If you’re asked to write about something and have nothing useful to say, you can always so no.

The week in classical: Le nozze di Figaro; Larmes de couteau/ Full Moon in March review – all shook up | Opera ⁦Observer New Review⁩ theguardian.com/music/article/…

This. Also live performance is great but weird & sometimes wonky/flawed & it’s just not great that stuff could end up online that we as performers really don’t want there. Let live be live plz. If we want to film/share, that is our (performers/composer/publisher etc) decision

If I - a performer - want to share a clip from a concert with an ensemble, I have to get permission from all the players. If the piece is in copyright, there are big hoops (+ money) with publishers. How did we get from there to current discourse without any in between steps?

If you’re listening, oh algorithm, please stop advertising Dawn French’s new book to me

Amazing job alert 🚨

Somewhere out there is the Dunard Centre’s first Head of Marketing and Communications. It’s an incredible opportunity to join the team making Edinburgh’s new concert hall a reality 💥

Please share the link below 👇

impactscotland.org.uk/jobs

I'm really excited to be playing Brahms 1 next season with one of my favourite orchestras: CBSO I'm happy to be filmed on phones by the audience except for the following bars when I really need to concentrate and could be distracted:

In The Times and The Sunday Times today the policy was further clarified/muddled: 'If someone is super-uncomfortable then we won’t do it.”

A couple of thoughts on using phones in concerts following CBSO’s decision to encourage the audience to film clips and share them online - with the disclaimer I don’t think we all need to agree on this…!

Tellingly, in all the discussion around photographing / filming live performances of classical music, I haven’t seen a single mention of whether it’s fair to expect performers to give away their work via yet another channel without any sort of remuneration. Giving It Away

I have an essay about BABY REINDEER in the London Times. I can’t believe they paid me for writing about such a cool show, but they did. Of course, I DID pay Netflix. 🤣

Paul Auster, American author of The New York Trilogy, dies aged 77 theguardian.com/books/2024/may…

theguardian.com/world/2024/may…

What does a book cost?

Back in 2015 we ran some calculations to figure out what a book costs, what it sells for, and where the money goes. We've done the sums again - for 2023 -and you head here for some grim, but hopefully also interesting, reading: galleybeggar.co.uk/what-does-a-bo…

‘Old Havvy’

Wonderful writing Lauren Bensted, incredibly moving story.

It’s giving this

I've been thinking about this all week. Of the country's instrumental music teachers, only 25% now work in state schools (54% in private). Even though 94% of kids are state educated. A generation of young people are being denied access to music-making.
thetimes.co.uk/article/the-sc…

I was lucky enough to be at Welsh National Opera’s Death in Venice tonight, it was fabulous, but mostly I was moved by the sensitivity and virtuosity of the orchestra, under threat of a 15% pay cut-7 weeks less work a year. Please do sign this to support them.
megaphone.org.uk/petitions/prot…

Tonight’s listening: The Marriage of Figaro in Berlin (coming to an Edinburgh Festival near you this summer)