Five of the best books about classical music
Great writers make words sing on the page. These five authors, including Rose Tremain and Ian McEwan, put music on the main stage
Tchaikovsky was not tragic but had a ‘Monty Python’ sense of humour, says biographer
A new book claims that the Russian composer is not the tormented genius he is portrayed as, but a fun-loving man with ‘a fabulous life’
Tracey Emin and Imelda Staunton get damehoods in king’s birthday honours
Others honoured from cultural world include the writer Monica Ali, choreographer Wayne McGregor and children’s laureate Joseph Coelho
Jerrold Northrop Moore obituary
American musicologist who settled in Worcestershire and wrote extensively on the life and music of Edward Elgar
On my radar: Claire Messud’s cultural highlights
The novelist on the continuing relevance of Ibsen, the joyful quilt art of Faith Ringgold and where to find British scotch eggs in New York
On my radar: Daniel Handler, AKA Lemony Snicket, on his cultural highlights
The US children’s author and novelist on a sublime musical trio, how spices reinvigorated his cooking, an addictive ‘mid-19th century’ BBC panel show and being floored by a new jazz track
On my radar: Alison Balsom’s cultural highlights
The classical trumpeter on a complex marital drama, an uncompromising violinist and a garden that feels like stepping back in time
On my radar: Frank Tallis’s cultural highlights
The author and psychologist on an intimate performance of MR James’s ghost stories, a brilliant debut novel and an impossibly good pianist
Becoming a Composer by Errollyn Wallen review – from Belize to the Proms
Wallen’s patchwork of notes, essays and diary entries tells the story of how she became one of the world’s most performed living composers
‘Like a gothy yoghurt starter’: how Neil Gaiman and an Australian string quartet fell in love
The English author says crossover project with FourPlay is ‘gloriously strange’ – and unexpectedly popular
‘They’ll see she was extraordinary’: Callas centenary inspires new generation to find the real Maria
Films, shows and a new museum seek to capture the charisma of the great soprano
On my radar: Carlo Rovelli’s cultural highlights
The physicist and philosopher of science on the lessons the Roman empire holds for us today, the mystery of black holes, and his favourite beat poet
In brief: Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop; Birdgirl; Mozart in Italy – reviews
The tale of a divorcee embraces its sentimentality; a young birdwatcher proves a gifted memoirist; and Mozart’s Italian job sparkles with detail
The Guardian view on female composers: a forgotten musical powerhouse
Editorial: For centuries the achievements of women have been ignored in classical composition. That can’t go on
‘Mozart didn’t have explosions’: Simon Mayo on how his book Itch became an opera
With an aria to the periodic table and a hero dying of radiation sickness, the broadcaster’s YA novel has been transformed into an exposive operatic thriller