John, Judy, Eric, Donald
Music is one of the great regrets of my life - the fact that I never learned to play any instrument.
However, music -mainly classical music- is one of my main loves. As well as listening frequently to music from "conserves", CD, DVD, etc., visits to concerts and opera bring much enjoyment. Within that area my tastes are quite eclectic but tend mainly to the romantic and modern. I tend to listen mostly to orchestral music and opera, though I do enjoy chamber music too.
My favourite composers are (in chronological order):
Ludwig van Beethoven
Franz Schubert
Richard Wagner
Piotr Tchaikovsky
Edward Elgar
Giacomo Puccini
Gustav Mahler
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Gustav Holst
Benjamin Britten
Whom have I forgotten?
As you can see, I do particularly enjoy the music of British composers, not only those listed above but also less well-known names, Weir, Stanford, Tippett, Ireland, Turnage and others. I am a member of the British Music Society, though not a very active one. The society's web site provides links to many composers whose music is well worth exploring. Another source with a wealth of information on British classical music is John France's blog.
Opera
For opera, 2010's highlight was a visit to Glyndebourne, to see Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd - an excellent performance. As well as the music, we also enjoyed the traditional picnic. Glyndebourne photos
In 2009 our group visited the Richard Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, to see Der Ring des Nibelungen. Here I wasn't so convinced by the staging (directed by Tankred Dorst); it seemed to evoke modern anomalies for no understandable reason. However, the music (conducted by Christian Thielemann) was as impressive as ever. Bayreuth photos
We weren't the only great and famous in Bayreuth. As well as Angela Merkel, Stephen Fry was there, preparing a programme about Wagner (which I found good). And afterwards we graced an article (in German) called Hello, Herr Hitler! in Die Zeit, thanks to my kilt and Tuvia Tenenbom, the founder and Artistic Director of the The Jewish Theater of New York, who wrote this report of his experiences in Bayreuth for the paper. Since the online version of the article doesn't contain our photo, Mr. Tenenbom kindly took one of our group, which you see above.
Coming nearer home, last but by no means least is the Tyrolean Festival in Erl, a small village on the Inn, less than an hour's drive from Fieberbunn. Here Gustav Kuhn and his team have established a tradition of excellent opera productions in a theatre built to house the Passion Play which the village puts on every six years (next performance in 2013). In 2010 we saw Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer (2011 brings Wagner's Tannhäuser, Meistersinger and Parsifal).