We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrow and joy and it might almost be said that the best of us receive joy through sorrow.

Fun fact: my actual birthdate is unknown. Reasonable guesses are today and tomorrow. So I like to celebrate all three! Except in 1808...I had more important things to do on those days.

This is nice! Thank you a thousand times, @prestomusic.bsky.social 🙏❤️🎶🎹🥳

The arts will play a key role in the government’s agenda. But, it is crucial that artists remain free to 'irritate, shame and annoy,' and highlight where society continues not to be a level playing field. #FreelancersMakeTheatreWork #Freelancers #Freelancer #Culture #Arts #ArtsAndCulture

I wrote about it why Roxanna Panufnik and I are going head to head with Handel’s Messiah. Come and hear the result on Sunday at Symphony Hall Birmingham! inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

This is why we insist that arts and humanities matter. And it turns out they can cure cancer, too.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold died on 29 November 1957, aged 60. Heads-up to planners: he has two big round number anniversaries in '27. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCe...

Allan Schiller and John Humphreys grace the stage at Wigmore Hall this afternoon for their farewell recital after over 50 years of their duo partnership, offering a programme of Mozart's sonatas and enchanting works by Schubert 🎹⭐ 🕰️ 1.00pm 🎟️ https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202511291300

Magnificent Elgar from Beth Taylor, Edward Gardner and the @lporchestra.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/culture/clas...

New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.

So excited to hear this at last! A very special composer who carried a complex, startling story.

Fabulous article by Dr Samantha Ege ahead of tomorrow’s release. @leahbroad.bsky.social

I wrote a short story. open.substack.com/pub/levparik...

Young people who take part in arts and cultural activities experience a significant improvement in life satisfaction, equivalent to that experienced by an unemployed adult who gets a job, according to researchers at the University of Manchester.

‘The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what "works," but art opens up what is possible.’

Tonight it's WAGNER'S WOMEN for the Wagner Society of Scotland, in cyberspace - please log on at 6.30pm! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jessica-du...

WHAT DOES HENSELPUSHERS DO? A lot! In honor of Fanny Hensel's 220th birthday today, here is an overview of everything on offer. I've grouped henselpushers' activities into four categories: 1) Free scores 2) Arrangements & special editions 3) Directories & resources 4) Events & Videos

In case you'd like to hear WAGNER'S WOMEN but couldn't make it to the London Singers' Collective evening at National Opera Studio yesterday, I have a short-notice repeat run tomorrow, >online< at 6.30pm, for the Wagner Society of Scotland. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jessica-du...

(The true function of a libretto!)

Quick reminder to Wagnerites that we are doing this at the National Opera Studio, Wandsworth, tonight... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wagners-wo...

Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.

Looking forward to talking WAGNER on Friday! With music from soprano Valerija Iljin and pianist Daniel Silcock, at the National Opera Studio. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wagners-wo...

Petition protesting the closure of Nottingham's music department ✍️

Out today: Avril Coleridge-Taylor: ‘In Memoriam - To the RAF’ (1945). classical.music.apple.com/gb/album/184...

We need to listen to musicians, not tell them to ‘shut up and play’, and here’s why. inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Looking forward enormously to doing a little Wagner evening...I'll be talking about Wagner's musical cauldron and the soprano Valerija Iljin sings extracts from Senta, Elisabeth, Sieglinde and the Wesendonck Lieder. 14 Nov, National Opera Studio www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wagners-wo...

"Her rise to fame has been breathtaking, as is her versatility," @jessicaduchen.bsky.social writes in the new 'Opera Now' cover story, 'Julia Bullock: A Universal Voice.' You can read it at www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/fe...

Thangam Debbonaire to head new UK opera trade body bachtrack.com/news-thangam...

Off to @wigmore_hall to hear @fhvln and @MartinRoscoe1 strut some formidable stuff tonight. And fortunately it takes my mind off packing for tomorrow (I love being in new places, but hate having to get there…).

Coming up on Friday: Lara Melda and I tell the story of Myra Hess in the National Gallery, in, what else, a lunchtime concert. We will be in the same space she used, Room 36! Admission freeeeee. Please join us! www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/myra-...

TONIGHT! Hear Myra Hess play, as the Musical Museum and the Player Piano Group hold an evening devoted to her Duo-Art piano rolls. www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/event/myra-h...

Here's Claudia Pritchard's write up of the Critics' Circle Music Awards 2025: criticscircle.org.uk/music-awards...

Metronome markings: blessing or curse?

I went to the new Tosca at Covent Garden and this is what I thought. engelsbergideas.com/reviews/an-u...

Sadiq Khan on Farage’s plan today - “Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. “Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”

Update on my article re Ilan Volkov: it is in the printed paper today, but very heavily cut, so please read the online one if you can.

This hurts my soul - my heart axtuslly ached reading this, thinking of the future generations of knowledge that will never be, of students unable to specialise in languages, pursue music, read Latin, take up English literature, become an Art critic, write history. This is how cultures wither & die.

⭐ Great to see that the TUC Congress has passed a Europe motion highlighting the importance of easing mobility for touring artists. 🇪🇺 The motion highlight the significance of UK trade with the EU, and the potential for this to boost UK economic growth. https://bit.ly/4mdSONY

Wondering if I could become a tube driver, double my income and reduce my working hours to the manageable level of 35 hrs a week. I’ve left it a little bit late, but am quite good at tunnel vision.

I'm not sure Kent was even this bad in my 80s-90s childhood (and I can tell you, it was pretty bad). The trajectory is absolutely chilling. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The National Gallery is to embark on the “largest transformation” in its 200 years, with the creation of an entirely new wing.

Mixed messaging: the Southbank Centre ushers leaping on anyone who so much as looks at their screen in the RFH when the only programme available to audiences is via a QR Code… on their phone.

I am one of the growing number of 400 signatories to this letter. It's deeply concerning that the BBC is limiting public access & exploratory academic research into its rich historical archives. The WAC was a bastion of the BBC's public service remit & must remain so! observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Doing an actual National Gallery lunchtime concert with the wonderful Lara Melda! 10 October, anniversary of Myra Hess’s first concert there in 1939. www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/myra-...

Just been live on Danish Radio, talking Proms, rather to the amusement of Tom who’s the one who actually speaks Danish.

Ignore the haters. London is the 🐐

‘Ian Penman is preoccupied not by Satie’s influence on other composers, or even solely by his aesthetic, but by his whole personality, his entire way of being in the world.’ @jonathancoe.bsky.social reads 𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘬 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Cosi is listening to Schumann Lieder…

The Mirror's Kevin Maguire argues the only way for Britain to return to its former prosperity is with a plan to return to the EU after Brexit proved to be a giant con that only leaves us poorer and weaker www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...