Ian Bostridge
The Apostle of Aldeburgh
Benjamin Britten’s festival proves that in music small is beautiful
Hard to Swallow
When thinking about my voice, I’m more comfortable with metaphor than physiology
Mesmeric Modulations
Two 19th-century novels reveal contrasting attitudes to music and its place in Jewish culture
Love in the Time of Cholera
Death in Venice poses many questions, among them: moustache or no moustache?
Enough to Make You Spit
A common cold or the flu can spell disaster for a professional singer
Timing is Everything
Music grapples with time and transcends philosophy
Serious Music for Serious Times
There is an extraordinary fit between Japanese musical tastes and German Lieder
Suffer the Children
Young people can be inspirational in the audience, problematic on stage
The Subtle Subversive
Unlike rock’s phoney rebelliousness, classical music still has the power to challenge entrenched ideas
There’s no Place Like Home for a Singer
Intimacy, authenticity and domescity combine to make for a great performance
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past