Levy Sekgapane is particularly fond of The Barber of Seville’s Count Almaviva, a character he’s closely identifying with. The South African tenor has developed a professional expertise in the operas of Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) .
[ Artist in the spotlight ]
German filmmaker Sigrid Faltin’s latest documentary, Vivace, is a tribute to the celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Alissa Firsova comes from a musical family where both parents, Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov (1948-2020), are composers. Now, she’s following in their footsteps by carving out her own path; she’s finding inspiration from the style of the great German composer Richard Strauss (1864–1949).
Maestro Daniel Grossman of the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich is passionated about promoting the lesser-known Jewish composers.
Anna Fedorova is known as one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s (1873-1943) music.
He’s one of the leading contemporary mandolinists in the world today. For Avi Avital, it is not simply about returning the mandolin to its rightful place within the classical music repertoire, but he’s also passionate about strengthening musical collaborations across genres.
He’s the scion of a classical music dynasty: But for Michael Barenboim, it wasn’t clear until he enrolled at the University of Sorbonne to study philosophy that he realized that pursuing a career in classical music – just as his parents and grandparents had done before him – is what he actually wanted to do.
Avi Avital is on an ambitious mission: to restore the mandolin back into the classical music repertoire.
For pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar, Curzon Lecturer in Performance Studies at the Royal Academy of Music and Professor of the University of London, it’s all about keeping in mind that we are now all “tourists” when it comes to classical music.
James Gaffigan is passionate about introducing people to classical music and, who for the record, detests being referred to as “Maestro”.