Time for dogs…

Coleridge-Taylor’s The Song of Hiawatha reappraised at the Edinburgh International Festival @edintfest.bsky.social @osmconcerts.bsky.social ✍️ David Smythe bachtrack.com/review-coler...

Review for @bachtrack.com of a mindblowing Mahler 1 and ravishing Rach 3 by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer & Isata Kanneh-Mason in the Gstaad Menuhin Festival ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ bachtrack.com/review-fisch...

The most substantial, huge, enormous, immense, vast, massive, colossal, gigantic, giant, mammoth, whopping, ginormous, humungous, scary, alarming, daunting, formidable, intimidating, terrifying, fearsome and petrifying of all the dinosaurs was the thesaurus.

A rather personal post about how Graceland saved my sanity when I decided to stop studying the piano open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...

Celebrating Graceland

How Paul Simon's album stopped me cracking up in 1988. Plus our regular roundup and Sundaynightis

open.substack.com

"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

Off to Glyndebourne for Ariadne auf Naxos 🌞🌞🌞🎶❤️

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-...

I was so sorry to miss this (am still in Germany). Sounds very special indeed.

Alexandra Coghlan@alexandracoghlan.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Soweto Uprising commemorated in music: Ubuntu Ensemble's anniversary concert reviewed @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

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.

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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 · 4mo ago

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

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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 · 5mo ago

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...

When time stands still: Rouvali and the @philharmonialondon.bsky.social revisit Richard Strauss ✍️ Jessica Duchen bachtrack.com/review-rouva...