Talking with singers: Aigul Akhmetshina

Interview

"But I like to spend my free time with my close friends who've become like family to me. I love walking in a park and my favourite place in London at present is Greenwich Park. It is a magical place! The more I get to know London, the deeper I fall in love with it!"

Talking with pianists: James Cheung

Interview

"Playing the piano alongside and merging with a living, breathing instrument makes this the most intimate way of making music I've experienced and that kind of intimacy is something I sought for a long time in music."

Talking with composers: Mark Adamo

Interview

What's your style?" is a famously unanswerable question. I can certainly talk about values, which other opera creators may share, or not. Certainly I'm a composer who would rather give the illusion of working in close-up, rather than longshot; by which I mean that I want my music to sound as if it is inflected — no, as if it is generated — by the character who's singing it, rather than generated by some preconceived orchestral plot or procedure.

Ryan McKinny: Modern meaning in a Gold Rush-era opera

Interview

"I know it's expensive to put on opera and we want people to buy tickets, but to me the success of a piece lies in its ability to touch people deeply and open their eyes to a new perspective on themselves and the world. To that end, I think you need artists who are not only great at their craft but also give of themselves totally and have insight into the state of being human."

Talking with singers: Charlotte Mundy

Interview

"Music has brought me incredible amounts of joy and peace, and really helped me figure out who I am. I want to give those feelings to as many people as possible. Also, singing is my favorite thing to do and I think it's miraculous that there are people who will pay me to do it."

Ghost stories & true stories: The Lighthouse

Interview

"I think people are more suggestible than we like to admit. The operation of the so-called "suspension of disbelief" in the theatre is a great example of this. When I go to see a show, I spend the first period struggling to understand, to analyse, to engage, and then, at some point that I don't even recognise (if it's good) or notice, a switch goes in my brain and there I am, living entirely in the world of the play. How does that happen? Where else does that happen?"

"It's his life, it's him." Soundstreams presents Musik für das Ende

Interview

With the daunting score has come an "unbelievable" level of focus from the performers. "That's maybe even more powerful than this music, these people working either in pairs or quartets or quintets," he says of the "fierce" level of listening between the singers. "They're totally wrapped up with this other person."

Breathe: the latest recordings from James Rolfe

Interview

"I'm both flattered and sad that I'll be part of their final season. I will miss TMT greatly, as these pieces have marked some of my most artistically satisfying experiences. But I'll also miss the wonderful people who made these collaborations so enjoyable."

The voice teacher series: Jane Eaglen

Interview

Eaglen has noticed that in some circles, opinions on breath support are so varied that the conversation can even make it a "dirty word" of sorts. Still, "I don't see how you can talk about singing and not talk about support," she says.

Talking with conductors: Riccardo Frizza

Interview

"I believe that there is always a mutual learning process between performers and conductors. If a conductor is well trained he can pass a great deal of his wisdom to the performers, and in the same way a conductor can learn all about breathing from a singer."