There's great excitement that the British Museum have launched their publicity for the visit of the Bayeux Tapestry, which takes place from September until next July. Beautifully rendered images from the tapestry have suddenly appeared in tube stations, and even on huge billboards such as this one, pictured on the Brixton Road. As a BM Friend, I've already this week had the thrill of a 4-hour online wait to book tickets ("There are 16,000 people ahead of you") and, sometime d

On Saturday afternoon (23 May, 4pm) I'll be at The Depot in Lewes, Sussex, to take part in a screening and discussion of Tim Hopkins' film Four Quartets. In his characteristically orginal way, Tim has created a visual counterpoint to a soundtrack composed of four contemporary string quartets (by John Woolrich, myself, Joe Cutler and Helen Grime) played straight through, in their entirety. I'm a big string quartet fan, but in a concert hall, even I would find an unbroken seq

Kicking off Sheffield Chamber Music Festival tonight will be King Harald's Saga, sung by its ideal interpreter of today Claire Booth; who "in her spare time" is directing the whole of this year's Festival. She'll also perform, in the next week, Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, a recital of British song from Purcell to Knussen, and as a finale, the Strauss Four Last Songs. It's an exemplary series, programmed by a different artist every year, and has its roots in the memorable ye