A doctor friend has sent me an excerpt from the current edition of the British Medical Journal in which their writer ‘Minerva’ reports: ‘Great composers have tended to die young, but great performing musicians often carry on getting better as they get older. An article in PLOS One (2013 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071630) asks whether older professional […]

At the weekend I went to watch a tango club at which an old friend of mine teaches. I know nothing about tango, though I’ve been to a few Argentine tango shows in London, and recently I had a lot of fun playing in a late-night performance of some Piazzolla tangos. After watching the tango […]

I’m really looking forward to Sunday’s concert at Wigmore Hall with Erich Höbarth. It’s the second in our pair of concerts this season featuring duo sonatas by Mozart for piano and violin. What a treat it has been to be so closely involved with this music – and this musician – for a couple of […]

Yes, yes, I know that today is the 100th anniversary of the celebrated premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. But this is my husband Bob’s recollection of the 50th anniversary in 1963. Bob was in the Upper Circle of the Royal Albert Hall with a group of students from the Royal College of Music at […]

Spring seems to be arriving late this year, but my favourite spot in London for spring colours, the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, is defying the cold weather and starting to look fabulous.  Whoever planted the azaleas here was a genius of gardening. This year the shades of pink seem to be even more vivid […]