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Founder of celebrated young vocal ensemble Cantoría talks about being a musical organiser, singing musical ensaladas, and how Barcelona might be the capital of Early music on the Iberian peninsula. 

If music be the food of love... the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon has inspired composers for centuries. Enjoy our top ten playlist featuring works from Felix Mendelssohn to Thomas Adès. 

Five years ago, the Japanese violinist made the spontaneous decision to enter the prestigious Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. She talks about how her win in 2022 was a musically life-changing experience.

Ahead of an appearance at London’s Cadogan Hall, the Swedish mezzo-soprano talks about her love for French and German song, and combining intimate performances with opera singing on a much larger scale.

The Spanish violinist makes her Sinagpore debut in May performing Szymanowski. She talks about taking repertoire to new places, and being an advocate for unusual Spanish music. 

The Austrian conductor reflects on his seven year tenure with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, work and life, returning to old scores, and why a musical ensemble is like a giant human body.

The Hong Kong-born conductor talks about her entry into music, her love of big Russian repertoire, her “Cinderella moment” winning the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and her ambition to “go against the grind”. 

The Royal College of Music offers an enviable nurturing ground for the next generation of operatic talent. Audrey Hyland, head of the Vocal and Opera faculty, talks about what makes the department special. 

As the Franz Schubert Filharmonia celebrates its 20th anniversary, conductor Tomàs Grau tells the story of the ensemble, reflects on the importance of local music institutions, and gives a glimpse of the road ahead.

Renowned harpsichordist Jean Rondeau presents a new view of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at this year’s Bachfest Schaffhausen, including in arrangement for Baroque ensemble, and as a new composition for piano, percussion and electronics inspired by the cycle.

Among the most performed living composers by orchestras worldwide, Montgomery talks about her personal approach to musical storytelling, and writing a new cello concerto for Abel Selaocoe.

The young Polish harpsichordist with the Cohaere Ensemble talks about the Early music scene in Poland, her investigations into music of 18th-century Danzig, one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan cities.

Renowned Japanese conductor returns to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to perform unusual music from Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda – an influence on Robert Schumann, who described him as “unique in the world of symphonies”.

Medieval music specialists Irini Bilini Moraiti and Dimitris Kountouras talk about their distinctive approaches to Early music in Greece, and the survival of old music through oral traditions.

The Royal Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor explains her passion for opera, her journey into the pit and how good conductors share the attributes of football managers. 

How to defamiliarize Mozart’s well known piano concertos? This April pianist Cristian Sandrin joins the London Mozart Players for new chamber arrangements of three concertos, for solo piano and string quartet.

The Japanese mezzo soprano is returning to the New National Theatre, Tokyo for her role debut in Massenet’s Werther. We talk about her love for Rossini, and expansions into later Romantic opera.

The Serbian-French violinist talks about what makes the George Enescu International Competition special, his experiences winning in 2001, and performing Enescu, Beethoven and Prokofiev.

Principal clarinettist with the CBSO, Oli Janes talks about the elegies, raucous dances and virtuoso fireworks of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, which the orchestra performs in April.

We profile one of the most advanced and best-sounding concert halls in the UK, and take a look further afield at arts and culture across Manchester.

Chanda VanderHart talks to the American tenor about his Tristan debut at the Met, his love for Vienna and Otto Schenk, and the incredible scope of his repertoire.

Principal contrabassist of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra talks about why Mahler’s restless and volatile First Symphony is a highlight of any orchestra season.

We sit down with Ballet Black’s artistic director Cassa Pancho and dancers Isabela Coracy and Ebony Thomas, to discover the challenges and achievements of the company’s first 25 years.

Ten works revealing the paradox of Chopin: a composer outwardly delicate, inwardly steely; rooted in Polish dance rhythms, yet formed in Parisian sophistication. 

We talk to Baroque violinist and folk fiddler Ida Meidell about being at the intersection of folk music and Early music, and the richness of the wider scene across Scandinavia.

Setting texts by Nobel prize winning author Han Kang, this new work by British composer Laura Bowler for soprano and large orchestra is an emotionally charged exploration of mourning and longing.

We speak to young soprano Jasmin Binde about singing The Fairy Queen, the dauntingly crowded world of Early music in Germany, its challenges and opportunities.

As the idiosyncratic, laconic Hungarian composer approaches his 100th birthday, we talk to Pierre-Laurent Aimard about his decades-long relationship with György Kurtág, on his unique playfulness and gift-giving. 

With a contract at Berlin’s Komische Oper extended to 2030, conductor James Gaffigan is soon to take up the music directorship at Houston Grand Opera from 2027. We talk about how he does it all...

The trailblaizing playwright makes a return to the operatic stage to direct a new production of Strauss’ Salome with Regents Opera – held in an old boxing venue, an apt location given the opera’s bloody subject...

Vanessa Latarche, professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music and chair of Hastings’ jury, talks about what makes the competition special, working with Sir Stephen Hough, and being a stickler for fairness.

With significant works by Louise Farrenc, Augusta Holmès and Clémence de Grandval – including two grand operas – Palazzetto Bru Zane is pioneering rediscovery of French music of the 19th century. 

The newly established Pehlivanian International Conducting Competition’s unusually open format – with in-person auditions in 15 cities around the world – aims to search out the best conducting talent, no matter its origins.

How is the classical music world changing? Looking back on a dizzying year, we pay particular attention to performers’ international connectedness. Documenting more than 30,000 events, Bachtrack’s statistics provide valuable insight into an unstable world.

At the intersection of mathematics and music, the Festum Pi festival brings together theorists and performers to explore one of humanity’s oldest intellectual duets. We spoke with participant Professor Bertrand Maury, acclaimed mathematician and a concert pianist, about this enduring connection.

Young trombonist Meggie Murphy talks about the challenges of becoming a professional musician, the importance of mentorship, and the important role played by LSO Conservatoire Scholarship scheme.

With performances all over the city, amid some of Barcelona’s world renowned architecture, Ciutat de Clàssica offers a way to experience the city through music, away from the tourist throngs...

Elisabeth Schwarz sits down with the British conductor to talk about his history of mental illness, his coming out and his journey back to the joy of music.

The young Belgian conductor has had a long association with the Flanders Symphony – and this January he takes the chief’s baton from departing Kristiina Poska, who reaffirmed the orchestra’s crisp, classical sound.

Lute player and guitarist Élodie Brzustowski talks about the challenges of the two-metre long theorbo, rediscovering guitar music of the 1830s, and the multifaceted Early music scene in France.

Ahead of performances with Insula orchestra in February, the South Korean pianist talks about taking inspiration from Beethoven’s harmony, early pianos, and making musical choices that are maximally persuasive.

We sit down with two of the opera world’s leading figures, and masterminds of Brussels’ La Monnaie (De Munt) – how do they balance the competing challenges and thrills of running an opera house?

The Irish soprano talks about singing Mozart’s Così fan tutte with English National Opera, in London and Manchester – and how the wily Despina is the perfectly subversive character for her. 

Thomas Leininger’s Baroque-inspired children’s opera at Geneva’s La Cité Bleue is a unique stylistic departure, which asks the essential question: what happened to the dinosaurs left off Noah’s Ark?

From Buxtehude, Bach and Handel, to contemporary composer Liza Lim, we take a tour of the myriad forms of composers’ handwriting and calligraphy – and how music makes itself on the page.

A century after its founding in 1926, former members of Ballet Rambert recall the joys and challenges of working directly with Dame Marie Rambert, one of the trailblazers of British ballet.

Bryce Dessner enters the Czech Philharmonic’s living tradition with electric guitars, a new cello concerto and a composer’s ear for landscape, history, collaboration and renewal.

Featuring the cream of Hungary’s classical music talent – including the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra – this new competition named after Sir Georg Solti is a prestigious addition to a crowded competitive calendar...

What do you buy for the culture lover in your life who seems to have everything? Here are some music and dance-related gifts that Bachtrack staff are giving or hoping to receive for Christmas this year.

Young composer and pianist Christopher Jessup talks about recent projects, including an orchestral work for the London Symphony Orchestra – and the importance of emotional authenticity in contemporary music.