Join us next Wednesday for an exciting collaborative concert celebrating the centenary of legendary French composer, Pierre Boulez. Musicians from the RCM and Conservatoire de Paris are busy rehearsing for this special project in Paris! 🇫🇷 Learn more and book: www.rcm.ac.uk/events/detai...

Programme for #Satie 2025 conference now online: I'll be speaking in Turin on 6 December and attending the Honfleur half-day. Especially happy to be involved in a genuinely trilingual event (English/French/Italian): www.satie2025.unito.it/home-page/pr...

#Satie Verset laïque & somptueux (1900). Weird, gorgeous calligraphy - very Satie

Wordle 1,565 2/6 😲 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Rare opportunity to hear #Boulez explosante-fixe on Sunday 5 October with London Sinfonietta: londonsinfonietta.org.uk/whats-on/bou...

One week until my talk on #Satie at Berwick Literary Festival! 6 October, 7.30 pm in the Straw Yard, booking link here: www.maltingsberwick.co.uk/whats-on/blf...

Amateur pianist corner: finally nailing what for me is a tricky passage of #Poulenc Improvisation no 7 (bars 21-3):

Spotted in my older brother’s drinks cabinet yesterday: an almost-full bottle of absinthe with a 750 peseta price label

This is really well written & I’m learning a lot from it, especially about the origins of the French state 🇫🇷

Enjoying Manchester Collective at Southbank Centre including wonderful #Saariaho Terra memoria in a version for string orchestra

Weird coincidence, catching up this afternoon with @aoyarzabal.bsky.social - we have booked the same hotel in Paris for a short trip in October (not exactly the same time, which would have been even weirder...) Keep your eyes peeled for a future joint project 👀

My book on #Satie is coming out in paperback - available to pre-order in November with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social boydellandbrewer.com/book/erik-sa...

I love all sorts of food, but especially duck - the lunch menu at Duck & Rice in Battersea is an absolute steal

A real curiosity: La bien-aimée, ballet music by #Milhaud (essentially is orchestrations of Liszt and Schubert) for player piano and orchestra. (Traitorous thought: it would sound better with a human pianist) www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNh4...

Striking small Giacometti exhibit in the Tanks at Tate Modern

#Milhaud, from his song cycle Les soirées de Pétrograd 2½

Some lovely sounds @musicwedliketohear.bsky.social @guildhallschool.bsky.social and also stained glass

2 unforgettable concerts🎶 Carmelo Bernaola – Concierto Nostálgico With National Orchestra of Spain & Nuno Coelho 📸Juan Luis García #carmelobernaola

Terrific piece on 'Electric Boulez' by Paul Griffiths @disgwylfa.bsky.social referencing the magnificently-named Jean-René Pierre Goetgheluck Le Rouge Tillard des Acres de Presfontaines londonsinfonietta.org.uk/channel/news...

Enjoying new Michael Finnissy piano box set from @ianpace.bsky.social - there’s a lot of emotional & pianistic variety in the pieces @first-inversion.com

In a Peckham car park for Oliver Leith’s new work Garland

Exceptional concert in Tokyo tomorrow (18 September): Hiroaki Ooi plays all #Boulez piano music, including rarities, Sonatine for flute & piano and 2-piano works. Wish I could be there! www.tokyogigguide.com/en/gigs/even...

Celebrating Nadia #Boulanger, born 16 September 1887. A recording of her collaborative opera La ville morte is coming out soon with @pentatonemusic.bsky.social - looking forward to it www.catapultopera.org/la-ville-morte

Celebrating Nadia #Boulanger, born 16 September 1887. A recording of her collaborative opera La ville morte is coming out soon with @pentatonemusic.bsky.social - looking forward to it www.catapultopera.org/la-ville-morte

'Provide a list of the five most important points': AI assistant suggestion for a music score 😕

Pierre #Boulez at the ondes Martenot in 1947. From the indispensable catalogue of Boulez’s works published earlier this year

It's Daphnis et Chloé time at the Proms 🥰 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

My final Prom of the season - great programme from BBCSSO & @ilanvolkov.bsky.social

Hello, #RMA2025! Stop by our stand for 50% off and free shipping on our latest books including Peter Holman and Bryan White's "The Purcell Compendium". Quote code BB131. buff.ly/EbyVhNj

Wordle 1,545 2/6. How did that happen?? 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Just got the #Boulez catalogue, an essential source with fabulous illustrations

Don't you love having to use Manuscript Central? #AcWri

#Satie sketch for Messe des pauvres (1893-5)

Really enjoyed the Tate Britain exhibition of the sensual painting of Ithell Colquhoun - one for fellow surrealism lovers

BREAKING NEWS Anthropic agree to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims that it downloaded pirated books to train its AI systems. This is the largest U.S. copyright settlement in history. The settlement is still subject to the judge's approval. 🧵 authorsguild.org/news/what-au...

Lovely to revisit Bookart bookshop near Old St tube 🚇 post-renovation - like my new bag and bought something intriguing from the @twistedspoon.bsky.social list

#Messiaen tribute at the Meije glacier, spotted by my brother who’s on holiday in the region 🇫🇷

"Without festivals like Gaudeamus, contemporary music will be a fossil within a few years. We need new pioneering artists developing the discourse of the contemporary music scene." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/5-qu...

The sonata for three winds and piano has always been a big favourite. youtu.be/RD2Mmmm-P6w?...

Sharing my birthday today with #Milhaud ! As a present, I'd like your suggestions for a Milhaud playlist (not the obvious Scaramouche or Le Boeuf please - something different) To kick things off, here's 'Éloge' from his 2 Poèmes for vocal quartet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pf_...

This September I’m back as a soloist with the National Orchestra of Spain (OCNE) 🎹✨. After my debut last year with Tailleferre, I am now back with Concierto ‘Nostálgico’ by Bernaola, under the baton of Nuno Coelho. A real joy and a true honour to be called back.

Fascinated that In Our Time is one of the BBC’s most popular podcasts among under 35s. The young people demand three academics and a peer discussing Demosthenes, apparently. And they’re right to do so.

Out now on Naxos, The French in Spain - #Debussy #Ibert #Ravel Buffalo Philharmonic conducted by JoAnn Falletta. I had fun writing the notes for this one www.naxos.com/FeaturePages...

La Philharmonie de Paris a le plaisir d’annoncer la nomination d’Esa-Pekka Salonen en tant que chef principal de l'Orchestre de Paris et titulaire de la chaire Création et innovation de la Philharmonie dès septembre 2027 pour une durée de 5 ans. philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/magazine/... © A.Desforges

At the BBC Proms for Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth. ‘This production contains mild depictions of violence and sexual assault’ And murder 🤔

Today’s fun fact (via an ex-colleague): #Prokofiev and #Ravel played a chess match in 1924. Prokofiev won, of course - he was a skilled player www.chessgames.com/perl/chessga...

So Ian @ianpace.bsky.social recommended I get over my Bruckner aversion by listening to #Boulez conduct Bruckner 8. Nope - still a Bruckner-hater [ducks] www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufqC...

Petit texte pour le Festival Musica de Strasbourg, où sera interprétée "Le Noir de l'étoile" de Gérard Grisey. On y croise Jocelyn Bell, Stockhausen, David Bowie, Joy Division et des étoiles à neutron... festivalmusica.fr/magazine/59....

Getting stuck into Peter Manson’s bilingual edition of #Mallarmé poetry: excellent translations & notes

Fabulous #London city views from #Brixton rooftop sauna