It shouldn’t happen to a cellist
Mobile phones, coughs, sneezes, snores... these are just some of the things that annoy the classical performer. Is it any wonder that they sometimes lose their temper, asks Steven Isserlis
Elitist and obscure? So what
Poetry and opera have much in common, not least their ability to make us feel inadequate. But when the poet Lavinia Greenlaw wrote a libretto, she found that the difficult things in life can be the best
About a boy
As Benjamin Britten lay dying, he turned to his childhood works for inspiration. Paul Kildea looks at the darker side of nostalgic music
Cutting it at the opera
Britain's leading baritone, Thomas Allen, grew up in a coal-mining town and started out singing around the piano. He was taken up by WNO, broke through with his Barber of Seville, became renowned for his Don Giovanni and is now playing Sweeney Todd in a production he hopes will encourage new audiences
Less! Less!
Charlotte Higgins has had enough of undeserved encores
Emotional rescues
What happens if a performer is deeply moved by a work? Trouble, says Susan Tomes
Quiet, please
Why do opera audiences seem eager to express their foolish opinions?
Knives at the opera
Amputated arias, embarrassing pauses, vulgar anticlimaxes... a badly placed interval can be fatal, says conductor Christopher Hogwood
The singer not the song
James Fenton on the qualities of personality that add to a fine voice.
The lovable dictator
He was severe. They were unpredictable. But when Karl Böhm conducted the LSO, their performance left him in tears. By Stephen Everson
Settling old scores
Lend an ear to Salieri, urges James Fenton, and you may be led to explore fields beyond the musical
Unholier than thou
It is impossible, runs the prevailing orthodoxy, for artistic freedom to coexist with religious piety. And yet, argues composer James MacMillan, music's great modernists have been deep believers
Casting pearls before pedants
Susan Tomes on the delicate balancing act between praise and criticism
Mind your language
ENO has a commitment to sing in English, but has triumphed in French. Why sing in our native language at all?
The end of the affair
Simon Rattle's appointment to the Berlin Philharmonic was greeted with rapture. So what went wrong?