Sound and vision
Is Alex Ross the most exciting thing to have happened to classical music this century? Alan Rusbridger meets a revolutionary critic, blogger and author
50 arts secrets revealed
Do directors find sex scenes embarrassing? Is the urinal in my local pub art? How does a triangle player make a living? What’s the difference between pornographic and erotic photos? Our experts from the worlds of music, literature, film and art answer those intriguing questions you’ve always wanted to ask. Interviews by Ally Carnwath, Tom Templeton and Katie Toms
The background buzz
Stephen Pritchard reviews The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
McEwan finishes farcical libretto
Francesca Martin: The writer Ian McEwan has finished work on the libretto to For You, a new opera about an ageing conductor-composer, with music by Michael Berkeley
The storyteller
From Scottish folk tales to Icelandic sagas, Judith Weir takes literary inspiration from around the world. A festival of the composer's work celebrates her range and inventiveness
You’ll happily be taken along for the ride
New Yorker critic Alex Ross points out what you wouldn't hear otherwise, which is why his new book is so readable even if you don't agree with him, says Christopher Bonanos.
A man with many strings
A life in music: From the Ed Sullivan show at 13 to Carnegie Hall to star turns on Sesame Street, the violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman has brought classical music to a mass audience. Interview by Nicholas Wroe.
Play it again …
A life in music: Once confined to art galleries, Philip Glass's minimalism now attracts huge, mainstream audiences. Now 70, he celebrates a bright future for serious music.
The call of the wild
Baritone Simon Keenlyside is home after years working abroad. He enjoys flamenco and the blues as much as opera, but his greatest inspiration comes from the natural world.
Flying the flag
Although very different in size and scope, the Aldeburgh festival (now in its 60th year) and the Proms continue to make a vital contribution to the cultural health of the nation, argues departing Proms director Nicholas Kenyon.
‘Have I the strength to kill her?’
The Gibbons twins spoke their own language, hated each other, took up arson and wound up in Broadmoor. Perfect stuff for opera, says librettist April de Angelis.
It’s Grimm down south
Classical: Four fairy tales are given a fresh spin, while Trevor Nunn brings the house down - literally, says Anthony Holden.
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel first performed at Hay 20 years ago in the tiny Salem Chapel. His return to celebrate the festival’s 20th anniversary only underlined just how things have moved on for both the singer and the event. Terfel is fond … Continue reading
Desperately seeking Wagner
Was Wagner a demon? A hero? Both? Neither? The world at last has a definitive history of the German composer's work on stage. Its author tells Stephen Moss why it took 40 years to write.
The Italian job
A life in music: Mark Elder led ENO's powerhouse era and turned the Hallé into one of Britain's most exciting orchestras. Now he is reviving a neglected Verdi masterpiece. Interview by Tom Service.