Links

About Solihull - the official site of Solihull Council

UK Amateur Orchestras - lists, maps and links for the whole country

BBC Listen Up! - links to amateur orchestras, West Midlands

Solihull Choral Society

Making Music - West

Solihull Online - a local listings service

Solihull Events - a site for local music organisers to list future events and prevent clashes

Bromsgrove Concerts - well-established chamber music events, now in the new Artrix Theatre

Birmingham Alive! - another new local listings service

The Silhillian - new blog / local news site

Solihull News - local newspaper

Solihull Observer / Arden Observer - local newspapers

From elsewhere ...

What should classical musicians wear on stage?
Soloists typically are granted considerable leeway when it comes to attire. Same for conductors. But the rest of us . . . ?

A Guide to the symphony orchestra
"String players ... never bathe carefully (or often). Brass players are loud-mouthed drunkards. Percussionists ... have the worst table manners"

No time to cut Britain's musical culture
An abundance of events evidences our appetite for classical music
The Guardian, February 2010

The Passion Players: Amateur Music in the UK
The Guardian, January 2010

Why so serious?
How the classical concert took shape.
The New Yorker, September 2008

Metal Maestro
World's first humanoid to conduct an orchestra. Does anyone notice the difference?
The Guardian, May 2008

The Rest is Noise
Blog and other articles from Alex Ross, music critic of The New Yorker

Free the Piano Player
Were 19th century performances more entertaining?

The well tempered web
Classical music is thriving online
The New Yorker, October 2007

Keeping Score
Multimedia presentations of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven et al from Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony

The Rambler
A well informed blog from Tim Rutherford-Johnson.

Do orchestras need conductors
The Guardian Notes and Queries | more

Teach our Kids to Play
the benefits of learning a musical instrument are many
The Guardian, February 2006

Pit of Despair
life in professional orchestras
The Guardian, Febuary 2006

Why we look so miserable
The Guardian, December 2005

Is Classical Music Popular Again?
article and letters from The Guardian, February 2005

Playing Music - the lost freedom
from the New York Review of Books
October 2005

suggestions for items to include on (or remove from) this page are always welcome !