Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.
John Bunyan's allegory occupied Ralph Vaughan Williams for a lifetime, culminating in the 1951 stage work, premiered at Covent Garden. Roy Westbrook follows the composer's progress...
Swedish soprano Malin Byström returns to Sir David McVicar's production at Covent Garden, where she is now probably unsurpassed in the role, vocally and histrionically.
Stepping in for Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Harding conducts the Berlin Phil's “army of generals” in an unfussy Bruckner Four, while Tabea Zimmermann plays Schnittke's Viola Concerto.
Using Jonathan Dove and Graham Vick's distillations of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, the company concluded its miniature Ring cycle in under five hours, without sacrificing musical or dramatic tension.
