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The sounds of the Sistine Chapel | The Observer Cardinals, former world leaders, and classical music’s best and brightest gathered in the Vatican to hear the first concert premiere ever held beneath Michelangelo’s magnificent frescoes

The sounds of the Sistine Chapel

Cardinals, former world leaders, and classical music’s best and brightest gathered in the Vatican to hear the first concert premiere ever held beneath Michelangelo’s magnificent frescoes, writes Fiona Maddocks
https://bit.ly/3NTlAbk

Benjamin Britten’s pioneering pacifist opera | The Observer Guildhall School of Music & Drama present a skilful production of the anti-war work Owen Wingrave, commissioned for TV 60 years ago by David Attenborough

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is as subtle as a ... Brecht and Weill’s revoltingly in-your-face critique of capitalism is redeemed by ENO’s on-the-money production. Plus, the Hokusai-inspired opera The Great Wave

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Così fan tutte on Coney Island is a carnival of mischief ... Phelim McDermott’s end-of-pier staging of Mozart’s prickly comic opera is revived with bunny girls, sword-eaters and a first-class cast. Plus, Liverpool’s secret weapon and Colin Matthews at 80

Phelim McDermott’s end-of-pier staging of Mozart’s prickly comic opera is revived with bunny girls, sword-eaters and a first-class cast. Plus, Liverpool’s secret weapon and Colin Matthews at 80, writes
@fionahmaddocks.bsky.social
https://bit.ly/4agMm66

Ralph Fiennes takes on Tchaikovsky in his deft opera debut The actor serves it straight with a simple but sophisticated staging of Eugene Onegin for the Paris Opéra

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Andrew Clements, Guardian’s classical music critic, dies aged 75 An outstanding critical voice, his deep knowledge and love of music was evident in everything he wrote

www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

The best classical of 2025 | The Observer Fiona Maddocks on 2025’s best premieres and most popular composers

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Playlist of the week: songs for midwinter | The Observer From Tchaikovsky to Fats Waller, there are seasonal songs to suit every mood

observer.co.uk/music/classi... winter solstice playlist for all - okay most - tastes

The Ariodante is really worth it if you can get there: fidgety first act, but then absolutely wonderful direction and singing.

The Kurt Cobain opera is hallucinogenic | The Observer

Looking again at Last Days - and a terrific Ariodante observer.co.uk/music/classi...

The Kurt Cobain opera is hallucinogenic | The Observer

Looking again at Last Days - and a terrific Ariodante observer.co.uk/music/classi...

@fionahmaddocks.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social

Home listening: the best Christmas classical releases, from Rutter to a Cuban mix | The Observer

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Very very sad. What amazing times - anything seemed possible

Sad to hear of the death of Andreas Whittam-Smith. A great editor to work for — omnivorously curious, enthusiastic and eccentric in all the right ways.

Vive la farce: Handel’s Partenope returns to the English National Opera

observer.co.uk/music/classi... Partenope at ENO; Die Walküre at Bastille Paris

Vive la farce: Handel’s Partenope returns to the English National Opera

observer.co.uk/music/classi... Partenope at ENO; Die Walküre at Bastille Paris

#Bach alert: 2 ‘new’ works by #JSBach being announced by Bach Archiv Leipzig tomorrow - reportedly important

#Bach alert: 2 ‘new’ works by #JSBach being announced by Bach Archiv Leipzig tomorrow - reportedly important

Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Just received - 50 great choices from #TomService out soon @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social

A radical reworking of The Makropulos Case | The Observer

#Makropulos #TheRailwayChildren #DeadManWalkibg observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Glad it worked. Let me know if I can help again

Oxford International Song festival hits a note of radicalism New works by or about women powered this year’s Oxford Song festival, tackling everything from Ireland’s Magdalene laundries to the heroines of Iranian myth

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Lmk email and I can suggest

Hi Fiona, I commission writers to work on features (mainly artist interviews) for the Southbank centre's website. I've a healthy list of freelancers across most art forms, but I'm short on writers who have an interest/focus on classical music if you know of anyone looking for opportunities.

What sort of thing do you need?

Wexford festival’s operatic rarities | The Observer Verdi’s Le Trouvère, transported to the Spanish civil war, is just one of the powerfully sung surprises at the Irish waterfront party

observer.co.uk/music/classi...

Benjamin Britten’s oddball masterpiece | The Observer Albert Herring is a subversive portrait of stuffy postwar England

observer.co.uk/music/classi...