Diplômé de l’École Centrale Paris et titulaire d’un Doctorat en Biophysique Moléculaire, Jean-Marc occupe différentes fonctions dans le secteur de l’environnement. Passionné de musique depuis l’enfance, il étudie le saxophone, le piano, puis se forme au chant lyrique (ténor). S’il s’intéresse à tous les styles et toutes les formes de musique, l’opéra est sa grande passion.
Jean-Pierre Rousseau a été successivement producteur responsable des émissions musicales à la Radio Suisse Romande (à ce titre co-fondateur de l'émission de critique de disques "Disques en Lice" en 1987), directeur de France Musique, directeur général de l'Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, directeur de la musique de Radio France puis directeur du Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier jusqu'en juillet 2022. Il a régulièrement participé aux émissions de critique de la RTBF, de France Musique, et collaboré à Forumopera. Il tient un blog qui lui permet d'exprimer sa passion pour les musiciens d'aujourd'hui et d'hier.
Jenifer Sarver was the first American to be hired as soloist with the ballet of the Teatr Wielki in Lodz, Poland, and has also been a soloist with Ireland’s Cork City Ballet, a member of the Slovene National Ballet (Maribor, Slovenia), the Opera na Zamku (Szczecin, Poland), the San Diego Ballet and the California Ballet. Ms. Sarver has also been a guest principal dancer and performed the complete classical repertoire. She has enjoyed two full-time assistant professorships, served as an artistic director for a regional ballet company and taught, choreographed and set repertoire all over the world.
Vor seinem Rechtswissenschafts-Studium in Bayreuth und Bonn widmete sich Jens Klier seit frühester Kindheit musikalisch der Violine (Repertoire vom 17. bis 20. Jahrhundert). Während er zudem mit Gesang und dem Leben im Orchesterbetrieb groß wurde, entwickelte sich ein besonderes Interesse an der sogenannten 'Historischen Aufführungspraxis' und authentischen Instrumenten. Diese Leidenschaft hält sich hartnäckig, sodass er sie mit Vorliebe für das Barocke anstatt mit Finger und Bogen nun in Form der Musikkritik zu Gehör bringt. U.a. Telemann-Fan, Liebhaber J. S. Bachs Genies und Entdecker neuerer, seltenerer 'Alter Musik'.
Jeremy Eccles was born in the UK, engaged with music at Dulwich College, Jurisprudence at Oxford and politics at the BBC. Then he made a sea-change to Radio Hong Kong - and culture entered his professional world. On to Australia in 1982, where culture took over, broadcasting on the ABC and writing in all national newspapers, mainly about the performing arts. He formed a local chapter of the International Association of Theatre Critics, contributed to The World of Theatre and edited two magazines. Later, Jeremy began reviewing opera for the Australian Financial Review and dance for the Sydney Review. Most of his writing (and the odd film) today is deep into Indigenous art and culture at aboriginalartdirectory.com, but he maintains a continuing engagement with opera - early, contemporary, on the Harbour and plain old Puccini.
Jessica is a music critic, author and librettist. She contributes to The Sunday Times, the i and BBC Music Magazine and her operatic work includes Silver Birch and Dalia with Roxanna Panufnik for Garsington Opera. She has written biographies of Korngold and Fauré and seven novels on music-related topics, most recently Immortal, about Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved. Her narrated concerts have been performed at Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and numerous festivals. Jessica read music at Cambridge and lives in London with her violinist husband and two cats.
Jo joined Bachtrack as Head of Marketing in November 2022, after a 17 year tenure as Senior Digital Marketing Manager at the London Symphony Orchestra. A devotee of orchestras since first coming across the BBC Proms on TV at the age of 7, she loves the buzz of seeing people at concerts enjoying the music and experience as much as she does. By night Jo is an amateur violinist and violist, and is happiest when playing the big symphonic works of the 20th century.
John trained as a mathematician before working all over the world in management consulting.
He’s now settled in downtown Toronto as an e-health strategy consultant. His operatric interests
are eclectic but lean to the very early and very modern. He is also passionate about art song.
His writings can be found in Opera Canada magazine and in his blog. He is owned by a small, grey cat called Jane.
Jonathan Gray was born in Wales and studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic and Wimbledon School of Art. He was a member of the curatorial department of The Theatre Museum, London, from 1989 until 2005, and was editor of Dancing Times from 2008 until its closure in 2022.
Jorge Baeza es Profesor Superior de Piano y ha trabajado enseñando a tocar este instrumento en las Escuelas de Música Ayensa y Santa Cecilia, ambas en Madrid. Ha perfeccionado su técnica pedagógica con diversos maestros y ha complementado su formación con estudios sobre las aplicaciones de la Técnica Alexander a la interpretación musical. De forma paralela es autor del blog Tritono Music News (www.tritonomusicnews.com) orientado a la explicación pedagógica de contenidos musicales. En Bachtrack colabora redactando reseñas de conciertos desde el 2016 y actualmente desempeña su labor como Bibliotecario en el Ayuntamiento de Madrid.
Licenciado en Derecho y Máster en Gestión Cultural en la especialidad de Música, Teatro y Danza por el ICCMU (Universidad
Complutense de Madrid). Con experiencia previa en el ámbito de la gestión urbanística y la Administración Pública, ahora está enfocando su carrera hacia la gestión cultural y la administración de organizaciones relacionadas con las artes escénicas y la música, uniendo así su formación y su gran pasión: la música y la opera. Actualmente reside en Gran Canaria.
Residente en Bilbao, estudiante del Máster de Musicología Aplicada en la Universidad de La Rioja, Ingeniero Técnico Industrial, y actualmente centrando su carrera profesional en el desarrollo de software en una empresa de tecnologías de la información. Josu ha estado ligado a la música clásica desde joven, especialmente a la música coral. Cursó estudios en el Conservatorio Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga y ha pertenecido a diferentes agrupaciones corales, como corista y director. En la actualidad es miembro del Coro de Ópera de Bilbao y participa asiduamente en la Temporada de Ópera organizada por O.L.B.E.-A.B.A.O.
Juan José Freijo nació en Madrid en 1970. Desde siempre apasionado por el estudio de la música, sus intereses orbitan principalmente alrededor de la ópera y el género vocal. Inició su formación y carrera profesional en el campo de las ciencias, donde completó un doctorado en física aplicada. Más adelante, amplió su formación en diferentes áreas de humanidades, incluyendo estudios en historia del arte y en la actualidad un postgrado en filosofía teórica y práctica. Juan José Freijo sigue de cerca las temporadas de las principales capitales europeas y durante los últimos años ha estado a cargo de la sección de crítica musical de ocioxocio.com.
Après des études en lettres et musicologie ainsi qu’un master d’école de commerce, Julie Jozwiak s’est consacrée à la production de concerts classiques. Elle est harpiste, choriste et violoniste, mais se définit surtout comme mélomane passionnée, et affectionne aussi beaucoup la danse classique qu’elle a longtemps pratiquée. Son amour inconditionnel du spectacle vivant l’incite à se rendre quasi quotidiennement au concert, à l’opéra, au ballet, au théâtre… ou à tout autre type de performance scénique.
After a career in publishing, Kathy Elgin turned her enthusiasm for dance into a real job by joining the late, great John Percival, Dance Critic of The Times, in his re-launch of Dance and Dancers magazine in 1981. She was later delighted to join its rival, The Dancing Times, as Scottish correspondent until the magazine’s sad demise in 2022. She lives in Edinburgh.
Katia studied Music Teaching, Musicology and piano in Madrid, where she also worked as a cataloguer for different specialized libraries such as the Royal Palace Library and National Library of Spain. She worked for Audioclásica magazine as a proofreader and writing some articles and reviews, she also wrote program notes for concerts at Auditorio Nacional. Katia is our Spanish editor and when she is not working she volunteers at Handel House Museum and attend as many concerts as she can afford. As well as music, she loves walking and running.
Katie Lawrence has a background in ballet, jazz, and contemporary, and spent much of her adolescence in the dressing room of dance eisteddfods. She is still mildly triggered by the smell of hairspray. She is now a regular in Sydney's dance audience crowd and can often be found at Sydney Dance Company and Tanya Pearson adult classes.
With a background in Dance Studies, Literature and Linguistics (MA English Studies from Zurich University and PhD in dance philosophy from the University of Roehampton in London) and a formation as a modern dancer (Ballet Arts, NYC), Katja is a freelance dancer, choreographer, dance researcher and dramaturge currently living in Berlin.
Kevin is a violinist and violist, and regularly performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and as an orchestral player. His particular interests include 20th century French violin sonatas and baroque opera, and he is currently pursuing his PhD in London, UK.
Kevin Wells was bitten by the opera bug at 10, having heard a 1936 recording of Jussi Björling singing “Che gelida manina”. He has never been the same since. A student of voice, performance practice, the history of singing and opera, he holds advanced degrees in Italian and has lived and worked in Italy off and on since the 70s. La Scala became a second home as the Met had been during college daze. Now in his native Boston, he works as translator, tutor, and language coach, haunts Symphony Hall, and would haunt the Opera House had it not been demolished in 1958!
Kurt Gänzl is one of the most important chroniclers of the world's history of music and theatre. His numerous works on the subject include "The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre" (1994, 2001), "The British Musical Theatre" (1986), "The Musical: A Concise History" (1997), "Gänzl's Book of the Musical Theatre" (1988) and biographies of such artists as Lydia Thompson (2002), Willie Gill (2002) and Emily Soldene ("In Search of a Singer", 2007).
Kurt Gottschalk is a journalist and author based in New York City. His writings on contemporary and classical music, jazz and improvisation have been published in outlets throughout Europe and America and he has two volumes of short fiction to his name. He produced and hosted the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU and currently hosts Afternoon New Music on WKCR.
Mathematician, science nerd, translator of popular science books, obsessed opera fan since the teen years. Day job: business analyst in a software house developing systems for the financial industry. Amateur choral singer. Main musical interests: baroque music and Italian opera. Originally from Italy, currently based in Sweden. I make a mean eggplant parmesan.
Laurence was born and grew up in Los Angeles; his father was a writer and his mother a teacher. He trained as a cellist, a librarian and a critic. His company was a major supplier to the music and recordings collections of the Library of Congress, Bibliothèque Nationale, British Library, Stanford, Harvard and Yale. He introduced French Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Chandos and Naxos to the North American market. Laurence believes that writing about music unleashes the potential of the classical music industry. He writes for the Huffington Post, Gramophone, Bachtrack, Strings, Audiophile Audition, and the Southern California Early Music Society.
Danseuse amatrice depuis 20 ans, Laurine est une habituée des scènes parisiennes, classiques et contemporaines, et a été chorégraphe d'une comédie musicale amateur.
Lawrence is commissioning editor at Bachtrack. He is a composer, improviser, pianist and writer. He has taught at Cambridge, Huddersfield and Sheffield universities. He has written music for, among others the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Slagwerk Den Haag, Philip Thomas, Juliet Fraser, Ilya Gringolts, Plus-Minus, Exaudi, Apartment House and Explore Ensemble.
Leah Broad is an award-winning music writer and historian. She is the author of Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World, a group biography of four women composers — Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Howell, and Doreen Carwithen. Currently a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, she was the winner of the 2015 Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism, and was selected as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker in 2016.
Leighton has extensive teaching experience from early years to postgraduate level music. Currently he works as a primary music specialist, visiting instrumental teacher and examiner. As a pianist, he was inspired to play after hearing Moura Lympany at a young age and has a large collection of her recordings. Leighton’s postgraduate studies focussed on his interest in 20th-century English orchestral music, with particular study of Britten, Rawsthorne, Walton and Vaughan Williams. A keen choral singer he has developed a comprehensive knowledge of chiefly British choral music.
Leonardo Mattana (1988) es Doctor en filosofía por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. También ha cursado estudios de piano, composición, teoría musical e historia de la música en el conservatorio de Sassari (Italia). Sus pasiones musicales son trasversales, privilegiando la música sinfónica y de cámara, pero sobre todo, buscando siempre en la experiencia estética de la música elementos de reflexión.
Linda Holt writes about classical music for broadstreetreview.com and newyorkclassicalreview.com, with a special interest in the life and works of Beethoven. She has a doctorate in arts-and-letters from Drew University (U.S.), studied music theory and history at Rider University, and teaches humanities courses. She is president of the Princeton Research Forum ( princetonresearchforum.org ) and member of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society and American Beethoven Society. As L.L. Holt, she is the author of two acclaimed novels based on Beethoven’s early years: Invictus (Harvard Square Editions, 2019) and The Black Spaniard (Unsolicited Press, 2016).
