John Amis online

There were several threads weaving through the life of Benjamin Britten: on, more like a hawser than a thread perhaps, was the defence of hi...

Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande is a sport. True, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov is an influence with its naturalistic setting of langua...

"Where's your favourite opera venue?' an acquaintaince asked last Monday. Looking out over rolling Hampshire fields and country...

There are stars in our musical firmament, usually preeminent in one sphere, but occasionally, perhaps once a century, along comes a megastar...

Not long ago there was an Indian girl called Wasfi Kani. She was a conductor who ran a chamber opera company called Pimlico . A compassiona...

This is a good time to visit the Royal Ballet and to be proud of its achievements. And, look you, the top price for the seats is roughly a t...

Blind Delius, craggy craniumed Sibelius,, bewildered-looking Bruckner, retired Colonel Elgar, bewigged Bach and that blind old pro Händel -...

With what one might call a great rattle of publicity, Daniel Harding made an auspicious debut in his new job as principal guest conductor of...

How often do ballet critics mention the music? Sometimes they even omit the names of the composers. And when they do they don’t seem to sens...

The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam under its conductor Mariss Jansons spent the weekend giving a Saturday evening of symphonies -Schub...

The squadron-leader replied: "I am going to spend my week-end leave with God and the late Beethoven string quartets." Music is the...

Recital rooms too often these days seem to be comfort stations. But the piano recital given by Stefan Cassomenos on 30 January in the salon ...

The theatre that is called the Assemblay Room at Normansfield was opened in June 1879 with a grand event graced by the band of the Grenadier...

ENO's The Gondoliers Gilbert and Sullivan managed to get over their penultimate quarrel and wrote The Gondoliers . Great success. After ...

Colin Davis, assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra, conducted his first professional opera on the stage at Sadler's Wells on...

John Amis has been for a long time a witty and perceptive observer of the musical scene in this country, most recently in the pages of The T...

Opera it ain’t. But it contains marvels of staging; tech doesn’t get any higher. It is Gaddafi: A Living Myth , given a short run by English...

On radio: good company is what makes great radio Presenters who make you listen, rather than just hear, are the key to successful programm...