David Mitchell and Michel van der Aa on Sunken Garden

Novelist David Mitchell and composer Michel van der Aa have written an 'occult opera' – complete with surreal garden, 3D footage and electronica. They tell Charlotte Higgins why they like a challenge

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter – review

David Bruce's operatic version of Philip Pullman's novel attempts the impossible, but offers proof that the apparatus of the seminar room can provide a world of enchantment, says Alfred Hickling

The Rest Is Noise festival explores American literature 1900-1950

Sam Jordison: The Southbank Centre's festival of music turns its thoughts to the great American writers of the early 20th-century. Who would you include on an ideal programme?

Letters and secret files reveal the tormented life of Lina Prokofiev

New book on Soviet composer's family will show how his wife was abandoned, tortured by Stalin's police and sent to the gulag

Brighton festival 2013 takes off, with Michael Rosen at helm

Programme for May's three-week arts celebration – released today – will feature Emil and the Detectives, Judith Kerr and Michael Rosen's orchestral work for kids, The Great Enormo

Observer/Anthony Burgess prize-winning essay: An Unlikely Arena: New Music at the Last Night of the Proms by Shaun Lyon

A witty and perceptive review of the Proms performance of Mark Simpson's sparks took the £2,000 prize for best arts journalism essay

Fizz, crackle and a bit of well-displayed erudition win arts essay competition

The first Observer/Anthony Burgess prize has gone to a writer with much in common with the novelist, reports Robert McCrum

Benjamin Britten biographies by Paul Kildea and Neil Powell – review

Two fine biographies of Benjamin Britten in his centenary year offer complementary personal and musical insights, writes Fiona Maddocks

Play It Again by Alan Rusbridger – review

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger's diary of his year learning Chopin is deft and unique, writes pianist Iain Burnside

Glanville-Hicks: Sappho – review

A strong cast adds class to a Vaughn Williams-like score and self-conscious libretto that lacks dramatic potency, writes Andrew Clements

My hero: Ravi Shankar by Amit Chaudhuri

Ravi Shankar's death robs us of a musical master with a serene self-belief, writes Amit Chaudhuri

Ravi Shankar obituary

Indian virtuoso who took the sitar to the world

Andrew Dixon resigns as head of Creative Scotland

After an embattled six months deeply criticised by the Scottish arts community, Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Creative Scotland, is to step down in January

The Rest is Noise festival: what’s your favourite piece of 20th-century music?

In anticipation of the Southbank Centre's year-long The Rest is Noise festival, conductors, musicians and artists share their favourite classical works from a century of musical turbulence

Hans Werner Henze obituary

Composer devoted to the exploration of political ideas in the opera house and concert hall