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The American conductor David Zinman's career has been distinguished by his extraordinarily broad repertoire, strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music and introduction of historically informed performance practice. With a firm passion for teaching he is known for furthering the careers of young musicians and introducing new types of concerts – including some aimed at teenagers which turn into late night dance parties afterwards! As he heads towards the end of his nineteen year tenure as Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich Tom Service talks to Zinman about his time with the Swiss orchestra and what the future holds.

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Photo: ©Priska Ketterer

Birmingham Opera Company are renowned for their innovative productions in unusual venues involving members of the local community. Their latest venture is Mussorgsky in a tent in Cannon Hill Park. Director Graham VickÌýhas reworked Khovanschina into Khovanskygate - A National Enquiry, which raises strikingly modern parallels. The story, originally set in 17th century Russia, is now updated to the present day in an unnamed country on the brink of collapse - torn apart by state corruption, religious fanaticism and social inequality.Ìý Tom travelled to Birmingham to meet the production team and members of the cast and reviews the production with the musicologist David Nice.

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Photo ©Donald CooperÌý

Earlier this month the UK got its first professional brass band. Following last summer’s major report into the future of the British Army a reshuffle of the provision of music within the military body has taken place – of which the introduction of professional brass bands is one element.
Over the next few years the army plans to set-up three brass bands – the first of which, the Band of the Kings Division, based near Preston, is now up and running and rehearsing for their first concert next week. Tom talks to the band’s musical director Captain Justin Matthews and the brass band expert Paul Hindmarsh.

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This year marks 250 years since the death of French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.Ìý To mark this anniversary the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are performing the British premiere of his opera Zaïs. Known today for its overture - a remarkable orchestral portrayal of chaos and the creation of the universe - Zaïs is an adaptation of Richardson’s scandalous novel Pamela transformed into a tale of romance in an enchanted world of myth and magic rings. The OAE’s performance will feature baroque choreography performed by Edith Lalonger’s Parisian dance troupeÌý Les Plaisirs des Nations – demonstrating how Rameau’s operas featured extensive choreographic sequences. Tom visits rehearsals for this performance and talks to the conductor Jonathan Williams, choreographer Edith Lalonger, soprano Katherine Watson who sings the role of Amour and the OAE’s principal cellist Richard Tunnicliffe.

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Photo: ©Joe Plommer