Co-founder of Bachtrack, Alison handles sales, marketing and PR for the site. When not at the opera with David, or travelling around Europe, she can often be found either on the tennis court, singing or swimming. JS Bach instrumental music is required listening when thinking time is required, while Mahler is reserved for off duty time. Alison is passionate about bringing children and new listeners to classical music and opera.
We spoke to the Choral Director of the Philadelphia Boys Choir about his work with children and how music helps them cope with the challenges of the world today.
Eric Whitacre, Tori Longdon and Jennifer Sterling, choral directors of virtual choirs during the pandemic, tell us what they have learned and the limitations of the virtual world.
The choral director and one of the Artistic Directors of the World Choir Games talks about the delights and challenges of Asian choirs and the changes he's noted in his years as adjudicator for Interkultur.
Talking about the surprising benefits of singing, as expounded by William Byrd in 1588, Stephen Cleobury, Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge discusses the health of choral music and the challenge of identifying young boys to sing in the choir.
January is the time for us to look back at 2017 and discover what has changed about the repertoire and performers who graced our concert halls. If you enjoy statistics, take a look at our picks.
Producer Orvar Säfström is bringing new audiences into the concert hall all around Scandinavia with his new style film music concert. How can that be a bad thing?
Prolific TV and film composer Debbie Wiseman tells us about the craft of writing music for the screen and about how attitudes to film composition have changed.
To get a little understanding about Japan and its relationship with western classical music we spoke to Aimi Kobayashi (pianist) and (Atsushi Ishikawa) musicologist.
Culture and Europe are intertwined and far the richer for it. The personal desires of UK politicians must not separate us from the mainland and the rich cultural exchange we currently enjoy.
With the beautiful music of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade in the background, a wacky Grandma Dingley begins to tell the tale with the help of Brian Blessed, Rory Bremner and a huge contribution from Jess Murphy who excels as the lovely heroine of the tale.
The Lion's Face: The name comes from the clinicial description of the Alzheimer face with features settling into “leonine impassivity.” Librettist Glyn Maxwell spent five years researching this opera about dementia and this shines through in his portrayal of the life of an Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home.
Of the many people I have met in the last two years running Bachtrack.com, two who have impressed me hugely are the Majaros. Pamela and Simon Majaro have spent the last ten years, at an age when most might be reducing their bridge playing, or giving up gardening, working extremely hard to introduce children to chamber music.
Checking through my Barbican programme the other day I noticed a heading “Family Music Intro Concert” by the BBC Symphony Orchestra which offered a free talk and tickets for the evening concert for each family member for just £5 (accompanying child up to 16 years old essential.) Last Friday the orchestra were performing the following programme: Martinu's Symphony no.
