Planning 2026
I've yet to find a house to settle into, but I suppose there is some chance for May to be taken up with moving. Dental…
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2025-12-14
Classical music events
Planning my cultural calendar for 2025
I'm settled in Saumur from January-on for some months, hoping to find and close on a house. But I can't just sit in one place!…
2025-01-27
My cultural calendar in 2024
Another year with some very memorable events. I traveled to Colmar just to hear Franco Fagioli in Polifemo yet again, as last year in Amsterdam…
2025-01-27
Give a girl a break
Where I'm at House-hunting by car with Kristian (January 29-February 7) gave us an almost overwhelming amount of impressions and information to reflect upon and…
2024-02-22
Planning the 2023-2024 concert season
Generous birthday gifts are allowing me an early start
I have some idea of where I want to be over the next eleven months, though I don't know how my French visa application will…
2023-08-13
Exploring Handel’s music in concert
Where to hear Handel in the 2023-2024 season
I hope that offering excerpts of various works will tempt you into a concert hall for some of the most beautiful music ever written, if…
2023-08-13
Loving Opera at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse
I goofed up badly but luckily was saved
I came to see Toulouse, the Pink City, when I could catch a production of La Traviata. This is my story of a screw-up that turned out fine; and I share great aria links.
2023-07-15
London Culture Vulture
A three-day itinerary for a stimulating London break
Three days, two plays, one concert, several cask ales, meeting up with friends and doing lots of walking added up to a satisfying stay in the heart of London.
2023-06-12
My cultural calendar in 2023
My 2023 cultural events calendar, from Amsterdam to Toulouse. Do our tastes coincide?
2023-06-12
Thrills at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw
Gardiner for Brahms, Lezhneva and Fagioli for Porpora
Back-to-back stellar performances at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw were high points of my long stretch of travel this year. I even got to speak to the principal artists after the events!
2023-06-08
A happy return to Montpellier’s Opéra-Comédie
The beautiful Opéra-Comédie of Montpellier, with some outstanding conductors and excellent performers and productions, has quickly become a favorite destination of mine.
2023-06-08
Gounod's Faust at Limoges opera
Opera in Limoges: Gounod’s “Faust”
A chance to see an opera while seeing Limoges for the first time I had hoped we'd get to Limoges, which we'd never been to,…
2023-03-31