Contemporary Focus

Brett Dean, Heather Betts and Lotte Betts-Dean sit down to discuss their work on Of One Blood, a new opera dramatising the lives of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots – affairs of the family all round.

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. 

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?

Returning to conduct Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia this November, John Adams reflects on the situation of music in the US – and why he has so often been labelled a ‘political’ composer.

Contemporary music theatre seems to be in a state of rude health, and we preview several new stage works soon to hit the boards this coming season at venues and opera houses around the world.

The enigmatic Japanese composer, recently awarded the 55th Suntory Music Award, talks about his uniquely intuitive compositional style.