After a long pause due to the current pandemic, Simon Bode has several projects dear to him lined up for the coming year. Performances in the U.S. and of the Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival have been rescheduled for later dates, but he is devoting himself all the more to lieder and chamber music – including at the Heidelberger Frühling and Kissinger Sommer festivals and, together with Igor Levit, with Winterreise in Frankfurt and Essen. Anticipation is definitely called for. However, like many other artists, the fact that he is not trumpeting this anticipation too loudly at present has, of course, less to do with theatre superstitions than with the reality of the Corona virus. So while we keep our fingers crossed that Schubert's wanderer will indeed be able to run off into the winter night before this season’s end and not have to remain in his abode, we take the opportunity to talk to the tenor about his own life's journey down various musical paths....

“Spontaneity is intimate, risky, and vital, and it requires a relationship with the audience. Spontaneity allows the songs room to take on their own lives, their own stories,” says Rachel Fenlon in the winter issue of Art Song Canada. In the online magazine, which also includes articles by John Gilhooly and Iain Burnside, the soprano and pianist offers insight into her artistic practice. Her desire to forge her own musical identity through self-accompanied song recitals has sometimes meant having to move beyond standard norms – a productive process, as she describes it: “The quest for accompanying myself, questioning tradition and preconceived notions of what song should be, puts me in constant conversation with the music, in communication with text, sound, and spirit.”...

A tour with a festival appearance, a visit to a university, workshops, and new pieces in the luggage - for the Arditti Quartet in its 46th year of existence, this is no different from everyday routine, isn't it? Well, not in the Corona summer of 2020. After months of silence, the four musicians, together with their audience, rediscovered the ritual "live concert". Irvine Arditti reports about a small tour with great experiences. ...

There is a good reason to party in Porto. This year, the Remix Ensemble celebrates 20 years since it was founded and 15 years since the soloist ensemble for contemporary music moved into the new breathtaking Casa da Música concert hall. Back in 2015, the ensemble’s artistic director, Peter Rundel, told us the story of its early days. For the occasion of the 20^th anniversary, we re-publish the article with a big “Happy Birthday” wish!...