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The Best Bits
12th December 2025
Hello friends,
Welcome to this week's newsletter, where the "C" word is creeping up on us! If you're stuck for Christmas present inspiration for your musical loved ones, we've come up with a few suggestions.
And what is Christmas without The Nutcracker? We've a wealth of articles about Tchaikovsky's festive ballet, from which we've hand-picked a couple of our favourites to share with you.
Mark and Jo
The Bachtrack Insiders
Personal picks from our site
Mark Pullinger Editor
Peter Warlock
If Peter Warlock's name sounds a bit wizardy, it was a pseudonym used by composer and critic Philip Heseltine (d 17th December 1930). Warlock was interested in folk song and Elizabethan music (think of his jolly Capriol Suite), but my favourite piece by him – fitting for this time of year – is his carol Bethlehem Down, here sung by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Elisabeth Schwarz Editor
Is away this week...
Jo Johnson Head of Marketing
World Violin Day (13th December) 🎻
The king of the strings is deserving of a whole day of celebration if you ask me (yes, I do play the violin, can you tell?), and luckily, we have plenty of content to enjoy on Bachtrack. Head to our Violin homepage for interviews with some of the best players out there, articles about the instrument, its history and its repertoire, and of course, listings featuring it as a solo instrument.
What's hot?
All I want for Christmas...
If you're searching for inspiration for gifts for the music, opera and dance lovers in your life, or perhaps have been asked what you would like to receive, here are some ideas, large and small. From classy ornaments to practical items, books, games, vouchers and cheeky little stocking fillers, these are the items members of the Bachtrack team are hoping to find under their trees this year.
Three of the best...
...ways to explore The Nutcracker
The trials and tribulations of a veteran Nutcracker junkie 🩰
Dance editor Deborah Weiss danced hundreds of Nutcrackers when she was with London Festival Ballet and here she gives you a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how things can go gloriously wrong!
Sugar-coating the sinister 🍭
Jenifer Sarver looks at the disturbing short stories by ETA Hoffmann, which, ironically, inspired two of the lightest confections of the ballet repertoire: The Nutcracker and Coppélia.
Find a Nutcracker near you! 🔎
Search our dance listings to try and catch a Nutcracker this Christmas. You can filter by date and/or city and/or company!
Out and about
Our tips on what to see live in the UK this week
SPONSORED
Golden Age Hollywood and Beyond
Barbican Hall, London
17th & 18th December
From Ben Hur and Gone with the Wind to The Godfather and Cinema Paradiso, relive the golden age of Hollywood and beyond with music by some of cinema’s most brilliant and influential composers. Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the London Symphony Orchestra.
Turandot
Royal Opera House, London
Opens 15th December
Puccini's captivating opera of love and revenge is brought to life in a dazzling production. Anna Netrebko returns to The Royal Opera, sharing the title role with Maida Hundeling and Anna Pirozzi.
Piano recital: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
Wigmore Hall, London
15th December
The winner of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition and recipient of the coveted Fanny Waterman Gold Medal gives his first full recital at Wigmore Hall.
The Nutcracker
Grand Theatre, Leeds
Opens 18th December
Christmas isn’t complete until you’ve experienced the magic of Northern Ballet’s Nutcracker, directed by David Nixon.
SPONSORED
New on Bachtrack
Interview Bryce Dessner in Prague: new landscapes in a living tradition
Read now
Live to your living room
The best streamed content to watch this week
Giselle
Finnish National Ballet
Giselle with a twist: Mexican-Finnish choreographer Javier Torres López transposes the legendary romantic ballet to 1950s Italy.
On demand from 17th December
Frankfurt
Brothers Arthur and Lucas Jussen play Bartók with the Frankfurt RSO
Live 12th December
New York
Nut/Cracked, The Bang Group’s version of Tchaikovksy's festive ballet, returns to 92NY
Live 13th December
Miami Beach
Manfred Honeck conducts the New World Symphony in Haydn and Mahler
Live 14th December
In the news
This week's stories
Riddle Me This...
Whom have we hidden in the anagram below?
Critics' Corner
What our reviewers watched
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Photography credits:
Antonio Pappano © Mark Allan;
Giselle © Roosa Oksaharju | Finnish National Ballet, Arthur and Lucas Jussen © Marco Borggreve, Nut/Cracked © Richard Termine, Manfred Honeck © Todd Rosenberg;
Nutcracker © Kurt Weigel | Unsplash;
Nathalie Stutzmann with Princess Caroline of Monaco, Lionel Beffre and Françoise Gamerdinger © Philippe Fitte | Direction des Affaires Culturelles, Olivia Pérez-Collellmir, Marin Alsop, Anna Gual © Palau de la Música Catalana;
Sara Jakubiak and Oleg Budaratskiy (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) © Brescia e Amisano | Teatro alla Scala, Alice Lelouple (Romeo and Juliet) © Agathe Poupeney, Emily D’Angelo (Ariodante) © RBO 2025 | Marc Brenner
