February 2023
Our February cover star is the conductor Riccardo Chailly, who celebrates his 70th birthday on 20 February. Currently music director at La Scala, Chailly has collaborated with the world's greatest artists during his distinguished career. He discusses his five decades at the top of classical music with our writer George Hall.
Elsewhere in the magazine, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor talks to Jessica Duchen about his mission to inspire young musical talent. A former child prodigy (he took part in the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition at the age of just 12), Benjamin still finds time to perform in schools.
Staying with musical outreach, we also have a feature on the Royal Irish Academy's new Adult Division, which helps aspiring older musicians to begin or resume those musical studies that they loved but didn't get enough of.
We've also unveiled our nominees for the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2023: the finest recordings of last year, as shortlisted by our panel of expert reviewers. Take a look at the nominations in our nine categories – and vote for as many as you like!
With Valentine's Day soon upon us, Rebecca Franks explores how composers through the ages have depicted the pleasures and pains of falling in (and out of) love. Michael Church looks at how folk music is slowly disappearing from global communities; Kate Bolton-Porciatti whisks us off to Tuscany, this month's Musical Destination; and, in Building a Library, Terry Williams explores Elgar's noble First Symphony and its best recordings.
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Click here for the inlay of this month's cover CD.
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Authors
Steve has been an avid listener of classical music since childhood, and now contributes a variety of features to BBC Music’s magazine and website. He started writing about music as Arts Editor of an Oxford University student newspaper and has continued ever since, serving as Arts Editor on various magazines.
