The arguments and rebuttals following the Guardian’s posing of the question ‘What is classical music for?’ (4th July) have continued to roll in. Best of the bunch has been Richard ...

Over the last two-and-a-half years I have come to admire those people for whom Brexit is a turnoff. The mere mention of the word produces a glassy-eyed look, or, perhaps ...

If British musicians’ Brexit frustrations have sometimes lacked focus, the furore surrounding this year’s Womad Festival has clarified matters a great deal. As mentioned in an earlier blogpost, the festival organiser, ...

After updating C:T’s opportunity page today, I came across this article by Norman Lebrecht over at Slipped Disk. It describes how this week’s Singapore Violin Competition has effectively been rigged, since the ...

It has been reported that Bingley Grammar School charges children £5 per week to take GCSE music lessons after school. The decision was described by the Incoporated Society of Musicians as ‘shocking ...

I can imagine that the story of Richard White has warmed the heart of many a middle-aged (and older) composer. White has just had his 900-page opera selected for a workshop ...

The latest request from a commercial organisation that musicians work for free has been given a withering response on social media.  The organisation in question was East Midlands Airport, who recently ...

After spilling more than a few column inches over the Tête à Tête Opera Festival I thought, today, that it was probably time to move on.  Then I came across ...

Charlotte C. Gill’s article Music education is now only for the white and the wealthy, published in The Guardian on 27th March has caused quite the furore. A response by pianist Ian Pace has ...

  Susanna Eastburn, Chief Executive of Sound and Music Today is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the ‘social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women’ whilst calling for action to ...

It is hard to believe that it is nearly a year since the horrendous Paris attacks led to the cancellation of half of Nice’s Manca Festival programme in November 2015. ...

Like many Remainers I tend to latch on to articles that suggest that the whole ugly Brexit business might go away. There has been no shortage of these: the possibility ...

One of my favourite radio shows at the moment is Radio 5 Live’s Film Review Programme, dubbed Wittertainment by its devoted army of listeners (‘Hello to Jason Isaacs’). It’s hosted by Simon ...

On March 26th Boulez will turn ninety. Even at this grand old age he hasn’t entirely cast off the image of enfant terrible, the man responsible for some of the most ...

I suppose as a composer I should be filled with self-righteous anger after reading the report. The bottom line is that most composers receive very few commissions, get paid very ...

Over the last week I have watched with fascination this odd-looking structure taking form outside the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel: Today it finally became clear what it was all ...

My home office setup. The computer is that elegant little box to the right of my main monitor. Many composers I talk to, even if they use a Windows PC, ...

So did anyone sign the open letter to Sound and Music? I received a copy a couple of weeks ago, but in the confusion of moving house forgot about it. ...

I said last time that December is the month without contemporary music. By this I meant performances of contemporary music. There exists plenty of Christmas music by contemporary composers, though ...

With a good friend of mine, the Mexican composer Mauricio Beltrán, I have just spent a fascinating few days in the Sacher Foundation Library in Basel, Switzerland.  Paul Sacher (1906-1999) was a Swiss ...

After a visit to some Basque friends in Northern Spain last week I found myself with a day to spare in Bilbao. The city used to be faceless and industrial ...

Here is a caricature that some readers may recognize:  The performer: He looks at the piece with a sense of unease; it is very technically demanding. The composer is looking ...