Patrick Maxwell is a writer and journalist, based as a historian at New College, Oxford. He regularly reviews books for The Big Issue in Scotland, writes editions of Russian literature for Warbler Press in New York and on news and culture for the online magazine The Article in London. A chorister at Westminster Abbey, he sings in the Choir of New College, and is the Conducting Scholar of Schola Cantorum. Patrick divides his time between Oxford and London.
Peter has been attending concerts and operas enthusiastically since his parents took him to see The Mikado in Liverpool when he was a boy of ten and to a “family concert” given by the RLPO a year or so later. Peter studied Modern Languages at Worcester College, Oxford and Law in Manchester. After spending twenty years as a pensions lawyer in Manchester, he retrained as a teacher of English as a foreign language, which took him to Germany and to Serbia. With the onset of the pandemic he returned to the UK and now works online and frequents concert halls and theatres in the North West of England.
Peter verschlug es nach seinem Bachelorstudium in Karlsruhe sowie Strasbourg nach Cambridge um dort seinen Master in Ingenieurswissenschaften zu absolvieren. Seine Liebe zur großen Symphonik entwickelte er als Klarinettist eines Philharmonischen Blasmusikorchesters. Besonders die Musik der Romantik und im Speziellen die orchestralen Spätwerke von Mahler und Brahms sowie Wagners Musikdramen faszinieren ihn. Falls man Peter nicht in Konzertsälen trifft, findet man ihn auf Rucksackreisen, auf Skiern in den Alpen oder seit neuestem beim High Tea in England.
Peter Quantrill is a regular contributor to Gramophone, The Strad and other journals. Recent programme notes have been published by the Salzburg and Edinburgh festivals, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Ballet. He also writes about music and musicians for many record labels including Eloquence, Delphian, Signum, Danacord and Brilliant Classics. Once unplugged from his hi-fi, he can generally be found in a London concert hall or at the cricket, and he tweets (sporadically) @PeterQuantrill.
Phil is a retired A-level English teacher who is now able to devote his life to things he really wants to do with his time. These include, but are not limited to: writing short fiction (his first collection, Girl with Fan, was published in late 2023), singing, creating programme notes for his choir’s concerts, volunteering, cooking, reading, and attending all home games at his beloved Manchester City. Alongside these is listening to classical music (live, on disc and on the radio), a lifetime’s love of which was sparked at the age of 11 when he discovered Haydn.
Phillip Nones studied piano from age six, also playing percussion in educational and civic groups before moving to a rural area of the USA in 1990, where performance opportunities were few. Recently he has started performing again, participating in “side-by-side” orchestra performances and playing percussion in the World Doctors' Orchestra. His personal collection of music includes over 5,000 classical albums in all formats (CDs, LPs, 78s), plus downloads. In his professional life, he heads up a marketing communications firm in the state of Maryland. He blogs about the French composer Florent Schmitt here.
Phillip fokussiert sich auf die Klassiker der Konzert- und Opernwerke aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum: Wagner, Beethoven, Strauss, Bruckner, Mozart und Schubert sind seine Obsession. Neben Live-Erfahrungen im Konzerthaus schätzt und sammelt er Musik-Einspielungen auch ganz klassisch auf CD.
Pia first fell head over heels for opera when she was a teenager by listening to recordings of some of the great voices of the past: Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Mirella Freni, Alfredo Kraus. She holds a degree in Italian Literature and she lives in Rome.
Amoureux des arts, Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut évolue parallèlement dans les univers de la littérature et de la musique. Ancien khâgneux du Lycée Henri IV, lauréat du Concours Général en Histoire, il a étudié le violon à l'Université des Arts de Berlin et au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. Féru d'orchestre et d'opéra, il a su trouver son équilibre sur Bachtrack où, parallèlement à ses études musicales, il anime la chronique « L'Abécédaire d'un jeune violoniste », consacrée à ses tribulations dans le microcosme très fermé des musiciens classiques.
Né dans une famille de musiciens, Pierre suit un cursus varié au sein du Conservatoire de Meudon, entre piano (DEM) et contrebasse, récital et orchestre, classique et jazz. Aujourd'hui ingénieur dans la gestion et l'analyse de données, il fréquente très assidûment les salles de concert de la région parisienne pour consolider et approfondir sa passion pour la musique classique. Pour ne pas manquer ses prochains articles, rendez-vous sur son compte Instagram ricerc_art.
Ramón del Buey Cañas (Madrid, 1993) es Personal Docente e Investigador en Formación del Departamento de Filosofía de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; miembro del equipo directivo de la Asociación de Música Electroacústica y Arte Sonoro de España y programador de Filmadrid Festival Internacional de Cine.
Nacido en Madrid aunque residente desde hace más de 50 años en Tenerife, Islas Canarias. Abogado en ejercicio, sus inquietudes culturales y musicales comienzan en su más temprana adolescencia, lo que le empujan a participar en varios grupos de teatro y corales. Su asistencia a conciertos, ópera y zarzuela se han mantenido hasta el día de hoy en ciudades como Santa cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas, Huelva, Madrid, Londres, Viena y Roma, a lo que une su faceta de coleccionista de óperas grabadas de las que cuenta con más de 1000 en todo tipo de repertorio y nacionalidades.
Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Rebecca Ehrhardt was raised by dancers and has a passion for ballet. She is a trained cultural critic with a PhD in English from the University of Southern California, where she wrote a dissertation on British literature and the philosophy of language. Rebecca also holds a BA from Columbia University and a JD from Vanderbilt University. She currently works as a judicial clerk and takes open ballet classes in her spare time.
Rebecca is a travel writer from Devon, now based in Newcastle upon Tyne. With a degree in Japanese Studies, a stint living in Kyoto and around a dozen other trips to the country, she considers Japan her home away from home. After five years in editorial at Rough Guides – also co-hosting a season of the Rough Guide to Everywhere podcast – she transitioned into freelancing. Her work is always underpinned by deep knowledge of and love for Japanese culture, delving into indigenous arts, queer theatre, classical music festivals, traditional crafts, or any other fascinating corner of Japan's rich cultural life.
Auditeur compulsif de concerts dont l’amour pour la musique classique s’est développé à Toulouse, Paris mais surtout à Moscou, par le chatoiement des pianistes et des orchestres se succédant dans la Grande Salle du Conservatoire, Rémi travaille depuis plusieurs années entre journalisme et production (Radio Classique, Pianiste Magazine, Philippe Maillard Productions, Festival Tons Voisins d’Albi…).
Richard Bratby is a critic and cultural historian writing for The Spectator, Gramophone and The Critic, as well as providing programme notes and concert marketing copy for orchestras, festivals and concert promoters in Europe, the USA and Australasia. Formerly a concerts manager for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, he is the author of Forward: 100 Years of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Classical Music: An Illustrated History. He is currently writing a history of the Academy of Ancient Music. A very rusty cellist and extremely occasional horn player, he lives in Lichfield, UK.
Robert Gainer has completed a BA in European Studies at the University of Warwick and an MSc in Criminology at the University of Leicester. He is currently completing further study in English and Cultural Studies, again at Warwick. He plays trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn and his musical background is in brass band and orchestra. In his spare time he enjoys writing fiction and poetry.
Robert T. Levine is a New York born-and-bred music writer with a particular interest in music for the voice. His work has appeared in many periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of many books, including The Story of the Orchestra, four volumes in the Black Dog & Leventhal Opera Library, and, most recently, Maria Callas: A Musical Biography.
Rohan has reviewed concerts and opera across the UK and Europe, but chiefly in Manchester, where he enjoys conducting and playing percussion and piano. He works as a hospital doctor, having studied in St Andrews and Manchester, and tweets as @RohanShotton.
Longtemps journaliste dans le Groupe La Montagne Centre-France et plus spécialement attaché au domaine culturel dans toute sa diversité. Avec une forte propension vers la musique classique. Avec la conviction héritée de Bourdieu que tous les arts ne font qu'un pour l'émancipation de l'individu, l'épanouissement de son sens critique et la liberté d'expression sans restriction aucune.
Romain Daroles est né entre Gascogne et Armagnac, terre qui lui a transmis le goût des lettres, de la musique et de la bonne chère. Parallèlement à des études littéraires qui se solderont avec l’obtention d’un Master en Littératures Françaises à la Sorbonne, il approfondit sa formation théâtrale au Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique du 6e arrondissement de Paris, ainsi que sa passion pour l’opéra. Titulaire en 2016 d'un Bachelor Théâtre décerné par la Manufacture de Lausanne, il est comédien/metteur en scène et a joué sous la direction de François Gremaud, Marie Fourquet, Alain Borek ou Mathias Brossard.
Romina De Carli (1971), historiadora y apasionada de la música en todas sus manifestaciones, si bien tiene una predisposición por la música del Barroco y la ópera. La asistencia a conciertos y operas así como la audición de la programación musical de Radio Clásica, Radio France Musique y del tercer canal de la BBC, le han permitido refinar su oído y profundizar en sus conocimientos musicales.
Born and raised in Oregon, Rosie is based in the Pacific Northwest. She has music degrees from the University and Puget Sound and Lynn Conservatory, and during the course of her study she discovered an interest in opera and its potential as a multimedia art form. Rosie began writing about opera while in graduate school, and she hopes to make it accessible to a broader audience. Her writing can also be found on palmbeachartspaper.com
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.
Ruth, from Brisbane, Australia, has been writing about dance since 2000. Music and dance are her most abiding passions. She learned classical ballet in her youth, and later attended adult classes for many years. She also became a committed Latin and Argentinian tango dancer. Currently, she sings alto in a chamber choir. After a long career in publishing and communications as a writer and editor, Ruth studied archaeology and now works in a completely different field as a technical officer in the Queensland Museum.
Sam Jacobson has been writing for Bachtrack since 2015 and is currently in Pittsburgh, having previously lived throughout the Midwest. A keen traveler, he endeavors to see all the great orchestras and opera houses across the US and abroad. Outside of music, he works as a software engineer. He also maintains a blog which can be read here.
Samantha Egeis a music historian, concert pianist, and research fellow at the University of Southampton. She is the author of the forthcoming South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago's Classical Music Scene. She
has recorded several albums, featuring music by Florence Price,
Margaret Bonds, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Her next album features
piano concertos by Doreen Carwithen and Julia Perry.
Sandra Bowdler was born and educated in Sydney, and has pursued a career as an archaeologist since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1970. She is now Emeritus Professor of Archaeology and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Music. Since attending a production of Handel’s opera Alcina at the Sydney Opera House in 1982, she has become a devotee of the works of GF Handel, and Baroque music generally. In 1996 she began writing opera reviews for online outlets, graduating to more professional sources by 2000. In 2007, she inaugurated Festival Baroque Australia in Perth, Western Australia, Australia’s first Baroque music festival. Under that banner, she curated two festivals and several concerts in Perth.
SangKwon Lee is a classical music critic based in Seoul. He is officially registered with the Korea Artists Welfare Foundation – an organisation under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism – as an artist specialising in music criticism, and has contributed performance reviews, columns, and interviews to various outlets, including the Seoul Arts Center, Music Review Monthly, and Classic J.
