The Paradoxical Don
Is he a rapist or a seducer? A great lover of women or a sex addict? These questions hover around …
Category Archives: Singing
Polyphony and Grief
Singing polyphonic music without accompaniment – music of the Renaissance – is as pure and delightful an experience as can …
Authenticity and Fresh Air
How do you know the real thing when you encounter it? We are now, all of us, so steeped in …
Singing to the Exit Sign
Recently I had the opportunity to see, for the first time in my life, a string quartet playing in very …
All is Not Calm
On a damp Tuesday evening last week, I was caroling in a city park with members of my chorus. The …
Masters and Servants
The verb “To lord” is defined by the OED as “to play the lord, behave in a lordly manner, assume …
Cinderella Dreams
What is it about stories that improve with repetition? Nearly every culture has its narratives, and the retelling of a …
Singing Praise
I have had the great benefit all my life of participating in choral music – community choruses, church and chapel …
How Not to Stage an Opera
1. Design a set in which, for two acts, there is a pit (disguised as a lake) taking up two-thirds …
Art and Love
Can there be Art without Love? What makes a great artist? Possessing a greater gift than others, an ability to …
Poets' Sinews 