham
This week’s arts diary
Charlotte Higgins: Simon Russell Beale goes on pointe, a plea to concert-goers and former culture secretary Lord Smith talks cuts
Top scores for the book that teaches composers how to communicate
Tom Service: In an age of digitised music notation, Elaine Gould's Behind Bars will be a revelation for those who are not 'masters of their art'
… Alex Ross
Paul Morley readies himself for a gladiatorial clash of the critics with New Yorker music writer Alex Ross
Adamo: Little Women – review
Mark Adamo's 1998 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women will prove too sentimental for some tastes, but you can't fault the performances, writes Tim Ashley
James Tyler obituary
A masterly lutenist, he led the revival of the early guitar
Natasha Spender obituary
Pianist, author and guardian of her husband's legacy
Malmesbury bids to become UK’s first ‘philosophy town’
Think carefully if you are considering heading to this corner of Wiltshire – the market town that gave us philosopher Thomas Hobbes is aiming to become Britain's capital of thought
Digested opera: Janáček’s The Makropulos Case
The enigmatic diva at the heart of this bizarre tale takes an age to reveal her true identity. Don't worry, though: John Crace is on the 100-year-old case
Geoffrey Burgon obituary
Composer of television and film scores for Brideshead Revisited and Monty Python, as well as many concert and stage works
My hero Oliver Knussen by Adam Foulds
Adam Foulds: My hero, Oliver Knussen
Icarus at the Edge of Time
Royal Festival Hall, LondonBrian Greene's narrative in Icarus at the Edge of Time is neat, with the scientific points well made, and the film images mix fantasy with some realism. Yet it never gels as a concert piece, writes Andrew Clements
Let the madness begin: Edinburgh 2010 festival and fringe preview
The world's mightiest arts festival is imminent. Our critics pick the must-see Edinburgh shows
Magic numbers: composers and their clandestine codes
Tom Service: Following in the footsteps of Plato and his Pythagorean undertones, composers have, over the centuries, used their own codes for the cognoscenti to decipher
Older and wiser: an opera for middle age
Der Rosenkavalier is best savoured when life has taught you about regret
George Frideric Handel’s Messiah
Chorus: The boy Jesus done good / And has well sorted us out / Blessings, power and winning lottery tickets / Be upon him / For ever and ever / For ever and ever / Like I said / For ever and ever
The other Where the Wild Things Are
Tom Service: The fuss over Spike Jonze's film forgets that there was an even more ambitious version of the children's book - an opera
Everything is Connected by Daniel Barenboim
The pianist and conductor explains how music can unite people across political boundaries, says Helen Zaltzman
HC Robbins Landon provided a passport to Mozart’s world
Tom Service: The scholar's in-depth investigations into Mozart revealed the composer to a mass audience - even though he actually preferred Haydn