Jessica Duchen
@jessicaduchen.bsky.social
Classical music critic, author, librettist. MYRA HESS - NATIONAL TREASURE out now and available from https://www.kahnandaverill.co.uk/product/myra-hess-national-treasure/
"Undergraduate arts training provides the essential foundation for rewarding careers across the creative industries. A passion for the arts, & the opportunity to turn that passion into a career, is a powerful motivation that can’t be measured by salary alone." 👉 www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/reas...
It’s the first of two Sinfonia of London & John Wilson Proms tonight & I can’t go to the other, so am hot-footing it to Albert Hall. Heaps of Respighi which I never thought I’d be looking forward to so much. 🎶🎶🎶🎶
TWANGLE has just signed up subscriber no. 230, hooraaay! Latest post: Ariadne auf Glyndebourne open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
A shot of Strauss on the rocks with a twist: Ariadne auf Glyndebourne
A splendid evening in Sussex offers a fresh staging and a fabulous cast
open.substack.com
This is tomorrow, 4pm at beautiful St Mary’s Perivale. Do join us if you can!
"All future artists, actors, directors, writers are sitting in school right now. Find them. And make sure drama, music and the arts are funded, supported and celebrated in every school in the land." - Russell T Davies, screenwriter. #FreelancersMakeTheatreWork #ArtsAndCulture
Please come along to the beautiful 12th-century church of St Mary's Perivale, 4pm on Sunday, for the story of the great violinist Jelly d'Arányi, with @fhvln, Viv McLean (piano) and me narrating. Music by Bartók, FS Kelly, Gluck, Ravel, Elgar, Schumann... st-marys-perivale.org.uk/events-2026-07…
Rerunning this as it’s my most commented about and long remembered article. It still means a lot to me and hopefully to others as well. open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
Music, bereavement and healing
I wrote this article 22 years ago, but in the wake of a friend's death I've felt moved to salvage it and put it out there again as it could still be helpful
open.substack.com
On TWANGLE today: the Valkyries ride the Englische Garten in Tobias Kratzer's new production for the Bayerische Staatsoper. Also, Ruth Gipps is performed in Guildford, a musical novel gets under my skin and there's a Sundaynightis pick of next week. open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
Valkyries at large in Munich
The warrior women gallop through the Englische Garten in Tobias Kratzer's new production of Die Walküre. Plus this week’s roundup with Ruth Gipps, a musical novel and Sundaynightis
open.substack.com
Very thrilled to be doing this tonight - if you're in shooting distance of Guildford, please join us for what promises to be an extraordinary occasion! www.britishmusicsociety.co.uk/events/ruth-...
Ruth Gipps’ Goblin Market - British Music Society
Corra Sound and string ensemble will perform Ruth Gipps' stunning setting of Christina Rosetti's remarkable poem, Goblin Market, alongside other Rosetti texts
britishmusicsociety.co.uk
I’ve been at Schloss Elmau to hear recitals by Leif Ove Andsnes and Grigory Sokolov. Still reeling… open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
Romantic pianofest at Schloss Elmau
I’m in Bavaria listening to Leif Ove Andsnes and Grigory Sokolov. Pinch me.
open.substack.com
Maxim Emelyanychev, Steven Isserlis and the OAE party like it’s 1897 ✍️ Mark Pullinger bachtrack.com/review-emely...
Tom has hung up his Glyndebourne suit after 40 years! I’ve been through three quarters of his time there with him…so here are some choice memories… open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
Glyndebourne: 40 Years Down the Pit
My husband has just played at Glydebourne for the last time. In tribute, here are some choice moments from the past three decades
open.substack.com
Very grateful to @marthaannetoll.bsky.social for this lovely recommendation! 🙏
Martha Anne Toll@marthaannetoll.bsky.social · last mo.The second is @jessicaduchen.bsky.social "Twangle: Music and Words.” Duchen is a London-based music critic and cultural commentator. She travels widely and publishes lots of interesting stuff. Her many books should be of great interest to music lovers.
Darius #Milhaud died 22 June 1974. Great excuse to reshare my epic @vanmusicmag.bsky.social assessment of 345 of his works. Some great music, some turkeys, the word 'prolix' used more than in the rest of my published work put together: van-magazine.com/mag/every-pi...
(Almost) Every Piece by Darius Milhaud, Ranked
“The complete Milhaud? Won’t you be holed up in a bunker for six months?” said a friend when I mentioned this project. If people know one thing about Darius Milhaud, it is that he was one of the most ...
van-magazine.com
"I have accepted Keir Starmer's resignation as my chief servant and have invited Andy Burnham to lay out details for how many meals a day he'll give me"
I cannot bring myself to watch yet another PM resigning. Too many of them.
This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.
Sunday TWANGLE! Roundup of concert review, three of the best for next week - and why wool can help you focus. open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
How to go woolly
Want to cut your screen time and enhance your listening? A handy tip... Plus this week's roundup with Britten and Berlioz, and three of next week's best for Sundaynightis
open.substack.com
Would Britten have been 'cancelled' if he'd lived today? inews.co.uk/culture/arts...
The dark truth of Britain's most-loved composer
Benjamin Britten’s fascination with young boys inspired some of his greatest works - but also casts a shadow over his legacy
inews.co.uk
In this week’s The Stage, Lyn Gardner asks whether Arts Council England’s new funding strategy will actually reassure artists - or if, without more money to distribute, very little will really change. Read more here: www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/stra... #FreelancersMakeTheatreWork
Ignore the headline - a thoughtful and interesting article.
Jessica Duchen@jessicaduchen.bsky.social · 2mo agoWonderful to watch Danielle de Niese working in so much detail and really interrogating all our assumptions about Figaro and its characters. Her production opens tonight in Essex with Wild Arts. @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/dani...
When time stands still: Rouvali and the @philharmonialondon.bsky.social revisit Richard Strauss ✍️ Jessica Duchen bachtrack.com/review-rouva...
Wonderful to watch Danielle de Niese working in so much detail and really interrogating all our assumptions about Figaro and its characters. Her production opens tonight in Essex with Wild Arts. @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/dani...
The superstar soprano saving opera
Danielle de Niese on making her debut as a director with 'The Marriage of Figaro' - and how opera can thrive in the face of funding cuts
inews.co.uk
A wonderful celebration of Dame Myra Hess at @wigmore-hall.org.uk on whose stage she built her career. @jessicaduchen.bsky.social was in conversation with Nigel Hess treating us to recordings of the great pianist, a film of her National Gallery concerts, and stories from her superb new biography
I interviewed the inspirational theatre director Kip Williams about working on Du Yun's opera 'Angel's Bone' with ENO - how it works, why it works and why it matters. open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...
Talking about ANGEL'S BONE
ENO's controversial new production of the opera by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek opened last week in Manchester and comes to the London Coliseum in the autumn. I talked to the director, Kip Williams
open.substack.com
Thank God there was no social media when I was a working composer.
*NEW POST* "The language and labels we use to describe musicians matter just as much as which pieces get recorded and published and performed." On Ethel Smyth's legacy and the "woman composer" label substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
The problem of being Ethel Smyth
I've got a new chapter out on the reception of British "women" composers
open.substack.com
