I love my city – Bristol. For sure, there are things that annoy me – the lack of a mass transit system – why? And certain derelict buildings that have stood like eyesores for decades. But overall, Bristol is a great place to live. Always stuff going on, a festival city, a city of hills, parks and waterways. I know I am lucky to live here. I can certainly recognise the joy and gratitude that Walt Whitman had for Manhattan: A million...
At heart I’m a city boy. Even though my job involves working with farmers and I love country walks and nature spotting, I feel the need to be close to where culture is. I...
A couple of weeks back I started wondering about the number of monthly listeners on Spotify that Aaron Copland gets. It was a short hop to comparing this number with that of his modernist...
I really like contemporary dance and I love modern classical music. It’s not often I see them combined as it’s hard to keep one’s eyes peeled on all the listings and besides many events...
Throughout Aaron Copland’s life there were very important women who played a major role in inspiring his creativity towards producing his unique sound and some of his most iconic works. His career choices and...
Over the last few days I have had this idea in my head. If there was a new Mount Rushmore exclusively set aside for contemporary American composers, which four heads would be carved in...
Once in a while a book is published that completely fills a void. That is certainly the case with Appalachian Spring Original Ballet Version produced by Music of the United States of America (MUSA)...
I bet you if I asked 100 people the question “Who has recorded the most pieces by Aaron Copland?” the most common answer by a very long way would be the New York Philharmonic...
I’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks so this is a rather belated review of the second Sound World concert in the Crypt at the Mount Without (read my review of...
Bristol seemed to be like the centre of the classical musical world these last few days! We’ve had several features on BBC Radio 3 in the prominent Breakfast and In Tune slots and the...
