The ultimate gig economy: freelance life in the orchestra pit

The orchestra pit at Wexford Festival Opera

Seb Philpott

Verity Simmons

Orchestra Musicians, Edgar Degas (1872)

By Stephen Pritchard, 11 November 2024

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Jessica Duchen, 6th April

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Nahoko Gotoh, 13th March

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Kevin W Ng, 5th February

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...

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Elodie Olson-Coons, 2nd February

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.

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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?

Stephen Pritchard

Stephen Pritchard began singing as a treble at the age of eight and progressed to become a tenor in Portsmouth Cathedral Choir, the Gibbons Consort and now the English Chamber Choir. Writing about music has been at the core of his 40-year career in journalism, chiefly at the Observer. He has been known to play a pretty mean jazz double bass.