Happy 21st, Benjamin Grosvenor!

That Andy Murray of British pianism, Benjamin Grosvenor, is 21 today. We wish him the happiest of happy birthdays and can't wait to hear the new album he's apparently recording right now, up in Suffolk. (PS - anyone spot Mitsuko Uchida in the slebs rows at the Wimbledon final yesterday?)

In the meantime, here he is in performance last year, playing Rachmaninov's Etude-Tableau Op.39 No.5.

On your feet! It's Proms time

The sun is shining, Andy Murray's in the final and next week it's time for the Proms to begin. This season is stuffed full of Wagner operas and I have just one word to start you off: footwear. My guide to how to make the most of the Proms is in today's Independent, along with my personal pick of ten unmissable events. And yes, there will be Korngold.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/on-your-feet-for-the-2013-proms-8687389.html

Jonas to the rescue!

The Munich Opera Festival, which is in full swing for July, is doing wall-to-wall Verdi and Wagner this year. Last night it was Lohengrin. The tenor went ill. Who can you get to replace that at short notice? Hmm, how about that local bloke who knows the role?

Text from my spy says simply: "Jonas sensation, audience went nuts."

Kaufmaniacs should log on tomorrow when the Staatsoper is webcasting Il trovatore, with JK as Manrico, a role he's just been singing for the first time, with Anja Harteros - another local - as Leonora. My spy says that's sounding a bit good too. Webcast is free and starts at 7pm over there (so 1 hr earlier in UK and 6 hrs earlier in NY).

Win a weekend at the Lucerne Festival!

The Lucerne Festival may have started life on what used to be Wagner's lawn, but it hasn't let the grass grow under its feet... Read my guide to this idyllic summer escape and enter the competition to win a dream weekend, over at Sinfinimusic.com:
http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/2013/06/lucerne-festival-guide/

Meet Tamsin Waley-Cohen

The super young British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen has a delectable new disc out with Champs Hill Records: An American in Paris cleverly puts the sonatas by Poulenc and Ravel side by side with music by Charles Ives and George Gershwin (aided and abetted by Jascha Heifetz). Tamsin's joined at the piano by the composer Huw Watkins. In a lovely launch bash yesterday, Tamsin and Huw rocked that Ravel with graceful phrasing, gorgeous tone and genuine lyricism. As for Gershwin: they got rhythm. Sneak previews and album download available from Champs Hill Records, here.

Here is Tamsin herself, with a spot of Mozart and a few words about music, life, the universe and her Strad, which belonged to the late Lorand Fenyves. She's accompanied in the concerto by the Orchestra of the Swan (and Hungarian Dances aficionados may spot our own David Le Page in the leader's chair - often in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen).