BBC Music Magazine

BBC Music Magazine is a must for anyone with a passion for classical music. Classical music connoisseurs and new enthusiast alike will enjoy the fascinating features and reviews of over 120 new works in every issue.

Please Note: Our digital edition does not include the cover mount items or supplements you would normally find with printed copies

Welcome

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

BBC Music Magazine

Have your say…

And now, over to the Albert Hall… • 2025 BBC Proms season promises nights to remember

Horror at the Met, as violinist goes missing from her seat

Also in July 1980…

The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites…

Concert Heaven Concert Hell • Top artists recall their best and worst performances

MyHero

Dead, but still composing

FAREWELL TO…

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN • Pick a theme… and name your seven favourite examples

Richard Morrison • The joy of live music is as much about the venue as the performers

WELCOME TO THE PROMS • It’s time again for a sensational summer of music! Explore the world’s greatest classical music festival with our complete guide to the 2025 programme

3 issues for £5* When you subscribe to Gardens Illustrated SPECIAL OFFER

The Prom squad • Filming the Proms is a delicate operation, involving hours of planning by a team of highly skilled technicians, as Andrew Green discovers

High achievers • Italian opera castrati enjoyed cult status in the 17th and 18th centuries but, explains Jeremy Pound, the path to stardom was a notoriously dangerous one

The last castrato • Alessandro Moreschi

El Sistemas go! • Conductor Rafael Payare’s imagination was fired by Venezuela’s El Sistema programme – and now he’s inspiring a new generation, writes Clive Paget

Fountain of Youth • Motivating young players

Riffs&Rhapsodies • Aren’t classical orchestras and heavy metal bands worlds apart? Collaborations between the two reveal unexpected similarities, writes Joe Matera

Sting in the tail • Conducting Scorpions

Harmonichealing • It is widely accepted that music can boost mood and wellbeing, but it can also be used in medical settings to ease depression and pain, writes Peter Somerford

3 ISSUES FOR £6 • When you subscribe to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine today!

Music as medicine • Social prescribing

Redemptionsongs • Organisations providing musical opportunities in prisons do much to preserve dignity and encourage rehabilitation, discovers Abigail Frymann Rouch

Through the decades • Music’s changing role

Path to the podium • Making the transition from instrumentalist to conductor has been challenging but hugely rewarding, writes double bassist Leon Bosch

Saluting Sir Neville • Founder of the ASMF

MUSICAL DESTINATIONS Vancouver Washington, US • Charlotte Smith is entranced by the community spirit and friendly charm of an expanding American city beginning to make its mark

Composer of the month Henriëtte Bosmans • Amid the terrors of Nazi oppression, the Dutch-Jewish composer showed admirable fearlessness and passion, says Rebecca Franks

BOSMANS Life&Times

Building a library Ferruccio Busoni Piano Concerto • So fiendishly diffcult that for many years even the best pianists avoided it, the Italian’s five-movement masterpiece is admired by Claire Jackson

Continue the journey… • We suggest five further works to explore after Busoni’s Piano Concerto

Welcome

Reviews • Recordings and books rated by expert critics

Performer’s notes

Orchestral

Concerto

Opera &...