The Myth of “Bouncing Back” After Having a Baby in the Classical Music World

“Bouncing Back” After Having a Baby in the Classical Music World — Alternative Classical

Tamsin Waley-Cohen discusses the myth of “bouncing back” after having a baby.

alternativeclassical.co.uk

Maybe they are using a non-urgent emergency to see how the alarm works, as a kind of test ahead of a future urgent one. Anyway, fwiw I got no message on my Nokia dumbphone :-)

- I'm trying to find out if I like spreadable, spicy sausage. - Nduja? - Give me a chance - I'm not even dressed.

New blog post - A longish look at Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland for Guitar. heathcoatstreet.blogspot.com/2026/07/come...

Come, Heavy Sleep - Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland for Guitar, Op. 70

BRITTEN AND DOWLAND At a time when some composers were trying to sever links with the past, Benjamin Britten was keen to stress his connecti...

heathcoatstreet.blogspot.com

Coincidence: on a whim the other day, I started reading Megan Hunter's Days of Light, whose setting is inspired by the Vanessa Bell/Duncan Grant situation at Charleston. Today I found myself playing at a wedding at the adjacent property in Firle and, presumably, the church which features in the book

Well then, Linda Ronstadt is 80 today. We kind of forget about her these days, or do we not? What a singer, and what a song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9qs...

Different Drum

YouTube video by Stone Poneys - Topic

youtube.com

Against ‘Hustle’: The Radical Reclaiming of Music’s Rest and Play www.alternativeclassical.co.uk/features/aga...

Against ‘Hustle’: The Radical Reclaiming of Music’s Rest and Play — Alternative Classical

Pianist Cordelia Williams discusses the the radical reclaiming of music’s rest and play.

alternativeclassical.co.uk

And if there is British success at Wimbledon do we get un jour Fery, eh? www.theguardian.com/football/202...

England to get bank holiday if team win World Cup, Starmer expected to announce

Prime minister understood to be poised to give England a day off should the nation’s team bring home the trophy for first time since 1966

theguardian.com

This technique is just constantly jaw dropping, jester hats notwithstanding youtu.be/BKcTn-FGTKM

a cello ricochet bowing exploration

YouTube video by Rushad Eggleston

youtu.be

The first time I heard Sonny Rollins was via this 1980s true crime series (presented by Ludovic Kennedy), for which he played the theme. Honest, his name's in the credits! I was only just getting into jazz but even then it seemed incongruous somehow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw7C...

Indelible Evidence S01E04 Gunlore

YouTube video by a498447

youtube.com

I wonder who becomes greatest living musician, now that Sonny Rollins has died.

If you're a mother and you work in any area of the music industry, do join us in Bristol this Friday @ @bristolbeacon.bsky.social for a very relaxed sharing/networking/meetup! Please share 🙏

Penultimate go tonight at playing Strauss's Salome with @regentsopera.bsky.social at York Hall. I reckon the reduced orchestration (one viola!) imparts an angsty expressionism well suited to the bleak onstage action. www.ticketsource.com/regents-opera

I know why Regents Opera performs in the original language - because that's how you tempt young singers who want to get a role under the belt - but a spiky English translation would have given this already striking Salome an extra boost. linkly.link/2gNHF

Salome review — blood, vomit and some sensational singing

Strauss’s gory opera goes full Tarantino in Mark Ravenhill’s no-holds-barred staging for Regent’s Opera at York Hall in London

linkly.link

Enjoying a day off from fairly intense orchestra rehearsals for @regentsopera.bsky.social production of Salome, directed by Mark Ravenhill. But I'll soon be heading (ho ho) to York Hall in Bethnal Green as we prepare for Friday's opening night. 6 shows between then and 23 April.

When Zappa meets Ives meets... Jackanory? Spent yesterday rehearsing this piece of far-outery by Sean Noonan for its world premiere performance on Monday 30 March. At Milton Court, London; tickets still available!

The Drummer of Tedworth: A Concerto for Speaking Drummer by Sean Noonan

A concerto for anyone who’s ever doubted existence… and laughed anyway.

gsmd.ac.uk

If only he had had one to hand! (From Nicola Barker, Reversed Forecast)

Tomorrow's concert: Ruth Gipps oboe concerto (ft Nicola Hands) and Avril Coleridge-Taylor Sussex Landscape, lovely stuff. Also Malcolm Arnold 7th Symphony. With St Paul's Sinfonia at St Margaret's church SE13 5DL. www.stpaulssinfonia.com/2025-26/

Made a rare trip to the cinema today, to see Mascha Schilinski's Sound of Falling. More films like this!

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ding.

LondonLee@londonlee.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Duke Ellington advertising Olivetti typewriters, 1969

This is such a beautiful essay with such a beautiful first sentence - such a beautiful first three words, even. Nobody writes it better.

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Wrote about all that kind of stuff here:

Superb idea for an opera right here...

Dr Angela Buckley@drangelabuckley.bsky.social · 8mo ago

One of the quirkiest cases investigated by Detective Jerome Caminada was the theft of music sheets from the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. He hid in a box to track the thief and was mistaken for a ghost. You can read his account of this 'supernatural experience' here 🔗 tinyurl.com/52v3dmf9

looking to speak to freelancers in the arts, culture, and heritage sectors for a story - if that's you, drop me a message! #journorequest

Did you hear Karthi Gnanasegaram's shoutout for Doreen Carwithen on the Today programme sports report this morning (at 2'28")? www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Today - 27/01/2026 - BBC Sounds

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

bbc.co.uk

Just back from a trip to see my parents, where I seem to have unearthed a fourth stanza of This Be The Verse: As for us the die is cast: We're fuck-ups along with all the rest. There's no way forward in the past Just love your neighbour and try your best #larkin

Abscond to Marseille and sit in restaurants ready to translate the menu for English-speaking visitors. (This kind of happened a couple of times when I was there on holiday.) The restaurants would pay me in meals and perhaps characterful if temporary lodgings. (This didn't.)

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 11mo ago

What's your absolutely unworkable plan to drop out of your current life (or at least work life) and do something completely different?

Taking people for a walk. I know the directions, and also where all the best cafes and pubs are. And where the toilets are. We can talk about whatever they want.

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 11mo ago

What's your absolutely unworkable plan to drop out of your current life (or at least work life) and do something completely different?

Halloween reminder that Beethoven's Ghost Trio doesn't have a WoO no., but Schumann's Ghost Variations does.

There was a king named Ozymandias Whose visage was once Marlon Brandious Now his statuesque legs Were but truncated pegs With nothing beyond his sad sandy ass